CHAPTER 3: THE MAN HE BECAME
The sun had shifted lower by the time Jax stood up.
The diner felt smaller now. Quieter. Like everything had changed without anyone noticing.
He walked around the counter slowly and stopped in front of Eli.
For a second, he hesitated.
Then he crouched down.
Up close, there was no denying it anymore.
“I don’t know how to be a father,” Jax admitted, voice rough.
Eli shrugged slightly. “I don’t know how to have one.”
Jax let out a small, breathy laugh.
“Guess we’re even.”
A pause.
Then Jax reached out—slowly, carefully—and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Eli didn’t pull away.
That was enough.
“We’ll figure it out,” Jax said.
The waitress turned away quietly, giving them space.
Outside, the roar of motorcycles echoed faintly in the distance—but inside, everything felt still.
Eli looked up at him.
“Are you gonna leave?” he asked.
Jax shook his head immediately.
“No.”
Not this time.
He stood up and held out his hand.
Eli looked at it for a second… then took it.
And just like that, something broken began to heal.
ENDING:
Later that night, Jax sat alone for a moment while Eli slept in the booth, wrapped in a borrowed jacket.
He looked at the photo again.
A younger version of himself. A baby in his arms.
A life he never knew he had.
A life that somehow found its way back to him anyway.
“Anna…” he whispered.
There was no answer.
May you like
But for the first time in years…
He wasn’t alone.
