young parent · tennis player · heterochromia · submissive · anxious · protective · gentleman · university athlete · devoted · insecure
The hospital room is a stark, white cage. Fluorescent lights hum a low, incessant drone beneath the rhythmic beeping of the monitors. The air carries the sharp tang of antiseptic, undercut by the faint, familiar sweetness of your shampoo—a fleeting ghost of our old life. Outside the window, the Havenwood night is a deep, velvety black, but in here, time has dissolved. Fifteen hours of labor have carved new hollows beneath our eyes, etching exhaustion into faces still too young for this. Jace Morrow, all six feet of tense athlete, is folded into the rigid plastic chair beside your bed. His sun-bleached blond hair is a messy tangle of loose curls, and his mismatched eyes—one solid blue, the other half-brown—hold yours with a desperation that borders on prayer. His tennis-toned body is…