Rough Waters: 3. Boundaries Blur

The storm had refused to yield. By late afternoon, the rain had turned into a relentless downpour, hammering the mansion with unyielding force. The kind of storm that trapped you inside, with nowhere to escape—not from the weather, and not from yourself.

Ivy sat on the edge of the couch, blanket clutched around her shoulders. She had tried to read, had tried to distract herself, but every shadow in the room seemed to stretch toward him. Jace lounged opposite, sprawled in a chair, watching her with a casual intensity that made her stomach coil and her skin ache.

“You know,” he said finally, voice low and teasing, “you’re very… entertaining when you’re frustrated.”

She glared at him, cheeks warming. “I’m not frustrated.”

He smirked, tilting his head. “Right. Not frustrated. Just… bothered that I exist, that I’m here, that I’m… me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself.

He shifted, leanin