AFTERGLOW

THE MORNING

*CHAPTER 8 — THE MORNING*

Morning.

Lena woke up in a bed that wasn't 42B.

Black sheets. City light. Too quiet for 7 AM.

Jax was already awake, sitting against the headboard, laptop open, but not typing. Just watching her.

"You stayed," he said.

"You said it was my choice. I chose," she mumbled, hiding her face in his pillow. It smelled like him. "You didn't kick me out in the elevator. That's on you."

He smiled. That soft one from the elevator.

"Coffee's on the nightstand. Black, because you steal mine."

She sat up. Blanket pulled up. Her red dress was folded neatly on the chair — he had folded it.

"Jax? Last night you said—" she hesitated. "In Chapter 1 you said you bought my childhood house. Was that real or were you just trying to scare me in the interview?"

He closed the laptop.

"Come here."

He pulled up his phone, opened photos, showed her.

Her old house. The yellow one on Maple. The porch swing. The kitchen where her mom taught her to make pasta.

"It went into foreclosure last year. Your parents told you they sold it and moved to Florida, right?"

Her blood went cold. "Yeah—"

"They didn't sell it. They lost it. I bought it at auction 14 months ago. For cash."

Lena stared. "What? Why didn't they tell me?"

"Because they were ashamed. And because my lawyer told them not to tell you until I decided what to do with it."

"Jax—"

"I didn't touch it," he said quickly. "Same paint. Same swing. The kitchen still has your height marks from when you were 8. I kept it. I thought... if you ever wanted to go back, you could."

She was crying again. Second time this week. She hated crying in front of him.

"You bought my house and you didn't even use it to blackmail me?"

"I was going to," he admitted. "That was the plan in Chapter 1. Bring you to your knees with it. But last night you apologized to my mom. Face-up. And you chose inside. Twice."

He tucked hair behind her ear, gentle now.

"So I'm giving it back to you. No rent. No strings. Deed's in my office safe. You can take it Monday."

Lena launched herself at him, arms around his neck, knocking the laptop.

"You are INSANE. You can't just buy someone's childhood house!"

"You bullied me for 4 years. I get to be insane."

She pulled back, eyes wet, laughing. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. There's a condition."

"There it is."

"You have to have dinner with me there. Once. You cook that terrible pasta you used to brag about. I sit in your kitchen and we pretend we're 16 again, but this time you're nice to me."

She nodded, forehead to his.

"Deal. But Jax?"

"Yeah?"

"If we pretend we're 16, can I be the one who kisses you first this time? In that kitchen?"

His breath caught.

"Yeah, princess. You can."

He kissed her slow this time, morning-soft, no elevator desperation. Just a boy who finally got the girl who used to make him cry — and a girl who finally realized Ghost was the only one who ever really saw her.