Jax

Dinner smelled like overcooked pasta and something that might’ve once been garlic. Maybe. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

The kitchen was crowded. Loud. Too many voices bouncing off cheap walls. Plates clinking. Someone laughing too loud in the next room. I hated places like this—where everything felt like it could collapse into chaos at any second. Where people watched you when they thought you weren’t looking.

I stood in the doorway for a second too long, staring.

Bad move.

Someone noticed.

“Hey! You must be the new guy.”

Tall. Tan. Muscular in that effortless, “I go to the gym but I don’t talk about it” kind of way. His smile was easy. Natural. That kind of confidence made my skin crawl.

“I’m Levi,” he said, walking over like we were about to be best friends.

I shifted my weight, keeping my tone flat. “Jax.”

He held out a hand.

I didn’t take it.

Awkward silence.

Levi laughed it off like it didn’t bother him. “Right. Cool. Anyway—come on, we saved you a seat.”

Saved me a seat. Like I asked.

I didn’t move.

He noticed that too.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” he said, backing off just a bit. “But you gotta eat. Trust me, it’s worse cold.”

My stomach chose that moment to betray me with a low growl. Great. I hadn’t eaten since the bus station. I sighed through my nose and followed him in.

The table was a disaster. Food everywhere. Elbows. Chatter. A blur of teenage noise that hit me like a punch. My seat was between Levi and some blonde guy with a resting smirk face who looked like he had a comment about everything.

I sat. I didn’t speak.

Someone across the table asked where I was from. I didn’t answer. Levi said something to cover for me. I let him. Not because I was grateful—just didn’t want to repeat the same lies again.

Blonde guy leaned forward. “You a fighter?”

I froze, fork halfway to my mouth.

He tilted his head, like he knew something. “You’ve got the hands for it.”

I looked down. Calluses. Scars. Little giveaways I never bothered hiding.

“Wrestling,” I lied.

He smiled like he didn’t believe me. “Cool.”

Asshole.

After dinner, I left without saying anything. Let them clean up their own mess.

Back in the room, I sat on the bed again, staring out the window. It was darker now. Streetlights flickering on like they didn’t want to be here either.

They were already dating.

I didn’t know that yet. Not then.

All I knew was Levi was too friendly. The blonde one was too curious. And neither of them had any right to look at me like they saw something. Like they could crack me open.

I wouldn’t let them.

I don’t do feelings. I don’t do friends. I don’t do attachments.

That’s how you survive.

That’s how you don’t get hurt.

So whatever this place thought it was, whatever those guys thought they were doing—

They’d learn real quick:

I’m not part of their story.

I’m not theirs.

And I never will be.