Ink didn’t want to sit around discussing feelings like they were some kind of woman’s coffee club. However, it wasn’t good to let this stuff fester. He sighed. “Yes, I think it is jealousy. It’s your fault with this exclusivity thing.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Damn, I haven’t considered that kind of commitment in a long damn time. Before you put it out there with Jade, I wouldn’t have given two thoughts to who you, she, or anyone, messed around with while I wasn’t there. Now I don’t know where I stand. How any of this works.”
“If this is gonna work, I mean really work. We are all going to have to have individual relationships. There’s going to be times where it’s going to be her and me alone or you and her. The strength of those relationships is what will make the three of us work in the long term.” Nothing Hannibal said was new to him. They’d seen other polyamorous relationships and how they worked. But since the two of them never got serious with anyone, he hadn’t really considered what that would mean in his own life.
The idea of Hannibal spending alone time with Jade didn’t really bother him. He trusted his friend with everything. The man was more likely to cut off his own arm than betray him. Ink couldn’t believe it, but it was the thought of spending time alone with Jade himself which made him nervous.
“You’re right.” That didn’t mean he had any idea what to do about it. Sure, he’d fucked women alone before, but he hadn’t dated a woman solo since high school. Other than Didi, he hadn’t been in anything one would call a relationship since joining the military.
“So you’re willing to try? Not just some half-assed attempt, where you leave all the emotional shit to me and only show up for the fun parts. I mean really try.”
Hannibal’s words rocked him back for a moment. He knew, after the first few women they’d hooked up with, he’d left the emotional work to his Brother, not wanting to listen to yet another woman reject them as nothing more than a fun time. But had he only been around for the fun stuff? He thought back over the last ten years and realized that his accusation was nothing but the unvarnished truth. Sure, he’d been there to help draw the women in. But he had avoided anything outside of the physical.
Jade was already different. She haunted his thoughts with her challenging spirit and honest responses. He found himself wondering what she was doing. Dreamed up fantasies of what he wanted to do with her next. The last few hours worrying about her and the mess that her partner was dragging her into were proof of that. It would have never worried him if another person was in that kind of trouble.
He wouldn’t lie and pretend that he was only willing to put out the effort to make Hannibal happy. Jade was worth the risk. He wanted to learn where this could go. At some point over the last few days, he’d realized that he wanted more than ‘the fun stuff’.
Was he the reason they’d never had a relationship after the first few times they tried when they got out of the military? Did they draw in women who were only looking for a good time because that was all he’d been willing to risk? He didn’t want that to happen with Jade. If this thing with her fell apart, it wouldn’t be because he didn’t put in the effort.
“Yeah, I’m all in. I’ve got the day off tomorrow. Maybe I’ll swing by and surprise our little Jewel.”
Hannibal’s laugh boomed through the backyard.
“You fucker. You know I’m stuck in appointments all day tomorrow. You want alone time with her.”
Ink smiled around his beer as he took a sip. “Maybe.”
Hannibal shook his head. “Wait until I tell you about the tattoo our girl wants. It’s going to be fucking amazing.”
Chapter 14
I hate the word surprise unless it is followed by the word party or vacation.
Jade
Jade threw her car into park. All the pleasant feelings Hannibal had raised in her body were gone. On her way home, with the clock reading almost one a.m., she’d received a notification that someone had disabled the alarm at her gym. It could only be Eric trying again to take something from the gym. She should have changed the code at the same time she changed the combination to the safe.
The giant luxury blacked out SUV that was parked in front of the gym wasn’t Eric’s usual style, but she had no doubt it was him inside. What the hell did he hope to accomplish? Even if he could figure out the combination to the safe, he knew that they did deposits every night. So the only money there would be a little over $100 and change for the register.
Eric couldn’t even access the computer since he’d broken the monitor in his fit the other day. She’d been forced to use her laptop, which was in her bag in the trunk, until she got time to buy a replacement. So focused on her anger and what she planned to tell Eric, she didn’t even notice there was more than one person in the office before it was too late.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Jade stared around the room in disbelief.
A large man covered in black work tattoos held Eric pinned to the wall by his throat. A second man in a tailored suit looked at them with cold eyes. Logic would dictate that the large man currently doing violent things to her partner was the scarier of the two men, but something about the man in the suit had all her fight-or-flight instincts firing.
He had wide Slavic features that made him appear cold and brutal. His dark hair cut close to his head and even in the expensive suit, Jade could see he had the same black-work tattoos that marked him as a member of the Bratva, or Russian Mafia. He turned his icy blue-eyed gaze onto her, and Jade’s throat went dry.
“You must be his woman. I believe he said your name was Jade.” The man’s Russian accent was thick, confirming her fears about his background.
“I’m not his woman.” Jade tried to hide her fear under bluster.
The man tilted his head, as if considering. “His business partner then.”
“Yes, he owns a small part of my business.” Why had he brought these men to the gym in the middle of the night?
“Your partner here is behind on paying back some money. He brought us here promising to be able to make payment.”
Jade glared at Eric, her anger spiking her pulse even more than the fear. The safe on the floor next to them was open and obviously empty. How had they gotten in without the combination?
“I’m not sure why he would do that.” What was she supposed to say?