“How far do you want my target?” Jill asked Slade, but Jax stepped in and went toward her.
Nudging her out of the way, he pushed the button sending her target down the lane; he kept going and going. Finally, he stopped the target. “Let’s see how good a shot you are at a distance.”
Jill stared at him for a second with her brows furrowed in confusion before slipping her earmuffs on. Snapping in a loaded clip, she positioned her body, her head turned slightly to glance over her shoulder at Jax. Slade was surprised at the hurt look in her eyes. He was even more surprised that Jax’s treatment of her pissed him off more than anything had in a long time.
Once again, the room erupted in gunfire. Jax turned, catching Slade glaring at him. “What’s your problem?”
Before Slade could answer, Jill stopped shooting, brought her target in, popped out her empty clip and calmly walked over, putting her target on the table. Each shot placed with strategic accuracy, but this time to the head.
Neither Jax nor Slade said a word as they stared at the target. Adam followed, laying his target down as did Steve.
“What the hell?” Steve reached over, putting his finger in one of the eye holes made by Jill’s bullet.
“I’m better with a shotgun,” Jill shrugged, staring at her target. “We did turkey shoots all the time. We never had to buy a turkey because one of us always won.”
“She’s better with a shotgun,” Steve snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Can shoot the balls off an ant at one-hundred paces.” Jill grinned at Steve’s expression.
“Wait a minute.” Steve’s eyes went from impressed to narrowed. “An ant doesn’t have balls.”
Jill cocked her eyebrow at him before grabbing a clean target. “Really?”
Steve took a target. “No, I mean I’ve never seen an ant with balls.”
“And you’ve looked?” Adam frowned at Steve, following him to the lane.
“No, I haven’t looked for ant balls, but I’m sure if an ant had balls, you’d see them hanging and I’ve never seen hanging balls from an ant.”
“If you guys are done talking about fucking ant balls…” Jax started, but stopped when Jill laughed then shut up real quick at his glare. “I want you to set your targets a few yards further than the last time. Slade is going to call out what shot to make. You will have only four shots this round.”
“After I call out the area to shoot, you will have seven seconds to take your aim and fire,” Slade instructed, watching as they all set their targets. “This is an accuracy test and will be counted as a score.”
“But we didn’t get to practice much and we all can’t be like Annie Oakley over there who can shoot the balls off an ant. Can’t we get a little more practice?” Steve looked worried.
“We don’t have time to stay on one thing too long,” Slade responded, looking at each of them. “We have too much to cover. It will be up to you to practice in your own time as we move ahead. If you need help with anything, help each other or grab a Warrior who is free and can help you.”
“I’ll help you, Steve,” Jill called down from her lane.
“Oh, thanks, Jill,” Steve called back. “Having a girl teach me how to shoot shouldn’t make me look like a loser.”
Jill rolled her eyes with a snort. “Having a girl run around telling everyone she’s a better shot than you with proof would take care of that problem.”
“Shit,” Steve mumbled, putting his earmuffs on before yelling, “In that case…sure, Jill, I would love for you to help me.”
“That’s what I thought,” Jill smirked.
“There goes my man card,” Steve cursed as he stood in his lane waiting for instructions.
“Didn’t know you could lose something you didn’t have,” Jill shot back.
“Funny stuff, Jill,” Steve yelled over the lanes. “If you fail at this protector stuff, you should do stand-up.”
“We are seriously fucked,” Jax grumbled to Slade as they stood watching the bantering back and forth.
Slade ignored him, stepping behind the three, stopwatch in hand. “Bring your weapons into position.” He waited, but when Jill kept hers down, he walked toward her. “Aim up, Jill.”
“If it’s okay, I’m more comfortable with my weapon down until I know where I’m to aim.” Jill peeked at him over her shoulder.
“That’s fine, but remember this is going to count,” Slade replied, giving her one more chance to change her position.
“Let her fuck up,” Jax nodded toward Jill. “She’ll learn to listen before it’s too late. Or maybe she won’t.”
Slade’s hold on the stopwatch tightened. As soon as this was finished, he was going to find out what the fuck Jax’s issue was with Jill. “Ready?” he called out, waiting for each to nod. “Heart.” He clicked the stopwatch as soon as he yelled the word.
Three consecutive shots rang out, only five seconds of silence followed before Slade’s voice boomed another body part and shots fired. Once the exercise was finished, they brought in the targets, each staring at their work.
Slade looked at each nodding his approval. “Not bad.”
“Looks like sure shot there should have listened and brought up her aim.” Jax picked up Jill’s target, looking at it closely.
Slade knew shit was about to hit the fan when Jill’s face scrunched up in anger. It seemed Adam and Steve also knew Jill’s facial expressions because they took a step back.
“I was only off on the groin shot,” Jill confirmed, her voice low and even. “The others are dead on.”
“Not good enough.” Jax laid it down before looking at her, daring her with his glare to say another word.
Slade slammed his hand on the table. “Leave.” When no one moved, he looked at Jill, Adam and Steve. “I said leave!”
Steve ran into Adam trying to get out of the room, but Jill remained for a second longer, her eyes not leaving Jax. When Slade growled low in his throat, she turned and walked out of the range, slamming the door behind her.
“What is your fucking problem?” Slade turned on Jax. “We are supposed to be building them up, not tearing them down.”
“She needs to go.” Jax didn’t back down. “She is, and I repeat once again, a liability.”
“She deserves to go through the program like anyone else,” Slade countered, his temper on the edge of exploding.
“Why don’t you just fuck her and get it over with.” Jax sneered then looked away, which was a mistake; he should have been looking for the punch that landed him across the room.
“Whether I fuck her or not is not and never will be your business, motherfucker.” Slade reached down to pick him up, but Jax moved faster, swinging out, but missed when Slade moved out of the way. “You better rethink fighting me because I guarantee, you will lose.”
Jax worked his jaw back and forth as he glared at Slade. “This is exactly my point. Would you have reacted this way if I had said Steve was a liability, which looking at his targets isn’t far off the mark.”
“No, because you wouldn’t be telling me to fuck him,” Slade countered, still itching to hit Jax again.
Thinking about that for a minute, Jax nodded with raised eyebrows. “True.”
“She deserves to be here as much as anyone else,” Slade countered. “And I’m in charge of this program. If you can’t handle it, you need to remove yourself. She will be just as ready as any of the men.”
Jax glared for a second longer before sighing, still moving his jaw. “Did you have to hit me so fucking hard?”
“I don’t disrespect women and neither will anyone else in my presence,” Slade warned, grabbing up the targets.
Once again, Jax cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just respond with and I quote… ‘
Whether I fuck her or not is not and never will be your business, motherfucker’
?’”
“That was a warning, nothing more,” Slade cursed under his breath, wondering where those words
had
come from. They just popped out in a fit of anger.
Jax snorted. “Ah, yeah…okay, but I’m telling you, she is going to get one of those boys out there killed and you released from the Vampire Council. I’ve seen it happen before, and Goddammit, she’s a liability.”
Unfortunately, Slade couldn’t argue with that point because he knew it was true, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Jill walked out of the shooting range behind Adam and Steve.
“You did good, Jill.” Adam looked down at her. “Jax is just an asshole trying to—”
“Do ants have balls?” Steve spoke into his phone.
“What the hell are you doing?” Adam looked back at Steve as if he’d lost his mind.
“Asking Siri,” Steve replied, looking at his phone.
“If ants have balls?” Adam’s voice was a mix between exasperation and disbelief. “How in the hell is your phone going to know if ants have fucking balls?”
“It’s not my phone; it’s Siri.” Steve rolled his eyes. “Come on, dude. Don’t tell me you’ve never used Siri.”
A female-like robotic voice sounded from Steve’s phone. “This is what I found on the web for ‘Do ants have balls’.”
“Ha!” Steve pointed at Adam, then to his phone looking surprised. “Well, I’ll be damned. Ants do have balls, but—”
“Steve, shut the fuck up.” Adam smacked Steve’s phone, almost knocking it out of his hand. “I don’t care if ants have balls or not.”
Jill barely heard their conversation. Her focus was on the conversation she heard going on behind closed doors and it was pissing her off. Adam and Steve stopped talking and listened to the angry Warrior voices also. Their pitiful glances toward her did her in. God, she was getting tired of fighting for every damn thing she wanted.
“Whether I fuck her or not is not and never will be your business, motherfucker.” Slade’s voice boomed from the other room as if he weren’t standing behind closed doors. Even without their superb hearing, that statement was hard to miss as it rattled out into the hallway they stood in.
Glancing at Steve and Adam, Jill’s face burned. How freaking humiliating to be standing there while being discussed loudly in the next room.
“Ah, yeah…okay, but I’m telling you, she is going to get one of those boys out there killed and you released from the Vampire Council. I’ve seen it happen before, and Goddammit, she’s a liability.” This time it was Jax’s voice that reached them.
“Jill, that’s bullshit,” Adam said, shaking his head. “You know it and we know it.”
“Yeah, it is.” Jill glared at the door and before anyone could stop her, she headed that way and burst into the room they had been told to leave.
“Jill, don’t!” Adam called out, but it was too late.
“Transfer me!” Jill walked into the room, her glare going from Slade who looked pissed and Jax who didn’t look any happier. “If it’s such an issue me being here, just transfer me.”
“No one will take you,” Jax stated, not in a mean taunt, but as a fact.
Jill opened up her mouth to respond, but the realness of those words hit her pretty hard. Shutting her mouth, she looked away from her peers, swallowing hard before nodding. She felt Adam and Steve walk up behind her. “If it came down to anyone on my team dying or having to make a decision against the Council because of me, I would take myself out.” Jill jerked her chin up, praying she could do just that if the time came.
“And that will not make any of us feel any better.” Jax tilted his head, staring hard at her. “Whether you like it or not, you are a woman and a woman is a man’s downfall on the battlefield. It’s a proven fact from the beginning of time and war.”
Jill felt a frantic laugh bubble in her throat. She felt everything slipping away and had no clue how to turn it back around. “It doesn’t matter what I do, does it?” Jill looked from Jax to Slade and then back to Jax again. “When I don’t do something right, I’m a liability. And when I do something I’m good at, it’s not good enough.”
He shook his head. “Either way, you’re a liability. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you do anything.”
The room was deadly silent. Jax finally looked away, but Slade’s eyes never left her. Adam and Steve looked everywhere else. She had never felt so alone as she did at that moment.
“If she goes, I go,” Adam’s voice rose from the silence.
“Adam, don’t.” Jill shook her head.
“No, this is bullshit.” Adam pointed at Jax. “You don’t talk for me. If I had to choose from anyone to stand by me, it would be Jill.”
“Easy to say…now,” Jax sighed.
“No, easy to say, period.” Adam took a step forward, but Jill stopped him. “And I will say it again, if she goes, I go.”
“Same goes for me.” Steve stepped forward. “Not having a sharp shooter who can shoot the balls off an ant is a bad move in my book.” Steve winked at Jill, giving her his goofy smile.
Emotion gripped Jill’s throat in a choke hold making her unable to speak at all, but her eyes thanked Adam and Steve more than her words ever could.