Back inside the compound, the familiar scent of smoke, leather, and old wood hit her like a memory. But today it felt… different. The walls hadn't shifted. The lighting hadn’t changed. But she had. Taylor walked ahead of Jax, not because she was trying to escape him—but because if she stayed too close, she might look at him and lose her grip.
Back in their room, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, pressing her palms flat to the wood. Her heart hadn’t stopped racing since the ride home.
He was giving her the thing she didn’t even dare ask for.
It wasn’t just about Ghost. It was what Jax had said: it was about her. About giving her the space to kill the fantasy so it wouldn’t rot inside her. He wanted to control it, yes—but he was still offering it. That was the part that
