Page 52 of Timeless

“Really? Packing!” I yelled at her, ripping the suitcase from her hands and throwing it into the wall, making her jump and look frightened. Like I would hurt her! I would never hurt her. It made me more furious, knowing that she thought I would!

“I’m not letting you leave to be with him. Ever.” I wouldn’t be backing down on this. If she wanted to see what the King of the Underworld was capable of… Well, she was going to see it.

I would pull on every connection. I would make it my mission to ensure she never left to be with him. I would put hit after hit on his head. Until he was begging her to leave him alone. I would make his life a living hell. I would ruin his business he prided himself on.

I would destroy his life.

And make sure she was nowhere near it, while I did it.

“I don’t have a choice anymore.” She turned and picked up the suitcase. “You were leaving. I wasn’t stopping you.” Her eyes locked back with mine. “You don’t want to be a part of your son’s life. Well, you aren’t. I won’t let you near him now. So, leave.”

She was saying that like I had one chance and I blew it. “I panicked.”

“When you have a child, what they want comes before what you want. Clearly, you aren’t ready to be a father.” She opened up the suitcase. “Now I have to pack up a house full of shit. I have to leave when Jack gets back in the morning. So, do what you were doing before. Leave.”

“If you really think I would let you move to another country, you don’t know me at all.” She knew how jealous I got. She knew how protective I was of her. I was just as protective of Jack, even though I hadn’t met him yet.

I loved her, and I loved my son. So much so, I would do anything to make sure they were protected and were in my life. I was leaving tonight but I would have made sure they were still in my life.

I just wouldn’t be in theirs.

I thought that was for the best. Clearly, I fucking panicked at the thought of disappointing Jack. He had an image of what I was like in his head and I didn’t want to ruin that.

“Did Tae say when I had to be ready?” Amber walked out of the closet with the suitcase.

I scoffed following her. She couldn’t be serious?

“Jackson, you should leave.” Amber dropped the suitcase on the bed. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell my brothers I’m leaving.” She said that more to herself than to me. I watched her frown. “They’re going to hate me.”

“You aren’t leaving.” It was law. She wasn’t leaving. Not to be with Tae. I would have tolerated Will. Because she loved him. But if she was leaving him, well, I didn’t have to tolerate him. “What about Will?” I asked.

I watched her go stiff. Why did I suddenly get a feeling she had been so upset before because of him?

“What the fuck did he do?” I barked at her, watching her stare into space.

Her eyes snapped off the suitcase and she looked at me. I had seen that look in her eyes before. When I had hurt her. That hollowness. That distance. Yeah, I had seen it before. When I had pushed her away or broken her heart.

How many times had I done both? I wanted to punch myself. How many times had I hurt her? I don’t know how she was still functioning.

“I’m starting to realize I can’t count on anyone,” she said softly, her eyes painted with nothing but emptiness. “Besides Tae.”

Him again. “What about me?” I knew I had let her down in the past. But I always put her first. Never once had I done it because I wanted to hurt her. Even when we broke up over Mai. I was just doing that for the club. I wasn’t doing it to hurt her.

“You always just leave, Jax.” She picked up the remote, turning the television off. “Jack will be back in the morning, and I don’t want him to see you.”

“I’m meeting my son.”

“You aren’t.”

“Yes. I. Am.”

She flung around. “You lost your right to meet him when you decided to leave. I won’t let you hurt him. I won’t let him get hurt. Not by you. Not by Will. So, leave, Jackson. Now.”

“Stop calling me that!” I always hated it when she called me by my full name! Only my parents called me that. Mainly Dad to pull me in line. She only called me it when she hated me or wanted me to leave her alone.

“Bye, Jackson.”

Okay, that was enough with the game. I was not letting her leave and marry Tae. Not even if she really wanted to. I didn’t care if she was madly in love with him. It wasn’t happening. He was not bringing up my son. I would be. With Amber.

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