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ⁿᵒʷ ᵖˡᵃʸⁱⁿᵍ
𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 & 𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 , 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫
The house was too quiet.
Maya laid Leo down for his nap, but even the soft rise and fall of his breathing couldn’t calm her own. Her conversation with Jax replayed in her head, every word sharper than the last. You can keep hiding… I see you.
She hadn’t meant to say it like that, hadn’t meant to push him. But something about his face — the way his voice cracked, the way he gripped that chair like he was holding on to his sanity — it all shattered the icy picture she’d painted of him in her head.
She knew there was more. She needed him to admit it.
And maybe, just maybe, she needed him to admit it to himself.
Downstairs, Jax hadn’t moved for a long time.
He sat there in the study, staring at the blank wall like it could give him answers. Her words rang in his ears, cutting through years of carefully built silence.
I see you.
Nobody had seen him in years. Not like that. Not past the street name, the reputation, the armor. He didn’t know whether to be furious at her or grateful that she even bothered.
When he finally stood, it wasn’t to retreat. It was to find her.
Maya heard his footsteps before she saw him. Heavy, deliberate, echoing against the hallway floor. She tensed, back straight, trying to prepare herself.
The door pushed open, and there he was.
He leaned against the frame, silent for a moment, just watching her. She hated how her pulse jumped under his gaze, hated how his presence filled the room like oxygen and fire at once.
“You don’t listen,” he said finally, voice low.
“You don’t talk,” she countered, meeting his stare.
For a beat, the air between them was thick, heavy with unspoken things.
Jax stepped inside, closing the door behind him. His movements weren’t rushed, but there was something in his eyes — that dangerous calm before something snaps.
“You think you know me,” he said, each word deliberate. “You don’t. You hear a few words, you see a slip, and suddenly you think I’m someone worth saving.”
Maya’s chest tightened. “You are.”
That did it. He laughed, sharp and bitter, running a hand over his face. “I’m not, Maya. I don’t deserve—”
“Yes, you do.” Her voice was firm, cutting through his. “You do, Jax. And you can stand here and lie to me, but you can’t lie to yourself forever.”
Something broke in his eyes then. A flicker of pain, of truth, of the man he used to be before the streets got their claws in him.
And before she could process it, he closed the space between them.
One second he was across the room, the next his hand was cupping the back of her neck, his forehead pressed to hers. Not a kiss. Not yet. Just raw contact, as if he needed proof she was real, proof he wasn’t drowning alone.
Maya’s breath caught, but she didn’t pull away.
“You drive me crazy,” he whispered, voice rough. “You and that kid… you’re gonna be the death of me.”
Her heart thundered. “Or the reason you finally live.”
He pulled back slightly, their eyes locking. The tension snapped like a wire too tight for too long.
Jax kissed her.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t sweet. It was years of anger, longing, fear, and everything he’d buried crashing to the surface at once.
Maya melted into it, one hand on his chest, feeling the heartbeat that betrayed him, the rhythm he couldn’t hide.
When they finally broke apart, both breathless, Jax pressed his forehead to hers again.
“This is a mistake,” he muttered, though his grip on her said the opposite.
“Then let’s keep making it,” she whispered.
The line between hate, fear, and love had blurred. Neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring, but for the first time, Jax had crossed it. And once that line was gone, there was no pretending it never happened.
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