Sid (The Protectors Series) Book #4 (8 page)

Susan shrugged
, not really disagreeing. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

“
And never mention my sister again. She is
off
limits.” Lana frowned at her, grabbed the rest of her cigarette and threw it out the window.

“Hey!” Susan cried out. “Those cost money.”

“Yeah, well, you need to stop bumming money off me, so I say you can’t afford to smoke.” Lana frowned, and then cursed. “And next time, give me time to disguise myself. Dammit, Susan, how could you use my real name? This is going to bite me on the ass.”

“I’m sorry
,” Susan repeated, pulling into their parking lot. “I’ll take the heat for this one.”

“
Yes, you will.” Lana looked at her, surprised that Susan thought she would take the blame.

Susan parked
, turning off the car, but neither moved to get out. “What happened when you touched that vampire, Lana?”

Lana stared out the window. “
The man who I saw, whoever he is, is very strong.” She swallowed hard, her throat tender. It was hard to admit aloud, but deep inside, she wondered if they weren’t in over their heads.

Susan pulled into a busy parking lot, parked and turned off the car. Both women just sat staring at the building.

“Well, guess it’s time to face the music.” Susan grabbed her bag taking the keys.

Lana
got out of the car, impending doom settling around her. “Let’s just hope he’s in a good mood.”

“Have you ever seen him in a good mood?”
Susan snorted, unbuttoning two more buttons on her blouse.

“What are you doing?” Lana’s eyes shot from her blouse to her face.

“We fucked up big time.” Susan pushed her boobs up as she looked down at her handy work. “We need all the help we can get.”

“There is no way….” Lana’s tone was outraged until she glanced back at the building and frowned. “Better undo one more button. Have a feeling this is going to go very badly.”

Chapter 8

Jill had just
arrived at her room when her phone buzzed again. Sid had sent a group text wanting everyone to meet in Sloan’s office. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Tossing her sketchpad on her bed, she flopped down
, lying back with her arms spread wide. Closing her eyes, she blindly reached for her sketchpad. With eyes still closed, she opened it to the page she knew by feel, by heart.

Slowly
, her eyes opened to Slade’s handsome face looking back at her. She captured him, as she would like to see him, smiling at her with that slow sexy smile. Her phone buzzed again, causing her to slam the sketchbook closed.

Grabbing her phone without looking at it
, Jill stormed out of her room, heading down the hall toward Sloan’s office. In no time, she had arrived. Walking in without making eye contact with anyone, she made it to the back of the room and leaned against the wall. Adam spotted her and made his way to her along with Steve.

“Damn!” Steve’s eyes bugged out when he saw her face, but didn’t ask anything else when she shot him a
‘don’t ask’ look.

Adam just glanced at it. “You okay?”

She nodded without saying anything. Her eyes moved up, and of course, landed right on Slade. It was as if her eyes shared a special bond with the man. He wasn’t looking at her, but his face was hard as stone, his eyes cold as ice, and it hurt to look at him.

Sloan walked in with his phone
, which seemed to be attached to his ear. He didn’t look too happy. “You better believe you will make this right!” Sloan yelled into the phone. “We’ve worked too hard to get this far to have you people screw this up.” He scribbled something down, clicked his phone off and threw it on the desk. Looking at it for a minute, he picked it back up and threw it in a desk drawer, slamming it closed.

“Was that Hong Tong’s
apologizing for messing up our order yesterday?” Sid grinned from his position in the chair next to Sloan’s desk. “I swear you can’t find good fast food today.”

“No
, it wasn’t Hong fucking Tong’s, you dumbass,” Sloan growled, indicating he was not in the mood. He looked around at everyone and decided to save that conversation for last.

Even though she was mad a
t Sid, he always made her laugh, and now wasn’t any different. Glancing at Slade, she saw a small grin tip his lips.

Sloan seemed to get his thoughts together before he spoke. “Jared explained a little of what happened out there.” Sloan thumbed toward the entryway. “It
will
get cleaned up by tomorrow. It
will
look exactly as it did before.” It was an order. His voice allowed no room for debate.

“I got a crew coming first thing in the morning
,” Sid replied where he sat sprawled in his chair.

Sloan ignored Sid, which he did frequently. His eyes landed on
Jill, then scanned to Steve before finally resting on Adam. “I am going to say this once and once only.” Sloan’s tone had a final edge, indicating he was done with the bullshit. “I have no problems transferring any of you out of here. You are not in charge of anything.” His eyes stayed on Adam. “The next time you decide to disobey orders, I will put you on report. If you are already on report, your ass is gone, and it will not be a transfer. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,
Sir,” the three answered in unison.

“Good, now get the hell out of here.” Sloan’s eyes stayed on Adam as a
n extra warning.

Jill was more than happy to get out of the room and moved quickly
, not looking at anyone.

“You stay
, Jill.” Sloan’s voice stopped her instantly.

“Shit
,” slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. Sid’s chuckle reached her ears which pissed her off, because whatever she was about to get chewed out for, was his fault. Back-stepping, she found the wall again.

“Is there a problem between you two?” Sloan glanced between her and Slade.

Jill hesitated before shaking her head. “No, Sir.” Glancing over, her eyes met Slade’s.

“
Slade?” Sloan pushed.

Slade
turned his eyes away from her to Sloan. “Any problems between Jill and me are between us and will be taken care of by us.”

The temperature in the room dropped considerably. Sloan slammed hi
s hand on the desk, making Jill jump. “Putting a hole through my wall and beating the hell out of someone is not taking care of it.” Sloan glared at Slade then Jill. “You need to feed. We have blood donors already in place. Use them. I don’t want to hear another word about this issue. Is that understood?”

“Yes,
Sir,” Jill replied, wishing she would have kept her damn mouth shut about the whole situation.

“Get your anger in check.” Sloan turned his attention to Slade. “I need you here and would hate to have to send you packing because of something like this. It’s not worth putting a blemish on your re
cord.”

Those words
hit Jill hard. Her eyes hit the floor, her insides shaking as nausea burned her stomach. At that moment, she knew that no matter what she did, she could be a blemish on someone’s record.

“If anyone attacks a fellow Warrior with words
, or physically, I will do whatever I have to do.” Slade’s voice was deep as he looked around to every Warrior there except her. “I would expect the same from any of you. So put whatever you want on my record.”

Sloan
remained quiet as he and Slade stared in a battle of wills. Sloan finally broke the silence. “But she isn’t a Warrior yet.”

“No, but she is a woman who deserves respect
, and I will uphold that as I know everyone in this room would.” Slade straightened off the wall. “So if you have a problem with that, then you best kick me out now.”

Jill’s eye
s flew from the floor to Slade. “No.” Jill took a step forward. “This wasn’t his fault.”

“So it’s yours?” Sloan’s eyes pinned her to the spot.

“No, it’s mine.” Sid shook his head. “I will kick my own ass later. So can we stop and put the blame where it is? Jill had no idea about any of this. It won’t happen again.”

“
Make sure that it doesn’t,” Sloan growled the warning. “I don’t have time to deal with this shit. We have too much going on and we’re spread thin. I can’t afford to lose anyone because they’re thinking with their cock.”

Jill’s eyes narrowed and she had to bite her tongue…hard.

Sloan glanced her way. “You better get a tough skin, little girl.” Sloan eyed her with warning. “If you want to be a Warrior, you better be prepared to be treated like one.”

Digging deep
, Jill found the courage to open her mouth. She was pissed. “I have never asked to be treated differently. I was handling the situation on my own. I didn’t need anyone with a…” Jill swallowed hard, “cock to step in. I may not have a cock, but I have more heart than any of the trainees with a cock.”

Everyone had turned to look at her, but she kept her eyes on Sloan who
se mouth quirked at the corner.

“
It seems others in this room have a problem that I don’t have a cock, and that’s their problem, not mine.” Her voice was strong and just below a shout. Jesus, how many times had she said cock? She couldn’t stop staying cock. Her eyes burned fire. “It doesn’t take a cock to be a Warrior, and I’m going to prove it. I’ll feed from one of those bitches if I have to knock their fake asses out to do it. So this issue is finished, done and taken care of without the help of anyone with a cock. Now, am I dismissed?”

Sloan’s eyes crinkled at the edges, but he didn’t say a word
, just nodded.

Knocking
into chairs, she walked with purpose to the door that seemed a million miles away. Jill slowed down as she reached Slade. Reaching up, she pointed in his face. “Stay away from me and my business. I don’t need your help, and I
will not
be blamed for you getting thrown out of here.”

Slade stared down into her eyes
; no grin lit his face, but respect gleamed in those golden eyes. When she went to move past him, he grabbed her arm. “We will have a discussion as soon as I’m done here, so do not leave.” When she went to pull her arm away, he pulled her closer, leaning down, not caring if everyone was watching. “I, for one, am glad you don’t have a…cock.”

As soon as Slade
loosened his grip, Jill was out the door, wondering what the hell his words had meant. Damn him and his touch, which still tingled on her arm. Walking across the demolished entryway, Jill kicked a piece of drywall, sending it sailing through the air against an undamaged wall, damaging it. “Why the hell did you have to open your mouth!” Jill cursed at herself. “Cock…really? Oh. My. God.” She put her head in her hands letting her feet find her room.

******

It took every bit of control that Sid possessed not to bust out laughing. His respect just grew for that little girl. For her to stand in front of them all saying her piece without breaking down into tears, but standing straight and proud, was a sight to see.

Looking around at everyone
, he grinned. “How many times do you think she said cock?”

At that
, everyone did laugh, even Sloan.

“Damn
, you guys are bad enough.” Sloan rubbed his eyes, chuckling and groaning at the same time. “But now I have a little wisp of a girl running around wanting to be one of us, and so far, she’s proving up to the task. This may actually be what kills me.”

“Well
, at least me and my cock won’t be to blame. Which will be a first.” Sid smacked his hands together, standing up. “Now, if that’s all, I’ve got shit to do.”

“
Sit your ass down,” Sloan demanded. “I just got off the phone with the Campbell County Sheriff Department’s Special Unit.”

“Ah, didn’t know they had a special unit
,” Jared frowned. “They’re a small department.”

“They are a small department
, and no one knew they had a special unit except for the special unit.” Sloan leaned back in his chair. “Seems our Ms. Fitzpatrick and her partner Amy were also working undercover.”

“You’re shitting me
!” Jared frowned. “They totally ousted our cover.”

“Exactly, and that’s why I have demanded they give us any information
they’ve obtained to this point and disperse the unit. If they are not working with us, they are working against us,” Sloan informed them. “After a few threats, they saw it my way when I informed their leader I would be calling the Feds to investigate their investigation. It’s too dangerous for us to be out there, not knowing who is on whose side.”

“So let me get this straight.” Sid had leaned forward, his eyes intense. “My cover was blown all to hell because someone in the Campbell County Sheriff’s
Department decided to set up their own sting without informing the area departments or us?”

“Pretty much sums it up
,” Sloan nodded.

“So is the profile pic legit?”
Sid’s tone didn’t have the easy-going edge it usually did.

“Yes. It seems that one of our undercover girls does have the ability to read the dead, but that’s not the best part.” Sloan smiled for the first time since he started chewing ass. “The dead seem to search her out
, and she has had contact with some of the women who have been killed, but something is blocking them once they make contact. This is the reason they decided to start their sting.”

“And she’s a cop?” Sid frowned
. He knew all the cops in the area, or at least thought he did.

“
Didn’t get into the details, but it seems so.” Sloan replied, glancing at his phone. “Waiting for a call back from the Chief.”

Sid sat back to soak the information in. If it didn’t piss him off so bad
ly, he’d be laughing, but to have his cover blown when he had been so close was something he didn’t find amusing.

“I’m going to change things up a bit.” Sloan eyed Sid for a few seconds. “You’re in charge of the investigation. No more undercover work. I’m surprised
, with all your press photos from a month ago, you haven’t been made out yet.”

“Who’s going to be undercover?” Sid looked around.

“Slade, if we need him,” Sloan informed everyone. “He is our best bet because not too many people know about him yet. He’s been low-profile.”

Nodding
, Sid looked to Sloan. “So you want me to take care of the Sheriff’s Department?”

“Be my guest.” Sloan scribbled something down
, tossing it to Sid. “But don’t make me regret putting you in total charge.”

Sid grinned
, “I’ll do ya proud, Dad.”

“God
, what a scary-ass thought,” Sloan shook his head. “Now, get the fuck out of my office, and get that shit out there cleaned up.”

Sid was the last to leave. “So I can pull any of their people to work with us?”

“It hasn’t been confirmed, but that is what is going to happen, so if you have any problems with that let me know.” Sloan picked up his phone, tapping in a number, and dismissing him.