Slade (The Protectors #6)

“He just likes it rough,” Jared shrugged. “Tessa likes it when I get a little rough.”


“Too much info, bro.” Sid glared at him. “So shut the fuck up.”

“Ah, come on,” Jared laughed. “You can’t tell me you haven’t given it to Lana, pushed the limits. Some women get off on it and it’s our job to give our women what they want.”

“Okay, first off, don’t ever talk about Lana and sex,” Sid warned him. “Secondly, I don’t think it was Jill who wanted it rough or whatever it was I walked in on.”

“Oh, and you know that because you were there,” Jared snorted as they walked away. “Sid, stay out of it and let those two work it out. I’d be the first in line to kill the doc if I thought he had hurt her in any way, but honestly, this is none of our business.”

After a few minutes of silence, Sid glanced at Jared. “So Tessa really likes it rough, huh?”

The smile that plastered on Jared’s face was full of male pride. “She’s a fucking hellcat, my brother.”

Sid’s grin widened. “We are lucky bastards.”

“That we are,” Jared laughed as they headed deeper into the woods.

Jill let out her breath and waited for a second before slipping out of the tree. Looking around, she felt confident that she was alone. Making her way behind Jared and Sid probably wasn’t the smartest move she could make, but she did it anyway. Feeling a sting in her shoulder then hearing the pop of a gun, she took off running haphazardly, making her a harder target. “Shit.” She ran hard and suddenly her feet hit nothing but air. Seconds later, her body hit hard ground as she rolled down a steep hill until she came to a stop against a tree, knocking the wind out of her. Scrambling, she rolled into some brush and lay still.

“She’s gone.” Jax’s voice came from her left. “She must have gone across the creek.”

She barely turned her head to watch Jax and Duncan a few yards away from her. Once they were gone far enough away, she sat up, looking around. The sound of more guns popping in the distance had her standing. The Warriors had found someone. With no more thought of herself, she took off toward the sound. In a clearing, sat a building surrounded by Warriors, except she didn’t see Slade. Not knowing what to do, she glanced around frantically. Seeing another large tree, she snuck that way and climbed, finding a good area to shoot from. If they figured out where she was, she’d be screwed.

Aiming, she looked around the area with the scope and spotted Dillon on the other side of the woods hidden and waiting with his gun aimed. The Warriors dodged in and out of the woods getting closer and closer to the building. Seeing green splatter on Damon’s leg, she knew Steve was in the building. Where in the hell were Adam and Slade? Jax was the first she had a clear shot of and her hands began to shake. She had him and could make the kill shot, but did she have the balls. Her father’s words came back to her as if he was with her teaching her how to shoot. “It’s you or them, Jilly.” Her father’s words repeated over and over again in her mind.

Moving her shoulder, she wiped the sweat from her temple. Taking aim again, she pulled the trigger. Pink exploded on the back of Jax’s head. Jill’s stomach heaved as she pulled back behind the trunk of the tree. Damn, that was going to suck for her. Now Jax would hate her even more and she actually didn’t feel the satisfaction that she thought she’d feel.

“Where the fuck did that come from?” She heard Damon yell above Jax’s cursing.

Jill peeked around the other side of the tree, praying Steve made a run for it out the back of the building. Seeing him take off toward the woods, she turned to aim to give him cover and freaked when every Warrior other than Jax had their guns pointed toward her tree. “Ah, shit!” She took cover again, squeezing her eyes shut as black paint splattered all around her. Keeping against the tree she climbed higher, then stopped and took aim hitting Damon and Sid, but not in the head. Another volley of paintballs rained around her, one getting her in the leg, the other in the side. “Dammit, that hurts,” she hissed. God, she hated pain and those damn paintballs pinging against her body was almost unbearable. Yeah, she and pain did not mix.

Dillon started shooting from his spot, drawing their attention his way. Jill took that opportunity, climbing and jumping down, but soon the paintballs were flying hitting her everywhere, except the head. She just tucked her head and ran…smack into Slade. Falling onto her ass, her gun bouncing out of her grip, she rolled to try to grab it, but he kicked it away.

“Stand up.” He aimed his gun at her, no emotion on his face.

Slowly, she stood, her brain working overtime. If he shot her in the head now, it was going to hurt like hell this close. Not liking her back exposed, she sidestepped so the tree was behind her.

He cocked his eyebrow. “Nice move.”