Slade (The Protectors #6)(11)

Jill rolled her eyes with a snort. “Having a girl run around telling everyone she’s a better shot than you with proof would take care of that problem.”

“Shit,” Steve mumbled, putting his earmuffs on before yelling, “In that case…sure, Jill, I would love for you to help me.”

“That’s what I thought,” Jill smirked.

“There goes my man card,” Steve cursed as he stood in his lane waiting for instructions.

“Didn’t know you could lose something you didn’t have,” Jill shot back.

“Funny stuff, Jill,” Steve yelled over the lanes. “If you fail at this protector stuff, you should do stand-up.”

“We are seriously f*cked,” Jax grumbled to Slade as they stood watching the bantering back and forth.

Slade ignored him, stepping behind the three, stopwatch in hand. “Bring your weapons into position.” He waited, but when Jill kept hers down, he walked toward her. “Aim up, Jill.”

“If it’s okay, I’m more comfortable with my weapon down until I know where I’m to aim.” Jill peeked at him over her shoulder.

“That’s fine, but remember this is going to count,” Slade replied, giving her one more chance to change her position.

“Let her f*ck up,” Jax nodded toward Jill. “She’ll learn to listen before it’s too late. Or maybe she won’t.”

Slade’s hold on the stopwatch tightened. As soon as this was finished, he was going to find out what the f*ck Jax’s issue was with Jill. “Ready?” he called out, waiting for each to nod. “Heart.” He clicked the stopwatch as soon as he yelled the word.

Three consecutive shots rang out, only five seconds of silence followed before Slade’s voice boomed another body part and shots fired. Once the exercise was finished, they brought in the targets, each staring at their work.

Slade looked at each nodding his approval. “Not bad.”

“Looks like sure shot there should have listened and brought up her aim.” Jax picked up Jill’s target, looking at it closely.

Slade knew shit was about to hit the fan when Jill’s face scrunched up in anger. It seemed Adam and Steve also knew Jill’s facial expressions because they took a step back.

“I was only off on the groin shot,” Jill confirmed, her voice low and even. “The others are dead on.”

“Not good enough.” Jax laid it down before looking at her, daring her with his glare to say another word.

Slade slammed his hand on the table. “Leave.” When no one moved, he looked at Jill, Adam and Steve. “I said leave!”

Steve ran into Adam trying to get out of the room, but Jill remained for a second longer, her eyes not leaving Jax. When Slade growled low in his throat, she turned and walked out of the range, slamming the door behind her.

“What is your f*cking problem?” Slade turned on Jax. “We are supposed to be building them up, not tearing them down.”

“She needs to go.” Jax didn’t back down. “She is, and I repeat once again, a liability.”

“She deserves to go through the program like anyone else,” Slade countered, his temper on the edge of exploding.

“Why don’t you just f*ck her and get it over with.” Jax sneered then looked away, which was a mistake; he should have been looking for the punch that landed him across the room.

“Whether I f*ck her or not is not and never will be your business, motherf*cker.” Slade reached down to pick him up, but Jax moved faster, swinging out, but missed when Slade moved out of the way. “You better rethink fighting me because I guarantee, you will lose.”

Jax worked his jaw back and forth as he glared at Slade. “This is exactly my point. Would you have reacted this way if I had said Steve was a liability, which looking at his targets isn’t far off the mark.”

“No, because you wouldn’t be telling me to f*ck him,” Slade countered, still itching to hit Jax again.

Thinking about that for a minute, Jax nodded with raised eyebrows. “True.”

“She deserves to be here as much as anyone else,” Slade countered. “And I’m in charge of this program. If you can’t handle it, you need to remove yourself. She will be just as ready as any of the men.”

Jax glared for a second longer before sighing, still moving his jaw. “Did you have to hit me so f*cking hard?”

“I don’t disrespect women and neither will anyone else in my presence,” Slade warned, grabbing up the targets.

Once again, Jax cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just respond with and I quote… ‘Whether I f*ck her or not is not and never will be your business, motherf*cker’?’”

“That was a warning, nothing more,” Slade cursed under his breath, wondering where those words had come from. They just popped out in a fit of anger.

Jax snorted. “Ah, yeah…okay, but I’m telling you, she is going to get one of those boys out there killed and you released from the Vampire Council. I’ve seen it happen before, and Goddammit, she’s a liability.”

Unfortunately, Slade couldn’t argue with that point because he knew it was true, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Chapter 4

Jill walked out of the shooting range behind Adam and Steve.