Page 8 of King of Jokers

He looked haunted, the cabin now dark with only limited lighting coming from the small safety bulbs lining the floor.

‘Jackson, are you okay?’ He stepped closer to me, studying me in an entirely new way. Curiosity marred his features and my chest began to rise and fall a little quicker when he raised his hand and softly brushed the pad of his thumb across my cheek. What was happening?

‘I’ve been blind.’ He uttered. His words danced across my skin, a deep need settling in my stomach.”

I stopped, nothing but a blank page beyond that sentence because I couldn’t get past this moment. I wanted him to take her in his arms and devour her while the world continued to move below them. But I couldn’t find the words for the feeling of euphoria I would likely never experience.

“What happens next?” Jack’s voice was an octave deeper than it had been, bringing me back into my parents living room and away from the confines of an aeroplane flying across the Atlantic at night. I felt a bead of sweat fall down my back.

Was it just me or did it suddenly get hot in here? I stood hastily, needing to move.

Fanning myself with the pages I was holding I glanced down at him, his gaze still focused on me.

“What happens next, Win?” He repeated with urgency. “Don’t leave me hanging here.”

I turned the page towards him signalling there was nothing written.

“This is where I’m up to. I know what happens next but I’m struggling to put it into words.”

“No wonder you read so much,” he huffed. “I have a semi just from listening and nothing even happened.”

I barked a laugh doing everything within my power not to look for myself because Jack’sfriendWinter would never want to see his pleasure. She would tell him how gross he is and avoid discussing such intimate things with him. She would never imagine said pleasure while she sat at her typewriter late at night thinking of how Summer and Jackson would lose themselves in each other.

“If you can’t write it, at least tell me what happens next so I have something to think about later.” He poked me in the arm, his wolfish grin back and I shook my head. He had absolutely no idea what he did to me which meant I was in the running to be nominated in the 2025 Academy Awards for best actress.

I walked back and forth across the carpet feeling jittery. It was definitely hot in here even with the air set to an almost arctic temperature but I think it was more to do with the charged thoughts swirling through the space like electricity. Maybe I was ovulating or something.

“But I can’t describe it.”

Jack stood, taking my hands in his.

“Relax your fists. Don’t focus on how to say it for your readers, just say it for me.”

“Urgh,” I groaned exaggeratedly, averting my gaze because in my drunk fuelled haze I was certainly misreading a look of heat in his eyes.

“Show me what you got, Lennox.” He quipped and the lighthearted familiarity was enough to calm me. He dropped my now relaxed hands and I drew in a deep breath. He was my personal valium.

“Okay, so, Jackson would take a step toward her until their bodies were almost touching.” I began and Jack moved in close bringing my sentence to life. I felt my eyes widen, my spine snap straight.

Heat. Inferno. Shiiiiiiiiiiit.

“Close your eyes and keep talking.” Clammy. Him this close was making me clammy.

Don’t overthink things or it will get weird,I told myself, desperate to ignore the sudden flutter in my chest.

I followed his instruction, shuttling myself 40,000 feet above the ground, into a dimly lit cabin, the rumbling of the engines taking over my senses and clearing my mind.

“Summer is frozen. Her eyes flickering between his own. Her chest rising and falling rapidly, a direct result of his spicy leather scent blanketing her. He would bridge the gap between them and pull her into him with a firm palm against her lower back. Steadying her when the plane jumped with turbulence.”

The breath left my lungs when I was firmly pulled into Jack, my palms flying up to land on his chest.

Farkkk.

“Keep going, Win.” His words were tantalisingly close and I pushed all thoughts of reality away before I burst into flames.

Jackson and Summer.

Jackson and Summer.

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