Slade (The Protectors #6)(40)

Sid pulled out his wallet, and then handed Lana a card. “When you didn’t answer, I kind of kicked it in,” he explained. “That’s the company I used when Slade and Jill went through their phase of throwing people through walls.”

“Thanks.” Caroline gave Sid a small smile, and then looked at Jax. “Both of you.”

Jax simply nodded before walking out the door. Lana followed them out.

“Kick his ass for me.” Lana reached up kissing Sid. “But stay out of trouble.”

“You see, this is one of the reasons I love you.” Sid grabbed her in a hug, kissing her breathless.

“You can tell me the other reasons later.” She nuzzled his neck before letting him go.

“I’ll call you later.” Sid gave her a promising wink before following Jax to the car. “So chief, you really have a tomahawk?”

“I really hate you.” Jax glared at him over the top of his car before getting in.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Sid gave his famous ‘don’t give a shit’ grin before climbing in the car. “Now, let’s go find this f*cker.”

Chapter 12

Slade sat at his desk looking through faxes, papers, yet nothing was making sense. All he could think about was Jill and wanting to make sure she was okay. If she did have a concussion, she should be woken every few hours if she fell asleep. He knew she was tired and probably sleeping at this very moment. Even though she was part vampire, being human still made her susceptible to the dangers humans faced.

“Ah, f*ck!” Slade stood up, pushing away from his desk. Running his hand through his hair, he stared at nothing. One thing he definitely missed about being human was sleeping so he could escape his own damn thoughts.

Throwing up his hands in surrender to his nagging thoughts of Jill falling asleep only to never wake again, he threw open the door and walked out. Dammit, he knew she was trouble. No, wait a minute. He was a doctor. It was his responsibility to check on her. “Yeah,” he said to no one since he was alone and talking to his damn self.

By the time he made it to her room and knocked, he had a full conversation with himself coming to the conclusion that this was just a doctor thing, his oath to take care of the injured. The door had been fixed, but opened a crack with his knock. Pushing it open a little further, he spotted her curled up on the bed. She had a pair of shorts and was wearing a hoodie. The hood was pulled up over her head and he could see she had her red ‘Beats’ on listening to music, but was fast asleep. Walking deeper into the room, he just stood, watching her sleep.

He’d had many women in his long life, but none, not even one compared to Jillian Robin Nichols. Glancing around her room, he spotted her drawing pad she usually always had with her. Curious about what she drew, he walked over to the drawing pad, then glanced her way to make sure she was still sleeping. Reaching out, he flipped it over and was shocked. His penciled face stared back at him. Picking it up for a closer look, he fingered one of the rough spots as if the paper had gotten wet. It was discolored and rippled. There were identical spots in a couple of other places. And then it hit him like a punch to the gut. Tears. The spots were dried tears. He continued to look through the book realizing how good of an artist she really was. There was one with her two dogs. He turned back to the one of him, the only one with tear stains.

“You know that could be considered creepy.” Jill’s soft tired voice floated to him in the silence. “What are you doing here, Slade?”

Setting the drawing pad down, he turned to look at her. She was still in the same position except her eyes were open and sleepily staring at him. “I wanted to check on you.”

“I’m good.” She yawned. “Just very tired.”

“And that’s what worries me.” Slade frowned, walking toward the bed.

“I’ve got some human in me, Slade. Before I was turned, I could sleep all day,” Jill sighed, closing her eyes. “Don’t you have a date or something?”

Slade frowned down at her, not liking that dig. “If you are referring to the phone number you handed me, you little smartass, it’s on the DMV floor.”

Jill opened one eye to look at him. “She was pretty and obviously into you.”

“Yeah, well, it seems I’m preoccupied by a pain-in-the-ass woman who seems to constantly want to piss me off,” Slade growled. “Now sit up and let me check your head.”

Jill slowly pulled herself up. “I’m not the one who ran off like a little bitc—”

“Watch it,” Slade ordered with narrowed eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed. Gently, he used his fingers to pry her eyelids open wide so he could check her pupils. “Look up at the light.” He repeated the action with the other eye. “And I didn’t run. Does that hurt?” He pushed on her head in different positions after he was done checking her eyes.

“Well, you walked out pretty quickly.” Jill was looking up at him, and then grimaced when he hit the sore spot on her head.

“I needed to let off some steam.” Slade pulled his hands away.

“You said it was a mistake,” Jill countered, not giving in.

“No, I said it shouldn’t have happened,” Slade corrected her.

Jill carelessly shrugged one shoulder. “Same thing.”

“And once again, no.” Slade shook his head trying not to smile. Usually, women who continued with the same issue over and over again got on his last nerve and he’d find any excuse to split, but Jill was entertaining when doing it. “A mistake is something I would never want to do again.”