“Going for a walk.”
That the way people see him will become how he sees himself. That one mistake will stick harder because of the hair, the jacket, the look.
Last Friday night flipped all of that upside down.
It was stupidly cold. The kind of cold that gets in the house no matter how high you crank the heat.
Lily had just gone back to campus. The house felt hollow.
“Be back by 10.”
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Jax grabbed his headphones and shrugged on his jacket.
“Going for a walk,” he said.
“At night? It’s freezing,” I said.
“All the better to vibe with my bad life choices,” he deadpanned.
I rolled my eyes. “Be back by 10.”
I was folding towels on my bed when I heard it.
He saluted with one gloved hand and left.
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I went upstairs to tackle laundry.
I was folding towels on my bed when I heard it.
A tiny, broken cry.
I froze.
My heart started pounding.
Silence. Just the heater and distant cars.
Then it came again.
Thin. High. Desperate.
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Not a cat. Not the wind.
My heart started pounding.
Under the orange streetlight, on the closest bench, I saw Jax.
I dropped the towel and ran to the window that overlooks the little park across the street.
Under the orange streetlight, on the closest bench, I saw Jax.
He was sitting cross-legged, boots up, jacket open. His pink spikes were bright in the dark.
In his arms was something small, wrapped in a thin, ragged blanket. He was bent over it, trying to shield it with his whole body.
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My stomach dropped.
“Jax! What is that?!”
I grabbed the nearest coat, shoved my bare feet into shoes, and tore downstairs.
The cold hit me like a slap as I sprinted across the street.
“What are you doing?! Jax! What is that?!”
He looked up.
His face was calm. Not smug. Not annoyed. Just… steady.
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Then I saw.
“Mom,” he said quietly, “someone left this baby here. I couldn’t walk away.”
I stopped so fast I almost slipped.
“Baby?” I squeaked.
Then I saw.
Not trash. Not clothes.
A newborn.
“I heard him crying when I cut through the park.”
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Tiny, red-faced, wrapped in a sad, too-thin blanket. No hat. Bare hands. His mouth opened and closed in weak cries.
His whole body shook.
“Goodness. He’s freezing.”
“Yeah,” Jax said. “I heard him crying when I cut through the park. Thought it was a cat. Then I saw… this.”
He jerked his chin at the blanket.
“They’re on their way.”
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