Page 141 of Timeless

“I’m guessing she was counting on you giving it to me?” Amber asked before her eyes went to the letter.

Jack didn’t say anything as Amber read the letter. I was waiting for Amber to explain why she had just raided our son’s school bag. Did she do that often? Raid Jack’s things? How did she know when he was hiding something like that from her?

Amber sighed and her eyes lifted from the letter. “Jack, you didn’t need to hide this.” I saw the frustration in her eyes. But her frustration wasn’t directed at Jack. It was directed at someone else. My interest in the letter spiked now. Whatever it said had pissed Amber off instantly.

I looked at Jack, whose eyes were glued to the floor. “Last time you yelled.” I heard the nerves in his voice, as well as fear. How many times had Jack gotten a letter like that?

I watched Amber lower to her knees. She placed a hand under his chin, lifting his head up and looking him in the eye. “Jack, go get dressed and we will get pancakes.” A smile spread across her face. “Seriously, Jack, I’m not mad. So, go get dressed.” She kept giving him a reassuring smile, and then Jack turned around and took off to get dressed and Amber’s smile disappeared.

She didn’t even have to say it. I knew something was wrong. “So, what is it?” I walked toward her and then took her hand that wasn’t clenching the letter and helping her up. I had just planned on helping her up but then I accidently pulled her up and into me. And I had to admit I didn’t want her to move now.

I knew something was wrong right now. I knew that her mind was on whatever that letter said. I also knew that Amber and I had to talk about expectations. But right now, all I could think of, was that she was nearly naked under my t-shirt, so I couldn’t stop my other hand going to her thigh and slowly pushing the t-shirt up.

I wanted to see if I was right and she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. So, my hand kept going up, pushing the t-shirt up as well. I was still holding her hand in my other hand, and I had to take advantage of that while I still had her in my grip.

I placed her hand on my shoulder and then my free hand went to her back. I dipped my head. I hope she wouldn’t push me away. I needed her. As soon as we had that talk about expectations, the next thing I was organizing was our week together. Even if I could only have her between the hours of nine and three.

I was about to kiss her, when she put a hand on my chest, stopping me. I couldn’t stop myself from groaning. She had no idea what she was doing to me, barely dressed, looking so sexy.

“Jax, stop, we need to talk.” Amber’s voice was soft, and gentle, like she really didn’t want to stop me but she had, too. “I have to deal with this.” She pulled her hand up, holding the letter.

I sighed. Right, we had to deal with whatever that letter said. “Okay, what’s the problem?” Just because we had to talk about whatever that letter said, didn’t mean I had to stop touching her, at least that was what I was hoping.

My other hand was still on her lower back. I wanted so badly to take this top off her. So, my hand kept going up her back, and she was curving into me, which was always good a sign. The higher my hand went up, the more she curved into me. I couldn’t help but smirk.

I wanted to kiss her, so fucking badly. But we had to deal with whatever was in that letter. I placed a kiss on her cheek. “All right, sweetheart, what’s the problem?” My eyes were on her lips, so red, so perfect.

“A little over a month ago, Jack fell over and hurt his wrist.”

I tore my eyes off Amber’s lips and looked her in the eye. “Is he okay?” Immediately, I started to panic. Was this letter results or something? “Is that what the letter is about?”

She shook her head. “Jack’s fine. It was nothing.” She sighed, “But I was in the middle of a meeting and couldn’t go and collect him. So, Troy and Cole did.” She raised the letter. “Since then, Jack has been suspended once and got two official warnings.”

I frowned. She wasn’t saying that Jack was being punished because of who his family was? I looked back at her. “Were the boys in colors?” The boys should have known not to wear their vests at Jack’s school. Surely, they weren’t that stupid to rock up at Jack’s school, not just wearing clothes that support the club but also a vest that showed they were members. The patches on their vest also showed they were in deep with the club.

“I don’t know. All I know is that suddenly Jack is suspended, and I wasn’t given a reason. And then he got an official warning for not raising his hand and then another one for being out of uniform.” She scoffed, shaking her head. “I’m guessing that Jack has reached his third warning and now I’m being called in, to be told he is expelled.”

“They can’t kick him out because of the club.” It wasn’t fair that Jack was being punished just because of me and Amber’s brothers. But I knew a lot of people, especially people with money, hated the club. Looked down on the members. Because they stood for the law and we, well, we stood against it. “Can we throw money to get rid of them?”

Maybe a donation or something would get them off Jack’s case. I looked up at Amber, who was pouring coffee.

“It’s not just the school, it’s the kids and their parents.” Amber turned around with a coffee in hand. “The parents don’t want Jack near their children. They enroll their kids into schools like Saint Thomas, to ensure that kids like Jack, with our family background, never get near their child.”

I looked down at the letter. “So, you have to be there at nine.” I looked back up at her. She was staring at the sink, clearly deep in thought. “I’ll come.”

Her eyes snapped off the sink, again, she had a look of disbelief on her face. “You want to come and deal with the school?”

“Yeah, why not?”

She placed her coffee down. “You’re serious right now?”

“Yep.” I looked at her firmer. “You and I need to discuss expectations as well. Because your reaction this morning, like me getting up with Jack is a big deal.”

“I don’t expect you to get up with him.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t want you feeling like you have to….” She paused and sighed. “I know you want to be a part of his life. But I don’t want him relying on you, in case you change your mind.”

She still thought I was leaving. Suddenly, I realized we had a bigger problem. I wouldn’t lie; I was pissed off. It seemed like nothing I did would prove to her I wasn’t leaving. Sure, our history wasn’t great and didn’t go in my favor but this was different.

“I thought we dealt with this when I told you that you had to give me a real shot?” I brought up yesterday, because I thought we had cleared up this discussion. “I told you I’m not going anywhere, you have to trust me.”

---