Adam (The Protectors #5)(5)
“No clue.” Adam next put on a black t-shirt that matched the dark mood he couldn’t shake. He felt on edge, as if he was going to lose it at any moment. He was relieved he had found Angelina unharmed, but his feelings were jumbled. Feelings like why in the hell he didn’t just kill the son of a bitch who stole his woman. Before he could dive deeper into that self-revelation, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Steve called out.
“Are you kidding me?” Adam threw one of his shoes at Steve, hitting him in the stomach hard. “You walk in without knocking, and then when someone knocks on my door, to my room, you tell them to come in. What the f*ck is wrong with you?”
“Hey!” Steve rubbed his stomach. “That hurt.”
“Good.” Adam glanced at Jill who had walked into the room. “You’re lucky I didn’t aim at your head.”
“Lover’s spat?” Jill teased, sitting down next to Steve.
Adam threw his other shoe at her, but Jill caught it with a grin before she threw it back at him, which he dodged.
“So I guess you got the text from old grumpy-ass.” Steve turned his head to look at Jill, who then laid beside him on the bed.
“Sure did.” Jill rubbed her eyes. “I hope it’s a case or something. I hate watching the Warriors going out and us getting stuck here doing crappy jobs.”
“I think the last case you were involved in, you ended up naked in front of a bunch of men.” Steve grinned. “One would think you wouldn’t want to do that again, unless you…liked it.”
“Steve, do you like pissing me off?” Jill frowned, glaring over at him. “I mean really? Do you want me to kick your ass?”
Adam and Steve shared a grin. “Will ya…do it…naked?” Steve wiggled his eyebrows, and then yelped when Jill kicked him off the bed before pouncing on him.
Watching Jill and Steve roll around his room made Adam realize that this was where he belonged. This was his family, as dysfunctional as it was. These two boneheads tearing up his room were his family. Jill with her multicolored hair was almost as close to him as his own sister. Over a year ago, he could barely get her to say two words, yet now she was one of the toughest girls he knew. Hell, she was tougher than half the guys he knew. And Steve, who was currently getting his ass kicked, was like a brother to him. Before Adam was turned, he knew he wouldn’t have given Steve the time of day. Yeah, he had been that much of an *, but now he would kill for Steve, his brother. He would kill for them both and how f*cked up was that, but that was his world now. So why hadn’t he killed for his Angel? Adam growled, shaking his head in frustration; he needed to keep busy or these thoughts were going to drive him crazy.
A sharp knock sounded in the room before the door opened. Adam looked away from Jill and Steve to see Slade standing in the door. His damn room had become busier in the last three minutes than it had in all the time he’d been here, and he liked it, a lot.
“What the hell is going on?” Slade crossed his arms with a frown, staring down at Jill and Steve, who stopped in mid swings to look up at him.
“I think…” Adam grinned, grabbing his shoes and putting them on, “it all started when Steve wanted Jill to kick his ass…naked.”
Steve pushed Jill away like she had the plague. Standing up quickly, he glared at Adam as if he’d lost his mind. “I didn’t say naked.” He snorted glancing at Slade, but pointed his thumb at Adam while shaking his head. “I said…”
“Naked.” Adam grinned, watching Steve try to worm himself out of this one.
Steve glared at him again before laughing nervously. “Okay, I did say naked, but it was just a joke.” Steve snorted again, clearly indicating he was about to shit himself as Slade’s eyes drilled into his; this time he thumbed toward Jill. “I mean who’d want to see Jill naked.”
Adam saw heat flare in Slade’s eyes before it quickly extinguished. Jill was off limits, but Adam decided then and there that he was going to have fun with this, at Jill and Slade’s expense of course. Yeah, he needed something to do to keep his mind off his own sorry-ass love life and pushing these two together was that something. Glancing at Slade, Adam frowned with second thoughts; Slade was one big badass Warrior, but what the hell; you only live once or in his case…forever.
“Hey!” Jill smacked the back of Steve’s head. “There’s plenty who would want to see me naked.”
“Yeah, I know, but…” Steve looked between Jill and Slade, who were glaring at him from different heights. “Well, I don’t know that, but…you know what, I’m just going to shut the hell up.”
Adam’s head fell back as he laughed loudly, the first real laugh since he didn’t know when. Still grinning, he looked at Slade. “I don’t know, my man. I think if Jill offered to fight me naked, I might take her up on it.” Adam winked at Jill, knowing he was pushing it, but didn’t care. “What about you, Doc? Naked ground fighting sound good to you?”
Slade looked away from Steve to Adam, his eyes telling Adam he knew exactly what he was up to. “Sloan wants you three in his office, pronto.” Slade’s deep voice filled the overcrowded room. “I suggest you get going before he comes looking for you himself.” It wasn’t lost on anyone in the room that Slade totally ignored Adam’s question.