“You mean bossy?” Her dad nodded, “Yes.”
Jill rolled her eyes, but then turned serious. “Trevor?” She paused, then frowned. “No, this isn’t busty Barb. What the hell is wrong with you? Yeah, it’s Jill, your sister, you jerk.”
“They close?” Slade asked, his eyebrows raised in question as he watched Jill talk to her brother.
“Thick as thieves,” her dad answered with pride.
“Don’t worry about that, I’m here now. Here, at the house with Dad who is recovering from a heart attack and is cutting firewood. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Jill looked at her dad, then pointed a finger at him. “Well, he didn’t wait. I found him down here in the grove cutting firewood. No, he didn’t tell me you told him that.”
“Tell you what? What’s he saying?” Her dad asked, an unhappy frown curving his lips, but didn’t wait for her to tell him. He already knew what his son was saying. “I can’t wait for him to get free from busty Barb or whoever in the hell he’s dating this week. Winter is coming and we need wood. I’m fine and will finish this. You kids are more stressful to me than this damn wood.”
A sadness filled her soul at his words. “Hurry up,” she said into the phone before she clicked it shut. “I’m sorry, Dad. I never meant for any of this to happen to me, but it did and I’m dealing with it. Actually, I’m doing fine and would do better just knowing I can come and visit you sometimes.”
“I didn’t mean…” Her father sighed again. “I didn’t mean it that way, Jill. I really didn’t. And I would love to see you.”
Jill nodded, then grabbed his arm, squeezing tightly, letting him know how much his words meant to her. “Now, come on. Trevor is on his way. Let’s go up to the house so you can drink something cold and rest.”
“I’m fine, dammit,” her dad responded, but let Jill and Slade lead him out of the grove. “I’m not an old man.”
“I know, but honestly, I want to get back up there before Janie tells Trevor I ate Seth,” Jill growled, still totally pissed about that.
“She’s just afraid, Jill.” Her father tried to do the fatherly thing and play referee.
“She’s an idiot,” Jill mumbled under the breath, not wanting to upset her father more.
Once they made it into the clearing and were close to the yard, Janie followed a large man holding a shotgun. “I got a gun full of silver here, vamps. I suggest you get on that fancy motorcycle and ride on out of here before things get nasty.”
Slade pushed Jill and her father behind him. “I suggest you aim that gun somewhere else.” Slade’s words were harsh enough to show he meant business, but his calmness effectively made one wonder. Jill knew, however; she’d had seen Slade in action. It wasn’t pretty and it would get ugly…fast. Not a good thing with her father in the line of fire.
Jill stepped around Slade, heading toward the man who she figured was her sister’s unfortunate fiancé. “Silver don’t do shit to half-breeds so you best drop it and run, asshole.” She jerked her arm out of Slade’s grasp when he tried to stop her. “Who do you think you are, aiming a shotgun toward my dad?”
That seemed to take some of the authority out of the dumbass, but he didn’t lower the gun. “Chuck, get out of the way,” he ordered her father, nodding his head to the side as if that would make it right.
Jill walked right up to the barrel of the shotgun pointing at her chest and stopped. “Pull the trigger,” she dared him, her head tilted in defiant anger.
Before anyone knew what was happening, the shotgun was knocked away from Jill’s chest and the badass was on the ground with Slade’s boot holding him down by the throat. “You have a death wish?” Slade roared the question at Jill as the man tried to remove Slade’s foot from his throat. Slade unloaded the shotgun, the shells hitting the idiot as they fell toward the ground. Slade’s furious gaze never once strayed from Jill. “If you ever do anything like that again, I will lock you in a room.”
“Is that a threat?” Jill, who was still fired up, stupidly pushed Slade.
“It’s a promise that I will prove as soon as I take care of this son of a bitch.” Slade leaned over her, keeping his foot in place with no problem, even with the man using everything he had to remove it from his neck. “Keep pushing me, Jillian, but I swear if you ever pull anything like that again, you will regret it.”
Jill opened her mouth, but Slade leaned in even closer as if daring her to say anything more. With his face so close to hers as well as being in control of the asshole on the ground, her brain went to mush so she closed her mouth. His authority over her was a total turn on. The knowledge surprised her speechless, which was shocking—she always had something smartass to say.
“Smart choice,” Slade growled before finally leaning away from her space. He handed the shotgun to Chuck, who had walked up and was looking down at his future son-in-law.