Page 38 of Timeless

“What?” He looked at me like he hadn’t just flat out lied to me.

“Lie to each other,” I said, sipping my coffee, burning my tongue. “Because if we are going to lie, I might as well tell you it is a really sunny day.” My tone soured. “You should go outside.”

The rain was bucketing down on the house so loudly you could hear every drop on the tin roof. I watched him squirm and his eyes harden as they locked with mine. I arched my eyebrows when he didn’t start spitting the truth.

Jax would only ever lie to me to protect me. A question like, how did you sleep, should have gotten me an honest answer. Instead, he lied. And right now, he wasn’t even denying it. The Jax I knew never flat out lied to me for no reason.

Maybe he had changed. I took my eyes off him. It had been six years. What did I expect?

“The coffee is hot and breakfast will be here within an hour.” I put my attention back to something that needed it. Jax didn’t want or need my attention.

“You don’t have to sound so cold.”

I didn’t take my eyes off my work, though I was just rereading the figures. Over and over. And they weren’t sinking in because I could feel his eyes on me. What was I trying to do again? Right, calculate human resources’ overspend. I tapped my pen on the table. How had they managed to spend that much on advertising!

I heard Jax sigh but I was back in the zone. I never thought I’d be thankful for the day Tae made me see the importance in math. But now I relied on math to pay my way through life.

Jax dragged the chair next to me out and sat down.

“I didn’t sleep.”

So, he was going to tell me the truth. I put my pen down. “Why?”

“I just found out I have a son. The woman I love has moved on with another man and it was my second night out of prison.” He looked me in the eye. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He looked exhausted. I turned, tucking my leg under me and running my fingers down his jaw. “You could have come woke me.” I was always a sucker for needing to touch him.

“Nothing you could do.” He sounded incredibly nervous for some reason.

My hand froze on his cheek. “Don’t lie to me.”

“How do you do that?”

“Know when you are lying?”

“Yeah.”

“Just do.” The same way he always knew when I was in trouble. Some things you just know. “You could have woken me up. Your room is literally right next to mine.”

“You need sleep.” He glanced at my work. “Clearly.”

I had laid awake half the night, thinking about him. About everything. My brain went into overdrive as soon as I laid down. And my body was well aware that Jax was only a room away. How did Will trust me? I didn’t trust me around Jax.

Like right now I couldn’t move my hand from his cheek. Instead, I tilted my head, looking into his eyes.

“How long are you staying?” I had been wondering ever since he arrived.

“I don’t know.” Jax’s hand went under the table and I felt it on my thigh. “Would you hate me if I moved charters?”

“What, to here?”

He nodded.

He wouldn’t seriously leave home, would he? I took my hand off his face. He was crazy. I couldn’t encourage crazy behavior. “You shouldn’t leave your hometown.”

“Because you don’t want me here?”

“Because you live and breathe that charter! You always have!”

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