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.”
That seemed to stump her. She opened her mouth to say something then snapped it shut, looking away as she hugged her legs to her chest, putting her chin on her knees all the while looking at the wall. “So you would want to do
that
…again…with me?”
Slade’s lips curved up in a grin. “Listen, Jill. This is complicated.”
Her head snapped back toward him. “No, Slade, it’s not. You either want me or you don’t. That’s not complicated. It’s a simple question requiring a simple answer.”
The pressure of wanting to do the right thing had Slade itching to punch something. He wished it was that simple, but it wasn’t. She didn’t understand what was at stake.
“And your silence tells me all I need to know.” Jill lay back down and curled up. “Close the door when you leave.”
“You don’t understand,” Slade growled, struggling to contain his frustration. “I’m doing this for you.”
“Excuse me?” Jill swiftly stood, actually standing on her bed and threw her hands on her hips. “You’re doing what for me? Driving me fucking insane?”
Slade also stood, making them eye-to-eye. “Yeah, well, welcome to the world of the insane.” His angry tone matched hers. “You think this shit is easy for me?”
“Oh, what, coming in and fucking me, getting your jollies off and then walking out?” Jill put her finger to her lip as if thinking really hard. “Hmmm, let me think. Yeah, asshole, I think it’s easy for you.”
Don’t smile
, Slade told himself. Damn, but she was cute as hell when pissed. “My jollies?” He couldn’t help repeating.
“Don’t you dare make fun of me.” Jill pointed at him in warning. “How would you feel if I came into your room, fucked the hell out of you then ran out as if it was the biggest mistake I’d ever made?”
“First of all, don’t ever ask a man that question, because…well, just don’t, and I didn’t run out,” Slade ended on a sigh. This was not getting them anywhere. But he did know one thing, if she was to come to his room and fuck the hell out of him, she would go nowhere, but he kept that to himself since she didn’t seem in the mood to listen. She was revved up for a fight.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Doc,” Jill hissed. “Let me make this easy for you—”
“What? You going to give me more women’s phone numbers?” Slade shot back.
“No, that
was
a mistake,” Jill sneered. “I wouldn’t want to do that to another woman unless she was my enemy.”
Slade crossed his arms to keep from grabbing her, which is what he wanted to do, but not to harm, unless it was a bare ass spanking. A pissed-off Jill was sexy as hell. Her skin flushed, her eyes bright with anger, chest heaving as she shouted out; her quick wit turned him on like nothing else ever had. He wondered how far he could actually push the little wildcat.
“Listen, baby…” It looked like the fires of hell flamed her eyes, answering the question of how far he could push her. Not very far apparently.
Jill threw out her hand, the force pushing Slade toward the door. “Do
not
call me baby!” She gave a hard push with her hand, her eyes still on fire with anger.
Digging his heels in, he fought against her power. Slowly, he lifted his hand, pushing with his power against hers. “Don’t forget, I’ve got the same power and I know how to use it.”
Frowning as her feet moved backward on the bed, Jill visibly tried to push back harder, but it was no use; she was moving quickly toward the wall. Slade followed by stepping up on her bed as if it was just a small step. She struggled with everything she had, but it was no use. He had her plastered against the wall, both hands up above her head without him even touching her, only his power kept her prisoner.
“What are you going to do now, badass?” Slade tilted his head, looking down at her. When she struggled to move, he smiled. “The things I could do to you right now.”
A fire of a different kind lit her eyes, before a smirk curved her lips. “Go for it, Warrior.” Her voice lowered in a sexy timbre. “Then you can run out when you’re finished.” Her voice changed to sarcastic in a flash.
“One of these days, I’m going to smack that sweet ass of yours.” The smile never left his lips and his eyes promised he would do just that.
“Promises… Promises,” Jill responded as if she couldn’t care less, but her harsh breathing told him otherwise.
“Listen, and listen good, Jillian.” He bent so his mouth was close to her ear, but his eyes still stared into hers. “Once your initiation is over, you are
mine
. Make no mistake, I will have you again and again, but for now, you focus on getting through initiation.”
She sucked in her breath, biting her lower lip.
“If you’d keep that mouth of yours closed and listen, this whole situation would be different.” He breathed in deeply, inhaling her scent; his cock hardened painfully in his jeans. “But then again, that mouth of yours has its benefits because without it, I wouldn’t have you exactly where I want you.”
“And where…” her voice cracked, causing her to clear it, “where’s that?”
“Plastered against the wall under my total control.” He moved his head around, their lips brushing against each other as he made his way slowly to her other ear. “And that…
baby
…makes me hard.” He pushed into her, showing her exactly how hard he was. The flare in her eyes let him know she liked being in his control, which made it that much sweeter.
He could feel her body tremble, could smell her need and wanted nothing more than to fulfill that need, but she was going to have to learn to listen and not automatically think he only wanted one thing from her. Oh, he wanted nothing more in the world at that moment than to sink deep into her tight warmth, but Slade wanted her and he was done hiding it, but she was going to finish the program before anything more happened between them.
“But—” Jill’s voice was harsh with need.
“There are no buts, Jill. I’m your trainer. That is most important right now,” Slade replied before she could even finish her sentence. “This is the way it is and the way it will be. Finish the program and then we will see where we go from there.”
Their faces were inches apart, breath mingling and Slade had control…until her wet, pink tongue snaked out to moisten her lips. Pushing away from her, he released his power, turned stepping off the bed, heading for the door. Jill followed him.
“So that’s it?” Jill stood on the end of the bed. “You’re leaving…again?”
Slade turned enough to look at her over his shoulder. “You heard what I said, Jill. Finish the program.” His eyes ran over her body; his mind, as well as his hard cock, demanding he walk back and take her, ease his misery and hers, but he was stronger than that. He meant what he said. He would not be the reason she failed or got killed. He was her trainer first and foremost, and at that moment, he hated his fucking job.
Walking out of the room was probably the hardest thing he had ever done. Before he could take a step, something big hit the door behind him. He smiled, shaking his head. Yeah, he was going to pay for this stunt, but their focus needed to be on her training and nothing more. Taking a step, he groaned, looking down, but first he needed to take care of his need. Damn that woman was going to kill him or drive him insane. His mind quickly wondered how she would ease her need. “Fuck!” He shook the thoughts from his head, and walked faster to his room. Yeah, he was going to go insane.
******
Walking into a weight gym, Jax realized he had been right. The guy was a muscle head. “You see him anywhere?” Jax asked Sid, looking around.
“No.” Sid walked over to the counter where a cute girl with a preppy ponytail and tight workout clothes stood at a computer. “Hello.”
She looked up, her eyes widening at Sid, then shooting for Jax. “Hi.” She smiled, putting on her best sales face. “You guys interested in a membership?”
“Hell, no,” Jax grumbled.
“Actually, I am.” Sid laughed loudly, rolling his eyes. “And I’m trying to talk my buddy into joining with me, but he’s being a hard-ass thinking he don’t need it.”
The girl’s eyes ran up and down Jax, and from her expression she agreed; he didn’t need it. Then her sales’ face returned. “You are in great shape.” The girl nodded at Jax. “But this is a great gym with all the state-of-the-art equipment to help you stay in great shape.”
“That’s what I told him,” Sid sighed, shaking his head before looking back at her with his biggest smile. “So, can we take a look around before making the decision?”
“Sure!” Her excitement at a possible bump in salary by signing two new memberships had her grabbing papers. “I’ll get everything together on this end. You guys go check it out. I know you won’t be disappointed. Plus, we are the only twenty-four hour gym in the area.”
“Thank you.” Sid smiled down at her, making her blush. “I’m sure we won’t be disappointed in what we find at all.”
Jax had already taken off. It was pretty empty since it was two o’clock in the morning. The place was big, and as Jax was about to give up finding the bastard, Sid chuckled, pointing toward the back corner.
“He really is a douchebag,” Sid smirked. “He’s going to be so happy to see me.”
Looking to where Sid was pointing, Jax spotted the man immediately, standing in front of a mirror that covered the whole wall while pumping weights and looking at himself before flexing. “He’s mine,” Jax reminded Sid.
“Just got your back, brother.” Sid nodded, looking slightly disappointed as they made their way toward the iron-pumping asshole.
Rod was too busy looking down at his muscle to notice two figures behind him in the mirror, but once he looked up, it was a photo moment because the look of shock on his face was classic. Sid with his crooked ‘you’re getting your ass beat’ smile and Jax’s ‘I’m the one beating your ass’ glare couldn’t be misconstrued.