Slade (The Protectors #6)(21)
Chapter 7
When Lana and Sid started whispering to each other, Caroline knew it was time to go. After a great night of hanging with her sister and the other girls watching Gladiators on television and in real life, so to speak, it was time for her to go. Smiling, she watched the way her sister reacted to Sid. She had never seen Lana so happy with a man, and Sid, what could she say about him other than he openly adored her twin sister and the family loved him, as did she.
Envy heated her chest, but Caroline pushed it away. She was happy like that once, but that had all changed in the face of Rod’s lies. Her family was everything to her, but Rod never took to her sister or their gift. It scared him, so Caroline had pushed it down, telling everyone that her gift frightened her. In truth, it did frighten her, but she had learned to deal with it. Her phone went off, making her jump. Glancing at it quickly, she frowned, clicking the ignore button. She had blocked Rod’s number, but he would borrow someone’s phone and call from a different number. She knew it was him because she never received unknown numbers on her cell phone before.
“Hey!” Lana walked up behind her. “Was that Mom?”
Startled, she dropped her bag. “Ah, no.” Caroline hoped to get out of there before her sister could interrogate her further, knowing Lana she would go hunting for her ex. “Why? You need to me to tell her anything?”
“Yeah.” Lana stared at her for a few seconds. “Tell her we can do dinner Wednesday.”
“Will do.” Caroline smiled, giving Lana a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing toward the door. “Thanks for the movie.”
“Caroline,” Lana stopped her, “is Rod bothering you?”
“I’ve got it under control, Lana.” Caroline finger-waved to Sid who gave her a wink from across the room where he was talking to Damon and Nicole. Ignoring Lana’s frown, she didn’t even look her way as she headed out of the room calling out over her shoulder, “Now, I gotta go. See ya Wednesday.”
Once out of the room, Caroline let out a long breath. Almost making it to the door, she heard the beautiful, soothing, but faint sound of a guitar. Tilting her head, she looked up the steps that led to the living quarters. Taking a glance around, she looked back up the steps to see Jax’s sister on the stairs looking down at her. Knowing now who was playing, she made her way to the steps and began to climb. His sister faded from sight as Caroline made it down a few mazes of hallways and doors before the music became louder. Standing outside the door, Caroline leaned quietly against the wall, listening to the beautiful strumming, wondering how in the world she had heard it from downstairs, but she was glad she did. She could actually feel her nerves ease, making her feel light and slightly sleepy, almost to the point she jumped a mile high when a deep male voice boomed from behind the door, “Are you going to stand outside my door all night or knock?”
Caroline glared at the door before rolling her eyes. She didn’t really want to knock, but if it would get him to play again, she would do it. Raising her hand, she started to knock, but the door flew open before her hand made contact.
“What?” Jax’s tone was not pleasant as he looked down at her. He stuck his head out the door, looking up and down the hallway.
She didn’t expect a shirtless Jax to open his door, but there he was. Beautiful tattoos covered his upper body. Her eyes followed the patterns. Holy wow, he was a sexy specimen. She wondered briefly what each tattoo meant, because, knowing the intense Warrior, he didn’t do things without a lot of deep thought.
“More messages from my dead sister?” he asked, his tone taunting as he looked down at her. “Or are you just going to stare?”
Color bloomed across her cheeks as a lie built inside her head and almost made it out of her mouth, but she pulled it back. She had to understand that most people were not going to be so accepting of her gifts, especially if it was painful. As she looked into his golden eyes, she saw a glimpse of pain brought on by the words he spoke of his sister. “Listen, I’m sorry about that,” Caroline, who rarely apologized, apologized. “I shouldn’t have blurted out in front of everyone about your sister. I should have warned you first.”
“Yes, you should have,” Jax agreed. “Not that I believe in all that bullshit.”
Caroline glared at him before turning away from his door. “Whatever.” She headed down the hall. “I apologized and I couldn’t care less if you believe it or not.”
“Wait a minute,” Jax called out. “Is that the only reason you came up here?” There was suspicion in his tone.
Being a teacher who faced a room full of kids ready to call you out on anything and everything, nothing much fazed Caroline, but this man’s attitude did, and not in a good way. “You know what,” Caroline turned around and walked back toward him, “actually, that wasn’t the reason I came up here at all. I heard the guitar and thought it was beautiful.”
A small grin played at the corner of Jax’s full mouth. “So your apology meant…?”
“Absolutely nothing.” Caroline tilted her chin. “It’s what I do. It’s what my sister and I do. I fought it for a while and that got me into a world of trouble, changing my life. So yeah, I’m not sorry.”
Jax leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “School teachers shouldn’t lie.”