Slade (The Protectors #6)

“This guy can skip trace anyone. He’s a pain in my ass, but is good at what he does. I just threaten him and then I get what I want.” Jax switched the phone to his other ear, then glanced over at the women who were cleaning the broken dishes in the kitchen. His eyes met Caroline’s. He could really get lost in her gorgeous eyes.

Sid saw the look that passed between the two. “You know, double weddings are really popular now.” Sid’s tone took on a serious note, but then he blew it by being a smart ass. “It would mean everything to me to call you brother, as in brother-in-law.”

“Fuck off, Sid,” Jax growled.

“Ah, that’s a new one,” Sid laughed. “Fuck off, Sid, has a different ring to it.”

Jax just stared at Sid. “Is it your job to piss people off?”

“Actually, no, but it would be fucking awesome to get paid to piss people off.” Sid’s eyes opened in fake excitement. “I’d be a rich son of a bitch.”

“That you would.” Jax couldn’t help but laugh; something he rarely did. Jax held up his finger when Sid started to say something else. “Yeah. Got it. Keep an eye on it and let me know if he moves within the next fifteen minutes.” Jax hung up and then gave Sid a smirk without saying a word.

Nodding, Sid headed toward Lana. “Babe, we’re going out for a few.” He kissed her forehead. “You going to be okay here for a while?”

“Where you going?” Lana didn’t hide the suspicion in her voice.

“What happened to my door?” Caroline stopped Sid from having to lie to Lana. She walked over staring at her broken door.

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 fucker.”

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, fuck!” 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?”