Adam (The Protectors #5)(45)

Jax nodded his head at them. “Nice to meet you, guys, but I’m sure you’re not feeling the same at the moment.” His eyes landed on Jill with a wink.

Jill glared at him, not liking him very much. He seemed way too sure of himself, and well, he ripped her favorite damn shirt. He just grinned at her before looking away.

“I’m going to let Jax and Slade take over for now.” With that, Sloan turned and walked out of the room, as was his nature to always do: say his peace and leave.

Slade stepped forward. “Each Warrior here has had their first true start of training for initiation. Today was that day for you.” He eyed them each before continuing. “You actually did very well, but there were things that could have gone differently in the situation you were placed in.”

Jill waited to see if Adam or Steve were going to say anything, but a sideways glance at them showed her they were keeping their mouths shut, so maybe she should follow suit and do the same.

“Let’s start from the beginning. Did any of you, once placed inside the vehicle at the start of the drive, keep track of turns, time and noises so if you could contact anyone you would be able to give them some type of location?”

Jill knew she had, but also knew she had screwed it up halfway and lost track. Her mind right now was still on what happened and she still wasn’t thinking straight.

“You need to block out what just happened to you right now.” Jax stepped in, his eyes narrowed on them. “Get over being pissed, frightened or whatever emotion you had, and answer the f*cking questions. In order to be a Warrior, you have to be able to adjust from one issue to the next without thought or emotion.”

“No, I lost track,” Adam replied, his voice hoarse, but firm.

“So did I,” Jill replied, not looking at Jax. “I lost it halfway through.”

“Left for a block then left again for another two blocks, right for maybe a mile then left for maybe a half a mile and then right before we stopped.” Steve replied with confidence.

“You drove, Damon. Is he right?” Slade asked, still looking at Steve.

It was a second before Damon nodded. “Yeah, he got it.”

“Good job, Steve.” Slade nodded his approval. “That is important, but as you get more comfortable, it will be easier. As a Warrior, you are going to have to be aware of your surroundings at all times. You are going to have enemies. A seasoned Warrior would never have been taken like you were tonight. Three seasoned Warriors would have killed double the enemies it took to get you inside the van.”

“So since we aren’t seasoned Warriors, how did we do?” Steve asked, and then his face clearly stated he wished he’d kept his damn mouth shut.

Jill glanced over at Steve as if he was crazy, but her head snapped to Slade, because she really wanted to hear what he thought.

“Well, since you all ended up hooded, tied up and almost raped,” his eyes burned into Jill’s, “I’d say it could have been better, but not bad.” Slade wore a deep scowl.

“I got a profile on each of you to study before I even got here,” Jax stated, crossing his arms. “What I’d like to know is why none of you used your powers?”

“Well, I don’t have any?” Steve replied first. “At least not that I know of.”

“Your memory is your power as of now.” Jax eyed Steve. “And sometimes that will save your ass more than anything else would, so hone that skill.”

“Yes, sir.” Steve looked pleased.

Jax looked at Adam and then Jill. “What about you, Jill? You could have had our asses scattered across the parking lot from what I hear.”

“I’m not used to being able to do something like that,” Jill sighed, feeling like an idiot. “At least not until…” Jill stopped, glancing at Slade.

“Until what?” When she didn’t answer, Jax took a step forward. “I asked you a question. Until what?”

“You pissed me off.” Jill met his stare with narrowed eyes. “Then I wanted to plaster you to the wall.”

Jax smiled. “Good. That’s what I want to hear. So next time, and there will be a next time, remember to use that power because it could be your life or the lives of your partners on the line.”

Adam looked up. “What was I supposed to do, read them to death?”

“No.” Slade’s tone turned instantly irritated. “But we all touched you, and with your ability, even with us being blocked, you should have picked up who we were and what we were about. Our fake attack could have ended before it even began by you calling us out.”

“Obviously, that didn’t work very well the last time I used it,” Adam replied, sounding just as irritated.

Jill knew he was talking about reading Angelina wrong.

“Yeah, well you don’t want to f*ck any of us now, do you?” Slade responded point blank. “That could be a whole different issue with Angelina and something we will work on later.”

Jill sucked in her breath, waiting to see if she needed to jump on Adam before he went after Slade, but to her surprise, all he did was narrow his eyes at Slade without moving a muscle or saying a word.

“If women are involved, then yeah, things get f*cked up.” Jax chuckled and then looked at Jill. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Jill tried not to growl the response, but didn’t quite achieve it.