Page 166 of Timeless

“I kept the empire running.” I suddenly felt defensive. Was he going to act like me getting put in isolation was me letting him down? That I risked our club?

“I tried to get you out.” Rev’s voice dipped into something I hadn’t heard before. Concern and regret. His normal tone of disapproval wasn’t there. “I know what isolation does, son. It can break you. I didn’t think you could take it.” He let out a long breath. “I was wrong.”

Was he actually complimenting me? I couldn’t help being silent. He never complimented me, and what he just said sounded a fuck load like a compliment.

“I thought you got through it.” He sighed “Then as soon as you get out, you disappear from the club’s eyes. Wanna explain what is happening?” Rev actually sounded interested. He wasn’t yelling at me for disappearing, or yelling at me for not snapping straight into the role I was expected to fill.

I wasn’t sure what to say. If I admitted I hadn’t gone straight into my role because I needed to get the woman I loved back, I think he would somehow get out of prison to kill me. Or get someone to kill me. He still had men who owed him. He didn’t control them but he did have men still owing him.

“How is my daughter-in-law?”

My eyes widened. No fucking way he knew what I had been doing.

“I have to give you credit for finding her, I couldn’t even manage that.” His voice was steady and not threatening.

“How did you know about Amber?” I sure as hell never mentioned my relationship with her to him. Rev and I didn’t have heart to hearts.

“Was she worth the sentence?”

Seems Dad also knew the reason I really went to prison. So much for the raid lie I fed him. My eyes went back to Amber, still sleeping.

“I love her.” There. I admitted to the man with no heart, that I wasn’t the heartless bastard he wanted me to be, that he had tried to make sure I was, by being a ruthless parent and throwing me into a position in the underworld that automatically put a target on my head.

I don’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting to hear him laughing lowly.

“I know, son. You’ve loved her since you took our club to war against the Pythons.” Understanding was in Rev’s voice. “Never did thank her for doing that. She extended our territory and took out one of our competition. Though she wasn’t working for us at the time, was she?”

I knew I didn’t need to answer him. Fucking Rev. Even in a maximum-security prison he still knew the ins and outs of my world.

“Tae Neal Smith isn’t someone who sides with us, Jackson. He isn’t a friend of the club.” Rev was repeating facts to me I knew back then and I know now. I didn’t need to be reminded just how much of an enemy Tae was. After all, he was the main reason I phoned Rev.

“I know that, which is why I want to propose an idea.” I kept my voice neutral. Not wanting to let Rev hear just how much I want this.

“You’ve never ran ideas past me before.” His voice had curiosity. “Ever since I left you in charge, you haven’t needed me.”

“I’m not saying I do need you.” I was not letting him think I had called him for help. I would rather head back to isolation than go to Rev for help. “I just wanted to give you a heads up on where I’m taking the club.”

“So, you aren’t stepping down?”

I frowned. “No.” If anything, I was stepping up. “The opposite.”

“Now that’s my boy.”

Disgust rolled through my body hearing that. I never wanted or needed Rev to be proud of me. And that wasn’t changing tonight.

“You remember when you said I was the king, and your advice was to rule with a fucking fist and to always know what I want and what the club needs?” That was only bits of the speech Rev gave me when I was thrown into the underworld.

“The club and what is best for the club always comes first. It’s in our blood to know what our club needs, Jackson.”

“I know.” My eyes went back to Amber. “Our club needs to expand, territory, money, members.” That was what the club needed. And now for what I want. “And I’m going to do all that with a queen by my side.”

Rev went quiet. And honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of a reaction out of him.

“Amber has a reputation. Well, she did before she dropped off the face of the planet.” Rev’s words weren’t heated; he was stating a fact and immediately I felt like I needed to defended Amber.

“She isn’t some petty thief. She can raise to this position I want her in.” I reminded myself I didn’t need his permission. I didn’t even have to make this fucking phone call to tell him what I was planning on doing.

“I know she isn’t. A petty thief wouldn’t have the stomach to do half the things she has done.”

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