Slade (The Protectors #6)(13)

“I said to f*cking drop it,” Slade growled, taking a step toward Jax. Jax held up his hands as if surrendering. Slade glared at him for a second longer before grabbing the clipboard. “You guys go ahead and wait outside. We’ll get your scores and then head back to the compound. Sloan texted me earlier and has a job that needs doing.”

Jill nodded before looking at Jax, who was leaning against the wall, staring at her. “What?” Her tone wasn’t pleasant.

“Nothing really.” Jax’s half-grin didn’t fool her.

Before anyone else could say a word, a woman’s robotic voice came from Steve’s phone, “This is what I found on the web for ‘Do ants have balls’.”

“Ah shit.” Steve looked down at his phone. “I must have hit something to make it go off again.”

Jax’s mocking laugh grated on Jill’s last nerve. Without thinking, she flung her hand toward Steve and to everyone’s astonishment, his phone was pulled away from his hand and flung into Jill’s hand. Hitting the button for Siri, she brought the phone to her mouth. “Male chauvinistic pig.”

“What the hell?” Steve stared at his hand to Jill holding his phone. “How the hell did you do that?”

As soon as Siri answered, Jill looked down at the phone with a smirk, and then tossed Steve’s phone to Jax before walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She knew she would pay for that little stunt, but she didn’t care. What she really wanted to do was tell him to f*ck off, but Jax was a scary guy and she wasn’t quite that brave or stupid.

Heading out of the shooting range, she walked back to the compound, which was only a few blocks away. She didn’t want to answer questions about what she had just done with Steve’s phone, because she really didn’t know how she did it, just knew she could. She had been practicing a lot, and one night in her room, she managed to move a cup across her small desk to her open hand. With more practice, she discovered not only could she move things with her hands, but pull objects toward her. It was pretty cool. She was sure Jax found it lame, but she didn’t really care. Okay, that was a lie. She did care what the * thought. She had always been a pleaser and hated, absolutely hated when someone was upset with her or didn’t like her. It sucked, but it was what it was.

Checking her pockets as she ran up the compound steps, she frowned. Dammit, she forgot her keys again. She was hoping to go to her room without being seen so she could get her mind right before seeing Sloan and the rest of the Warriors. Hitting the buzzer, she looked around, wondering what Slade had thought about her taking Steve’s phone like that. She released a frustrated breath; there she went again, wondering what others thought. She needed to get over that and not care. It was a cool power to have and she was perfecting it; that was all that should matter. Not what the hot doc thought.

“Jill?” Tessa’s voice came over the intercom.

Stepping fully into view of the camera, Jill smiled and waved. “It’s me. Forgot my keys again.”

The door opened and Jill walked in to see Tessa heading back to the game room in a hurry, motioning for her to come. “Hurry up,” Tessa called out over her shoulder.

“What’s going on?” Jill hurried across the entryway then stopped at the doorway. Sitting in front of the big screen television were Nicole, Lana, Pam, Angelina and Tessa plopping down on the couch.

“Okay, Lana, hit it.” Tessa settled in with a big smile.

Jill looked at the television as Russell Crowe’s face and buff bod dressed as a gladiator entered an arena. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Angela and Lana have never seen it,” Tessa grinned.

“Do the guys know you’re watching it?” Jill walked further into the room, leaning against the couch, her eyes glued to the television, putting the Warriors in place of the actors. It was kind of surreal.

“Hell, no,” Nicole grinned with a snort. “I could hear them now…”

“Yeah,” Tessa laughed. “Russell Crowe’s a *,” she deepened her voice to mock Jared.

Jill felt the presence of the Warriors as soon as they walked into the room. Glancing over her shoulder, Damon, Jared, Duncan and Sid wore matching frowns.

“He is a *,” Jared’s deep voice boomed throughout the room.

Tessa screamed, trying to control the remote she bobbled as she attempted to turn the television off. All the women had turned with the ‘oh, shit, busted’ look on their faces. Jill sidestepped, making room as the Warriors headed toward the women. As shitty as her day had been, it might as well end on a bad note, even though she really wasn’t part of the Gladiator party the women were throwing.

“What the hell are you watching?” Sid frowned at the still image of Russell Crowe dressed in gladiator garb in the middle of an arena.

“Ah, well, we….” Tessa began until Sid’s eyes flashed to her.

Nicole stood in front of the television as if trying to hide the frozen screen. “We are watching a movie,” Nicole finished for Tessa before moving toward Damon. “Same thing we usually do when you guys go out on a job. Calms our nerves.” She reached Damon, putting her arms around his neck.

Damon smiled down at her, placing a kiss on her lips. “What movie are we watching?” His deep voice was low, but radiated throughout the room.