I couldn’t do this. It was just one more complication in a list of many.
“Phoenix,” Levi whispered, his voice heavy with need and confusion. He knew what he wanted, but he clearly had no idea how to go about getting it. It was a reminder that, despite what I’d seen in the alley with him and T, there were certain aspects of sex that were foreign to him.
I was leaning in before I could stop myself, but with a good foot still separating us, Levi let out a strangled, “Oh my God!” and then he was out of the car like a shot.
I quickly climbed out of the car, immediately searching for danger.
And found it almost instantly.
“Henry!”
Levi’s terrified shout carried across the street as he ran for the entrance to the building. But my eyes were stuck on what he’d already seen.
Because four stories up sitting dangerously close to the side of the building’s fire escape was a baby, completely unaware of the peril it was in. Behind the baby was an open window, but there was no adult in sight.
I sprinted across the street as I watched the baby crawl closer to the edge of the landing it was sitting on. The bars that should have been there to protect people from stepping off the landing were gone. If the baby moved even a few more inches, it would topple over the edge.
As I reached the bottom of the fire escape, I vaulted onto a nearby dumpster and then used the extra height to make the leap to the ladder which was a good ten feet off the ground. As soon as my hands closed around the bottom rung, the ladder descended and I began scrambling up it. I kept my eyes on the baby as I climbed up to the first landing. The noise of the ladder descending had fortunately distracted the baby and it had stopped its forward crawl.
“Hey, what are you doing up so early?” I said to the baby in a cheerful voice, even though I was still two floors below it. The sound of my voice attracted the baby’s attention and by the time I reached the landing, the child was watching me with wide eyes.
My whole body was shaking like crazy as I reached down to pick the baby up. Based on the name Levi had used and the blue shirt covered in trains that the baby was wearing, I was guessing it was a he. The baby, Henry, was wearing only a diaper besides the shirt. His skin was chilled so I quickly pulled him against my body and wrapped the lower part of my shirt around his lower half.
“Henry!” I heard Levi scream. I ducked into the open window to see the front door crash open and a panicked Levi tearing into the apartment.
“Henry! Oh, thank you God!” he cried when he saw the baby.
I quickly handed the baby over to him. Tears began streaming down his face unchecked as he examined the child. My guess was that the baby was somewhere between nine months and a year old. He had brown hair and huge blue eyes and he smiled happily as Levi spoke to him.
“Thank you, thank you,” Levi cried as he wrapped an arm around me and cried against my chest.
“Shhh, he’s okay, Levi,” I murmured as I dropped a kiss on the top of his head. I put my arm around him to steady him as the panic finally began to leach from his system. When he released me to focus on the baby, I searched the small living room we were standing in and then spotted the Pack-N-Play. I grabbed a fleece blanket from it and then wrapped it around the baby before I led Levi over to the couch.
“What the fuck is going on out here?”
I looked up to see a man wearing nothing more than boxers and a plain white undershirt standing near the entrance to the living room. His dark hair was messy, like he’d just woken up, and his eyes were red-rimmed.
Levi stiffened next to me, but then he stood up.
“What the hell happened, Dad?” he nearly yelled. “Henry was out on the fire escape!”
The man seemed confused for a moment and dropped his eyes to the baby briefly. “Must have forgotten to put him back in his thing” – he waved his hand at the Pack N Play – “after I fed him.”
“That’s it?” Levi said in astonishment. “He could have been killed!”
“He’s fine,” the man said, his voice slurring a bit. I could smell the alcohol wafting off him even from where I was standing.
“Who is this?” the man said as his eyes shifted to me, his lips twisting into an ugly sneer.
“Phoenix. He’s my friend,” Levi murmured, though his voice had lost some of its edge. “He saved Henry.”