Tilting her head, she looked up at him, wondering which Indian tribe he came from. He was a damn handsome man and smart, so she knew he knew exactly what she was talking about. “The more you put Jill down, give her a hard time, the more you put doubts in her head. When it comes down to it, you are her liability. She is no one’s liability.”
Surprise flashed across his face, but soon disappeared. “What do you teach?”
“History. And I sure would like to talk to you about your past.” Caroline smiled at deepening frown on his full lips. She decided since he was changing the subject, she would too. “Why didn’t your brother go through with the initiation? Alisha doesn’t talk about him much, but—”
“My brother is dead to me.” Jax’s eyes turned dark with something Caroline figured was a deep anger. “Seems you know more than you should about my past as it is,” Jax grumbled.
“Not even close.” Caroline’s smile turned into a full-blown grin. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask your sister anything and I haven’t. She has given me all this information voluntarily.”
Her phone rang at that moment and the ring tone was unfamiliar, so she knew who it was. She did her best to ignore it.
“You going to answer that?” Jax frowned down at her bag where the ringing was coming from.
“No,” Caroline replied, hefting the bag further on her shoulder. The ringing stopped, only to start again. Rolling her eyes, she dug into her purse pulling out her phone. “It’s just my ex.”
“He giving you a hard time?” Jax eyed the phone, which she turned to silent.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” She tossed it back into her purse, dismissing the phone and Rod without a second thought. “So are you going to stop giving Jill a hard time and start helping her?”
“You’re pushy.” Jax glared down at her, leaning back against the doorframe.
“Very,” she nodded in agreement, her eyes not leaving his. “She needs all of you behind her, Jax. And your sister is not going to leave me alone until you do.”
Jax looked away from her, and then a small grin tipped his lips. “If you have dinner with me, I’ll think about it.”
Caroline snorted, but her stomach dipped at the thought of having dinner with this man. “And you really think I would agree to have dinner with you for you just to think about it?”
“Yes.” The tilted smirk Jax gave her was full of confidence that she would agree.
“Well, obviously, you don’t know me very well,” Caroline countered back. Her phone, which she turned silent, started to buzz and vibrate. She watched his eyes move to her purse then back up to her.
“You want me to answer that for you?” he asked, a look of irritation narrowed his eyes. “I’m sure I could help you with that problem.”
“No, it’s fine,” Caroline lied, but there was no sense getting everyone involved in her issues with Rod. It was over and he would soon get tired of being ignored and go away. “But I do have a deal for you. If you stop harassing Jill—”
“I am not harassing Jill,” Jax corrected her.
Caroline rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, okay then. When you stop provoking Jill and start helping her, teach me how to play guitar and, then I will have dinner with you.” Biting her lip, she wondered what he thought about her second stipulation. She had always wanted to learn to play guitar. She actually had an old acoustic guitar in the back of her closet. Jax laughed. The deep timbre of his voice washed over her and she suddenly found herself wanting to see him laugh more often. She surprised herself when she realized she wanted it to be her who made him laugh.
“I’m not provoking either,” Jax laughed again. “I’m being realistic.”
“In your own mind maybe.” Caroline cocked her eyebrow at him. “You like her.”
“And you know me so well that you know that as a fact,” Jax sparred with her some more, seeming to enjoy matching wits with her.
“I do,” Caroline nodded, also liking their banter. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t care whether she was a liability or not, which she’s not.”
“No, I’m the liability.” His tone was disbelieving.
“Yes, now you’re getting it,” Caroline grinned, and then frowned when her phone buzzed again. In one long stretch, Jax reached into her purse expertly locating her phone. Flipping it open, his eyes met hers.
“Hello!” Jax’s tone was tolerant, not nasty, but definitely not nice. “You called this phone so why don’t we start out by you telling me who you are and why you are constantly ringing this phone.”
Caroline threw her hands up in the air, looking at Jax in disbelief. She was actually amazed he found it so quickly when it usually took her minutes of searching through all her crap to find it. When he continued to stare at her while listening to the other end, her stomach knotted up. This wasn’t going to be good.