Slade (The Protectors #6)(44)
Ignoring him, other than a growl, Jill headed for coffee. Grabbing the biggest cup she could find, she poured and poured, dumped half a bowl of sugar in and took a long drink, loving the burn going down her throat. Bringing the cup down, she sighed then looked around at everyone staring at her.
“What?” she glared, not in the mood.
“You want some food with your cup of sugar?” Sid eyed her closely.
Shaking her head, she poured more coffee and sugar into her cup and walked to the table to sit down across from Steve. Jax sat on one end drinking coffee. Adam had just walked over with food falling off the edges of his plate and sat down.
“So when do your stripping lessons start?” Adam dug into his food, waiting for her to answer.
Pulling the hood up around her head, Jill frowned. “Tessa texted me this morning. I have to meet them around noon at the bar.”
“Good.” Sloan had walked in on the conversation, followed by Jared and Slade. “That will give you plenty of time to practice your driving. Congrats on passing the written. Monday you test for your driving permit and you better be ready. I had to pull in a few favors to get you in before your required time.”
Well, that sure as hell didn’t add any pressure. What she really wanted to say was ‘can’t I even drink a full cup of coffee before you’re on my ass about something’,’ but instead, responded with, “Yes, sir.” Seriously, she wanted to live, but was just having a minute to relax too freaking much to ask?
“Who’s free this morning to go with her so she can practice driving?” Sloan looked around.
“Ah, well, I ah…” Adam about choked on his egg when Sloan’s eyes fell on him.
Jill glared at him, the ass. God forbid, he let her drive his precious piece of crap.
“I’ll do it,” Jax said, surprising everyone. Draining the rest of his coffee, he stood, looking at Jill. “Let’s go.”
“Dun Dun Duuuuunnnnn,” Steve mumbled before taking a bite of food.
Jill snatched a sausage link off Adam’s plate, hitting Steve between the eyes with it before standing up and taking her cup to the sink.
“Hey!” Steve frowned, before looking at the sausage and taking a bite.
Jill rolled her eyes when she turned around to see Steve eating the sausage she threw at him. Passing Sloan and Slade, she nodded, but kept her eyes off Slade, because suddenly, all the torture techniques popped into her head again. Yeah, she needed to get out of there.
Heading outside, she saw Jax walking toward a cherry red Mustang GT. Holy shit, if she wrecked that car, she would be a dead woman. She wondered briefly if stress could actually kill a half-breed. “Hey, if that’s a stick, I can’t drive it.”
Jax laughed without turning around. “There is no way in hell I would let you drive this car.” He popped the trunk, getting something out. “We’re taking one of the other cars.”
Okay, that settled her stomach a little bit. Still, it rolled and pitched thinking about getting behind the wheel while the person who hated her and wanted her to quit the program sat next to her. This was going to be a total fail.
They went to one of the old cars, a Nissan, the Warriors used for different occasions. He threw the keys to her. Jill got in, put her seatbelt on, started the car and sat there staring out the window.
Finally, Jax glanced over at her. “Please tell me you know how to put the car in gear.”
Jill nodded. “I just don’t want you to start yelling because that’s just going to make me more nervous.”
“Don’t give me a reason to yell and I won’t yell.” Jax’s response was pretty much to the point, but didn’t help. Jill gave him a sideways glance. “Okay, I will only yell if you are about to plow someone down. Better?”
Again, Jill nodded as she put the car in reverse. Pulling out fast, and then slamming on the brakes, Jill watched out of the corner of her eye as Jax’s upper body flew forward and then slammed back against the seat. She waited…ready.
Slowly, he turned to look at her. “And the reason for that was?” He cocked his eyebrow at her.
“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to yell before I actually got out on the road,” Jill shrugged.
Jax nodded slowly, still eyeing her. “Well since we have that cleared up, are you ready to stop f*cking around and get this over with?”
“Yep.” This time, Jill pulled out carefully and headed for the exit of the compound driveway. Flicking on her blinker, she looked for traffic and pulled out, smiling at herself for getting that far without killing them. As they travelled down the road, Jill kept a death grip on the wheel, her eyes going all over the place looking for obstacles she could murder with the car.
Leaning over, Jax looked at the dashboard and sighed, “How about pushing on the accelerator a little harder, Jill. It shouldn’t take us a half an hour to go a block and a half.”
Frowning, Jill did as he said. She should have said no yelling and no being a smartass. “Where to?”
“You know how to get to the bar?” Jax looked at his watch.
“Yeah.” Jill continued to drive and everything seemed to be going smoothly until someone pulled out in front of her. Jill slammed on her brakes barely missing the car. “Are you serious! Watch where you’re going, *!! Are you freaking blind?” Jill screamed, blaring her horn. “Come on. Can we go faster than two miles an hour?”