Disingenuous

3. Essentially Homeless

May 20, 2018

Jackson wasn't shocked at all that Amanda would give the child his last name. She was traditional like that. She wouldn't have even doubted the conviction for a second regardless of the fact that Jackson was absent for the entirety of the kids life. He wondered what her thought process had been when she decided to have Jackson's baby and name it after him without bothering to tell him about the baby in question.

Maybe she couldn't, a rational voice reminded him. You were gone. The retreat. Totally unreachable.

And then he'd only come home long enough to run away again, and he'd quite literally never come back.

The girl, who was called Morgan Knight, was still staring at Jackson waiting for him to respond to being given the confirmation that she was in fact his child. All he could bring himself to do was stare back.

"Now wait just a minute," David said, having tuned into the conversation. "Am I hearing this correctly?"

Morgan looked his way and her eyes widened a little bit at the sight of the other three men on the sofa. It was almost like she'd just registered their intimidating presence. Jackson found them intimidating too, so he actually sympathized with that look just a little bit. He still had the unrelenting urge to vomit, but he felt sympathy alongside it. She clearly hadn't expected to see them there witnessing her begin what was obviously going to be a terrible conversation.

Also Jackson was definitely drunk. He was smashed. Absolutely shit faced.

"I'm sure you have alot of questions," Morgan began slowly.

She had looked utterly confident when she'd first addressed him, but now in the presence of the entire group, Jackson could see her falter. He almost wanted to usher her into the other room so that she wouldn't be so flustered but he was leaning on the table for support and he didn't trust himself to walk steady enough.

"I call bullshit," Patrick chimed in. He turned and looked directly at Jackson. Jackson thought that might have been the first time Patrick had looked at him all evening. "This definitely isn't real."

The shock and doubt in his voice was obvious and it sent ripples around the room. He saw it in everyone's face. Seb was standing at the girls shoulder still and even he was looking at Jackson with uncertainty. Roosevelt was the only one still looking at her with an analytical expression. None of it mattered, because Jackson knew that Patrick was wrong. There was no doubt in his mind no matter how badly he wanted there to be. He just knew. Looking at her was all the proof he needed. He didn't want to say that so he didn't say anything in response.

Morgan must have expected the doubt though, because she only hesitated for a moment. Then she stumbled her way through pulling her backpack off and digging into the biggest pocket. She surfaced a second later with a paper clutched in her hand. Seb leaned forward to read it before his eyes shot back to Jackson, wide like he'd seen a ghost.

"That's a birth certificate," Seb said stonily.

"Yeah," Morgan agreed confidently.

She held it out in Jackson's direction, but Jackson didn't take it. He just nodded like he was swallowing something difficult, which technically he was.

"Mom— Amanda put your name on it," Morgan added nervously.

"That makes sense," Jackson mumbled more to himself than to anyone else.

The girl was still staring at him like he was supposed to do or say something grand. Jackson wanted to remind her that she was the one that had showed up at his door unexpected. How could he possibly be expected to respond to this? Plus, he was drunk. He was drunk when she'd arrived. He was drunker now. He was not capable of handling things. This was bigger than him and honestly, his legs felt like jelly.