Slade (The Protectors #6)(28)
Making their way through the gate after telling the guy behind the counter who they were, they spotted Damon, Duncan, Sid, Jax, Jared and Sloan waiting impatiently.
“Glad to see you decided to show the f*ck up.” Sloan frowned at them.
“Yeah, well we got caught up in traffic in front of the Halfway House,” Adam replied.
“How can they get away with calling it a halfway house?” Jill asked, still cranky about the fact. “It’s not like half-breeds are walking up to the doors for help. I saw a woman on her knees begging a cop. Doesn’t look like any halfway house I’ve ever seen. Cops were everywhere.”
“You don’t like the name, I take it?” Jared eyed her. “It’s just a way for them to calm panic among the community. We know what it really is and will shut them down.”
Sloan nodded, but didn’t add anything to what Jared said. Instead he looked around. “Where’s Buchanan?”
Jill looked anywhere but at Sloan. When her eyes met Sid’s, he was staring at her; she looked away, but not before shooting him a glare.
“Don’t know, but let’s get this going.” Jax stepped up, glancing at Jill before grabbing paintball guns and handing them to Adam, Steve and then Jill. “You four…”
“Four?” Steve frowned, pointing at Jill, Adam and then himself. “Three.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Dillon stepped up, surprising Jill and Adam.
“Dillon?” Jill’s shocked expression made him grin.
“In the flesh.’ Dillon opened his arms.
Jill rushed him and had to stretch to give him a hug. Dillon had been the smallest of any of them. “You grew!” she laughed, hugging him tightly. At that moment, her eyes met Slade’s, who stood just behind Dillon. Looking away from Slade, she screamed at herself to chill out and be cool as she looked up at Dillon.
“And I haven’t stopped,” Dillon laughed, looking at Jared with a grin. “I think that’s why the Warrior branch in Kentucky sent me back here. They can’t afford buying me new clothes.”
“Well, I’m glad, no matter what the reason is.” Jill smiled, and then watched as Adam and Dillon did a bro hug. He looked so different. His blond hair had darkened and was longer, instead of the summer buzz cut he always wore. His body and face had filled out, forming a damn good-looking man. Adam introduced Dillon to Steve and Jax, and then Slade who took Dillon’s hand in a shake. Jill watched as their handshake lasted a little longer than the others, and the confused look on Dillon’s face when he turned from Slade made her frown, but before she could think any more on it, Jax explained their training for the day.
“We are breaking up into teams.” Jax handed them each safety glasses. “Us against you.”
“Well, that seems a little unfair.” Steve removed his sunglasses to put the safety glasses on.
“Tough shit.” Jax picked up a paintball gun that looked like a damn Uzi. “You are only out on a kill shot. For you guys, a kill shot is the heart or head and for us, it’s the head. There’s five acres of land, woods and buildings. You have an hour to survive without having been hit with a kill shot. Within the hour, a horn will blow indicating the exercise is over and you have passed this portion of your testing. We will give you fifteen minutes to set a plan and get a head start.”
“But what about all of these other people here?” Adam looked around at groups of people heading out with paintball guns.
“They are off-limits to you, but you are not off-limits to them,” Jax replied.
“Are you serious?” Steve looked around. “Not only do we have you badasses hunting us down, we can be taken out by a mom out on a family outing?”
“Yeah, awesome, isn’t it?” Jared grinned.
Jill was still looking at all the Warriors’ guns with a frown. “Can’t we at least choose our own weapons?”
Jax cocked an eyebrow at her, and then waved his hand. “Be my guest.”
Looking at the guns displayed behind the counter, Jill instantly found the one she wanted. “Give me the sniper rifle.” She told the guy behind the counter.
“Ah, you sure?” The guy looked at the gun then at her. “That’s a pretty…”
“Give me the f*cking gun,” Jill growled, not in the mood for male bullshit. Once she was handed the gun, she opened the hopper of the gun she discarded to remove the paintballs. “Pink? Really?” She glared up at Jax, doing her best to ignore Slade who she knew was watching her every move.
“We have black.” Jax didn’t even hide his smile. “Those three have different colors than you or anyone else out here today so we can tell who gets the kill shot, and you got pink. Deal with it.”
“Yeah, you’re going to look pretty in pink, *,” Jill whispered to herself as she loaded her hopper, and then slammed it shut. When she straightened up, she noticed everyone staring at her with large grins, except for Steve who looked ready to bolt. “Said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Pretty much a butt-pucker moment.” Steve nodded, looking at Jill like she’d lost her mind.
Jill glanced at Jax, who didn’t even look pissed, which surprised her. “Sorry, just have a competitive mentality going on right now. No disrespect.”