Page 171 of Timeless

My eyes snapped to him. “About?”

He said he wasn’t giving me the speech so why did he have that tone to his voice like whatever he wanted to talk about was serious?

“I want to discuss it with you before I announce it.” He looked at me like whatever he wanted to say to me hadn’t been on his mind all night.

I knew he was practicing a speech last night. It just wasn’t the speech I was used to, which sent automatic dread through my veins.

“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving.” He must have caught the expression on my face when the dread started to fill me. “It’s not about us. It’s about business.”

Okay, my dread switched to fear. “Why would you talk about business with me?” I knew for a fact Jax had always kept business and me separate. I learned the hard way, I had to deal with that if I was going to be his.

I had to accept that the club came first and what he did in that club wasn’t my concern. As much as I wanted Jax to share every problem with me, when it came to the club he always kept those problems to himself. So, I knew now, it mustn’t be club business, just business in general.

He opened his mouth to answer my question but I didn’t need him to confirm what I already knew, it had nothing to do with the club.

“I get it. Business in general. I’ll help you sort shit out when I get back.” I opened my drawer and pulled out a pair of shorts. I didn’t see the point in getting dressed properly when I would be changing in a few hours.

“Business in general?” He repeated my words.

“Sure.” I turned and smiled at him. “Guess it is about bank cards and shit, yeah?” I kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll help you this afternoon. But right now, I need to go save whoever Jack is currently holding captive.”

I knew one of my brothers must be up with him, because Jack doesn’t sleep in. And when he is awake he normally comes and gets me up, if I’m not already up getting ready for work.

Jax caught my hand, just as I turned to leave. “Amber.”

He was holding me up but I knew whoever was dealing with Jack wouldn’t die if I was a few more minutes. “Yeah?”

“You really need shit like that for your job?” He nodded to the jewelry. “You sure you don’t just like wearing it?”

Seriously back to the subject of jewelry? I sighed. “Jax, I like wearing jewelry that has been given to me by someone who is important to me.” I pointed to the cabinet. “Zero of that makes the cut. Not one piece of that jewelry was given to me because the person giving it loved me. Even Tae’s presents were more like hush presents.”

“What do you mean by Tae’s presents being hush presents?” Jax only picked up on the mention of Tae, not about how I felt about the jewelry.

“It doesn’t matter.” I pulled my hand from his. “If it really bothers you, just throw the jewelry out. I’ll just replace it when I need it.” I settled the pointless argument. “Now I have to go.”

I backed out of the room and spin around, heading for the door. I had scheduled Jack a play date with Max, who Jack played with at soccer. Max was homeschooled, so it worked in my favor today.

Because not one of Jack’s other friends would be available on a week day for a play date. I had just made it to the stairs when Jax’s arms wrapped around me.

“What’s your plans with Jack while you go out for lunch? Seeing as he won’t be going to school.” Jax pointing that lack of school in Jack’s life made me more nervous about lunch. I really had to work my charm.

“Um, he has a play date,” I said when we got to the bottom of the stairs. “You don’t have to worry about him.”

Jax arched his eyebrows at me. “Did you organize this play date so I didn’t have to look after him?”

“I just assumed you were going back to the club today.” It wasn’t a lie. I was expecting Jax to get back into the club. I couldn’t just depend on him to look after Jack. I groaned when I saw his expression. “Why are you looking at me like that!?”

“You don’t trust me with him.” Jax said it like I had done it on purpose to hurt him!

“I just don’t expect you to be babysitting him.”

“He is my son, Amber. Do you consider yourself babysitting him when he is with you?” Jax challenged me and he knew the answer to the question.

I sighed. “Of course not.”

“Then why would it be different for me?”

Okay, he was making a point. But still I knew Jax had responsibilities, like a whole biker gang waiting for him to appear.

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