Adam (The Protectors #5)(9)

“I don’t think getting your head ripped off is painless, Steve,” Jill snorted, shaking her head.

“Ah, well, I think it would be, Jill,” Steve hissed her name.

“I know. Why don’t we call Damon for a demonstration?” Jill shot back leaning toward him, her eyes narrowed.

Adam slammed his hand down on the table breaking them apart. “We are not going to die!” he shouted, drawing a few stares. Adam glared until the few who still watched him closely looked away. “We are going to take this thing. We are going to train hard and learn everything we can. We will not fail. Do you understand?”

“You sure your head is on straight after the Angelina thing?” Steve braved the question.

Adam’s eyes glowed hot. “I’ve got my shit under control, Steve,” he growled. “No worries.”

“You need to talk about it?” Jill slid a sideways glance at Adam, who wasn’t looking at either of them.

“No.” Adam’s voice lowered with warning; he didn’t want to discuss it further.

“But—” Jill began again before she was stopped.

“I said I was fine.” Adam’s eyes raised from the table with a glare, freezing Jill to the spot. “I am not discussing this now or ever. It’s done and over with.”

“But if you still love her, fight for her.” Jill didn’t back down, though she did prepare to move quickly by changing position in her chair. “I’ve never known you to be a *, Adam. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and it doesn’t make sense to me. She was so in love with you for years and to just up and get with a guy she didn’t even know. Come on, man. That’s not her. Something’s not right. I think we need to make another visit just to be sure.”

Jill’s words, unfortunately, rang true to him. That night after he found Angelina, the same thoughts had run through his head, but it seemed final to him. What was he to do? Grab her and run? Say to hell with what she wanted, and obviously, it hadn’t been him who she wanted. “Jill, don’t push me on this.”

“But I’m right.” Jill watched his face closely. “You’ve thought the same thing.”

“I read her, dammit!” he hissed, his one golden eye turning dark.

“And you could have read her wrong,” Jill shot back, not backing down, not afraid of his anger. “Your emotions were off the hook. You could have been wrong.”

“I wasn’t wrong.” His hard growl indicated he was done with the conversation. He wasn’t wrong. He knew what he saw in Angelina’s mind, but that nagging sensation in his gut persisted.

“And if you were wrong?” Jill growled back, leaning toward him.

“Ah, Jill.” Steve’s voice cut her off from saying more when Adam sneered at her. “Maybe we just better order our food.”

“No. If this shit with Angelina is going to be hanging over his head, it’s going to be hanging over ours too.” Jill’s voice shook slightly. “I can’t get kicked out. I have nowhere else to go and I’d rather die than be kicked out.”

“You never have to worry about being alone, Jill.” Adam leaned back in his chair. “You will always have us. I will not f*ck this up for us. I’m good.”

“He’s right.” Steve backed him. “No matter what, we will always have each other. He’s not going to let some cheating bitch screw this up for us.”

Jill’s eyes widened when Adam grabbed Steve by the shirt, pulling him so they were nose to nose. “If you ever call her that again, I will smash your face in.” Adam let go with a shove and a hiss. “Understood?”

“Ah, yeah. Totally got it.” Steve smoothed his shirt down, eyeing Adam as a small grin tipped his lips. “With that kind of aggression, we’re going to kick some serious ass.”

“Yeah.” Jill gave a nervous laugh, her eyes still gaging Adam’s response to Steve’s words.

Adam tried to calm himself, knowing that Steve was just being a loyal friend, who was seeing Angelina as exactly what he called her, but Adam didn’t see her that way. Not at all. She was still his Angel and she had made her choice, which wasn’t him. So he had to move forward; he had people counting on him and he wouldn’t let them down, not this time. Adam slammed his hand back on the table. “Damn straight!”

Steve did a fist pump in the air in excitement. “Hell, yeah, man.”

“Where’s our waitress? I’m starving.” Adam turned to find everyone staring at them as two overgrown farm-fed boys headed their way.

“Well, unless they hire burly boys as waitresses, I think we got trouble coming our way.” Steve scooted his chair out from the table slowly; the squeal on the tile floor echoed in the quiet diner. Steve put on a big smile and looked up as the two guys stopped in front of their table. “Think we’re ready to order. I’ll take a Spare-Time burger with extra onion and some of those delicious looking fried taters.”

The two guys glanced at each other in confusion before anger flashed across their faces. “We’re not taking your order, freak.”

“Ah, now, you didn’t have to go and be like that.” Steve went to stand, but Jill stopped him.

“You’re making people nervous,” the shorter of the two replied.