Page 144 of Timeless

“You know what my wife is really good at?” Jax kept talking, ignoring me, and also saying I was his wife, when I wasn’t. “Being polite. Me not so much. Amber might be accepting the fact you are expelling our son. But I don’t.”

“Mr. Johnston, if you could—”

“You judged me and then judged my son. So, I’m going to live up to your expectations.” Jax’s tone said it all. Any person with a brain would know payback was coming her way. With that said, Jax backed away, and I opened the door.

What was Jax thinking? Maybe robbing her house for payback? I think we were above some petty house raid. But when it came down to it, that’s what the parents and staff of this school thought. If they knew what Jax was really capable of, I doubt they’d dare question his son. I glanced at Jax as he walked next to me, I was slightly surprised to see his eyes on me.

What was he thinking? He used to give me that look when he was trying to read me, see what my reaction was going to be, then judge what to do next.

Well, I knew what we had to do next was dinner with Isaac. As much as I didn’t want to. He was on the board of Eagles Academy. The only other school in this city that could compete with Saint Thomas.

Jax held the door open for me. Which was sort of sweet. So, I smiled just slightly at the gesture. But didn’t let him see it.

“So, how important is this school?” Jax’s words were steady but I now knew why he was trying to read me before. He wanted to know whether to threaten or just send a message.

I came to a stop at the gates, looking back at the school. “Important. Jack was finally being challenged. It’s one of the best schools in the country, maybe world.” I sighed. There was no point going over it, I couldn’t get him back in. My pride wouldn’t allow it.

“If it is so important, why didn’t you just let her beg and plead her way back to having Jack? You seemed to be one of their financial supports.” Jax made an obvious statement. Jennifer wanted Jack back as soon as she realized how much money he brought into the school.

No point in telling him it was my pride holding me back from letting Jennifer beg for my money. I didn’t want my son somewhere that he wasn’t wanted, that he was treated differently. No, worse than that, I didn’t want him treated like he was less.

If anything, he was better than a trust fund kid. Jack didn’t look at the world with money in his eyes and greed. I had seen the greed in his fellow students. At their parties, demanding the most expensive toys, technology, and parties.

I shook my head. Jack was better than those kids. He didn’t value things, not yet anyway- and not ever if I had something to do with it.

I was a trust fund kid. Wasted Dad’s money. Never gave a fuck he had to earn it. Why? Because he would just throw money at me. When I was in trouble. When I was sad. When I needed him to be an actual father. My bank account just went up. Never once did he give me something I needed.

I didn’t need over a dozen luxury cars plus dirt bikes. I didn’t need to rip price tags off new clothes every day.

No, I needed a parent.

I gave another look at the school, stopping at the car. I needed to be taught the value of people and money. Money wasn’t something that would always be there. Money was earned. No one was better than another, just because they had a higher figure in their bank account or a trust fund they could retire on.

Jack would have that trust fund, hell, he already had three. One from me, one from my father, and one from Tae. But Jack was going to learn from my mistakes. He wasn’t going to have to go dead broke poor to learn the importance of money. He wasn’t going to be in a position where his life depended on taking head shots to learn the value of math like I did.

“Amber?”

I tore my eyes off the school to look at Jax. “Mm?” I couldn’t stop my eyes going back to the school. I wanted Jack to have the best education and the best education was here at Saint Thomas.

“I’ll get Jack back in.”

I started shaking my head. “Nope, I’m not throwing any money at them.” I was not giving them a cent. Not one fucking cent. I couldn’t stop myself from shooting a glare at the school. “They can get fucked.” I then looked back at Jax.

He was giving me a firm look. “Amber. Your pride is in the way.”

“No.” I shook my head. “They aren’t getting a cent of my money.” I would not be paying them to take Jack, they should be fucking begging me for him to go there. He was the perfect student.

Jax smirked just slightly, pointing the car keys at me. “Fine. No money. But I’ll get him back in.” He unlocked the car and then groaned. “Fuck, Amber, this is ridiculous!”

I scoffed. “I know. I can’t believe that I have to give them millions on millions for them to take Jack. Jack is a fucking golden student!” And I wasn’t meaning that by the money that came with him.

“I’m not talking about that.” Jax rolled his eyes and then gestured at my car. “This is what is fucking ridiculous! How much money do you earn? And you drive this!” Jax looked disgusted at my sedan.

“It’s a company car.”

Jax scoffed. “Good, because someone should be fucking pay you to drive this shit.” He then tore his eyes off the car to look at me. “We are upgrading.”

“I don’t need a luxury car.” I opened the car door and got in.

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