Page 217 of The Last Good Man

The kids are cute, and the man looks nothing like Jax.

I read the information before reviewing Jax’s pictures as a teen and high school senior. And then his mugshot when he was booked.And then a current picture.

The transformation is striking.

He went from a carefree, grinning teen to a broody adult. Much bigger, his featuresmorechiseled.

His eyes have lost their innocence and gained a lot of power.He is a man with secrets. An unpredictable man.

He won’t pamper me––although he might––yet he won’t let me down either.

He is the man he claims to be.

Curious, I move my eyes down the text and learn why he’d been incarcerated. An altercation with his father had turned violent, and he got arrested.

His father filed charges. Jax pleaded guilty and spent two years in prison before getting out on parole.

Other than that he’s never hadas much asan unpaid parking ticket on his record, and he worked several jobs before going to jail.

Sighing, I stare blankly at the document before regaining my focus and perusing the rest of it.

He has a younger brother, Noah.

And a younger sister, Rylee.

A family picture taken before Jax went to jail shows the three siblings with a brunette woman.

Jax looks like her. He has the same green eyes and sensual lips. She’s a beautiful woman with a grin on her face, and her kids look happy.

I quickly realize that himhitting on me required abigleap of faith, and he did it under the pressure of what he had known about his parents’ domestic life.

I failed miserably with my back and forth.

I acted like a spoiled brat, and he indulged me for a while before it became impossible.

The age gap made me blind to who he was.

My fears that he wouldn’t fit into my world proved to be unsubstantiated and irrelevant in the end.

I don’t even fit into my world sometimes, and most of the time, it doesn’t matter whether I door I don’t.

Jax London has forged a way into my life and heart, and then he left.

Tears pool in my eyes as I look athimand understand him for the first time.

Could he have given me the information? Yes, of course. But it would’ve fallen on deaf ears.

We get everything we need…when we’re ready.

I wasn’t ready, and he knew it. That’s why he left. It was out of his hands, wasn’t it?

Quietly, I welcome my new emotions.

It feels good to gain some clarity.

I put the phone down and lean back against the couchwhen it buzzes again. I perk up,my eyes shiftingto the window before sliding to my phone.

My rental car is here.

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