[06] Slade (18 page)

Dropping the weights, Rod tried to make a run for it, but had nowhere to go. Jax grabbed him by the back of the neck, forcing him down on a weight bench.

“What do you want?” Rod’s voice didn’t fit his body image. He sounded like a scared girl, his voice high with fright. “I didn’t do anything to Lana.” His eyes shot to Sid.

“And you’re very lucky for that,” Sid growled down at him.

“You like hitting women?” Jax smacked him on the back of the head, hard. “Does it make you feel like a man, you piece of shit?”

“No, it was an accident.” Rod’s lie pissed Jax off even more, making him smack the back of his head harder.

“Try again, motherfucker,” Jax sneered down at him. “Do you know what my tribe did back in the day to men who abused their women?”

“No.” Rod’s voice shook almost as bad as his body. “And I didn’t abuse Caroline.”

Jax grabbed Rod by the throat, getting in his face. “You’re not even fit to say her name.”

“Ah, Jax.” Sid tilted his head, watching Rod’s face change colors. “I was hoping to prolong his suffering for a while; it’s more entertaining that way.”

With one last squeeze, Jax shoved his neck away. “A woman should be honored, not beat on by little pricks like you.” Jax knelt down in front of Rod so the bastard could see the truth behind his words.

“So what did your tribe use to do?” Sid sat down on a weight bench next to Rod. “I’d
really
like to hear the story.”

Jax’s smile turned evil as his fist clenched tightly; his piercing black eyes never left Rod’s. “First, after the bastard was found, he was tied to a tree. The elders allowed all the women to inflict punishment, but not kill. When the women were finished, the woman who had been abused had her turn, and it wasn’t pretty. Indian women could be more ruthless than the men.”

“Go on.” Sid leaned closer as if really getting into the story, which was fucking with Rod’s head.

“Once she was finished, the women would go back to their daily routines while the men took over.” Jax’s face took on a menacing look. “If it was rape, his cock was cut with expertise off his body. The shaman would sew him back up to make sure he would live so every day he could see his rotting raping cock hanging from the woman’s camp.”

“Holy shit. Can someone really live without their dick?” Sid leaned back, really thinking about that. “Then again, who the fuck would want to?”

“If it’s done right, they can, and believe me, our shaman had it down to an art and even showed men in the tribe how it was done so the punishment would live on after he was gone.” Jax watched the sweat roll down Rod’s terrified face, a primal satisfaction filling his body.

“Let me guess.” Sid snapped his fingers and pointed at Jax. “You were one of those men the shaman taught.”

“I didn’t rape her. Is that what that bitch said? She’s fucking lying.” Rod went to stand up, but was slammed back down.

“Shut the fuck up and listen,” Jax warned, his eyes black as night.

“Yeah, I want to hear the rest,
Rod
.” Sid’s face indicated he was loving every fucking minute of this.

“In my tribe, the punishment reflected the abuse,” Jax continued. “If a man hit a woman, his hands were removed. If he bit a woman, his teeth were removed, and not in a pleasant way. Everything was done so that the bastard would live with his punishment and disgrace, every day.”

“So what if they called her a bitch?” Sid asked, using his head to point at Rod.

“Then the nearest male would punch him in the mouth.” Jax did just that before pushing Rod all the way back on the weight’s bench. “This is your only warning. If you ever come near Caroline or her family again, I will hunt you down, and believe me, you don’t want me hunting you down because once I find you, and I will find you, I will relive my roots and deal out every punishment I’ve ever learned. It will be painful and you will be hideous, but you will live. You understand me, motherfucker?”

Rod nodded, tears rolling out of the side of each eye. He tried to answer, but choked on the blood from his mouth. “Yes,” he finally muttered past his broken teeth and swelling lips.

Sid walked over with a bench lift bar loaded down with weights, setting it down across Rod’s chest. “I’m kind of impressed, Rod. If I was you, I’d be scared enough to piss myself.” Sid let go of the bar so all the weight kept Rod immobile, before he looked at Jax. “Hey, didn’t you guys scalp people also?”

“Yes.” Was all Jax said as he pulled out a butterfly knife, opening it with flare. “Our knives were a little bigger, but this would do.”

Sid nodded, and then looked down at Rod’s crotch as his red shorts became darker with piss. “And there it is,” Sid grinned. “Figured that would do it.”

Jax leaned over Rod. “Remember, you cannot hide from me.”

Rod nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, a low keening coming from his throat.

As Jax and Sid walked toward the exit, Sid grinned. “Now that was fun.”

Jax mumbled, still in his rage-mode.

“So what tribe were you with?” Sid glanced at him sideways.

“The one you didn’t want to fuck with, white man.” Jax pushed his way out the door.

“Point taken.” Sid nodded with raised eyebrows, and then smiled. “I’m going to like you, Chief. Now let’s go home and I’ll fix you up some grub.”

“That’s cowboy slang, dumbass.” Jax turned his head away so Sid couldn’t see his half smile. This fucker was nuts, but funny as hell.

After hours of lying awake, Jill headed to the kitchen, grumpy and sexually frustrated. She had thought of many nasty, painful ways to torture Slade. After a cold shower, which didn’t help her one bit and proved the belief that cold showers helped a sexually frustrated individual was total bullshit, her ways of torture turned even more evil.

“Well, hello, sunshine.” Steve smiled at her from the table.

Ignoring him, other than a growl, Jill headed for coffee. Grabbing the biggest cup she could find, she poured and poured, dumped half a bowl of sugar in and took a long drink, loving the burn going down her throat. Bringing the cup down, she sighed then looked around at everyone staring at her.

“What?” she glared, not in the mood.

“You want some food with your cup of sugar?” Sid eyed her closely.

Shaking her head, she poured more coffee and sugar into her cup and walked to the table to sit down across from Steve. Jax sat on one end drinking coffee. Adam had just walked over with food falling off the edges of his plate and sat down.

“So when do your stripping lessons start?” Adam dug into his food, waiting for her to answer.

Pulling the hood up around her head, Jill frowned. “Tessa texted me this morning. I have to meet them around noon at the bar.”

“Good.” Sloan had walked in on the conversation, followed by Jared and Slade. “That will give you plenty of time to practice your driving. Congrats on passing the written. Monday you test for your driving permit and you better be ready. I had to pull in a few favors to get you in before your required time.”

Well, that sure as hell didn’t add any pressure. What she really wanted to say was ‘can’t I even drink a full cup of coffee before you’re on my ass about something’,’ but instead, responded with, “Yes, sir.” Seriously, she wanted to live, but was just having a minute to relax too freaking much to ask?

“Who’s free this morning to go with her so she can practice driving?” Sloan looked around.

“Ah, well, I ah…” Adam about choked on his egg when Sloan’s eyes fell on him.

Jill glared at him, the ass. God forbid, he let her drive his precious piece of crap.

“I’ll do it,” Jax said, surprising everyone. Draining the rest of his coffee, he stood, looking at Jill. “Let’s go.”

“Dun Dun Duuuuunnnnn,” Steve mumbled before taking a bite of food.

Jill snatched a sausage link off Adam’s plate, hitting Steve between the eyes with it before standing up and taking her cup to the sink.

“Hey!” Steve frowned, before looking at the sausage and taking a bite.

Jill rolled her eyes when she turned around to see Steve eating the sausage she threw at him. Passing Sloan and Slade, she nodded, but kept her eyes off Slade, because suddenly, all the torture techniques popped into her head again. Yeah, she needed to get out of there.

Heading outside, she saw Jax walking toward a cherry red Mustang GT. Holy shit, if she wrecked that car, she would be a dead woman. She wondered briefly if stress could actually kill a half-breed. “Hey, if that’s a stick, I can’t drive it.”

Jax laughed without turning around. “There is no way in hell I would let you drive this car.” He popped the trunk, getting something out. “We’re taking one of the other cars.”

Okay, that settled her stomach a little bit. Still, it rolled and pitched thinking about getting behind the wheel while the person who hated her and wanted her to quit the program sat next to her. This was going to be a total fail.

They went to one of the old cars, a Nissan, the Warriors used for different occasions. He threw the keys to her. Jill got in, put her seatbelt on, started the car and sat there staring out the window.

Finally, Jax glanced over at her. “Please tell me you know how to put the car in gear.”

Jill nodded. “I just don’t want you to start yelling because that’s just going to make me more nervous.”

“Don’t give me a reason to yell and I won’t yell.” Jax’s response was pretty much to the point, but didn’t help. Jill gave him a sideways glance. “Okay, I will only yell if you are about to plow someone down. Better?”

Again, Jill nodded as she put the car in reverse. Pulling out fast, and then slamming on the brakes, Jill watched out of the corner of her eye as Jax’s upper body flew forward and then slammed back against the seat. She waited…ready.

Slowly, he turned to look at her. “And the reason for that was?” He cocked his eyebrow at her.

“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to yell before I actually got out on the road,” Jill shrugged.

Jax nodded slowly, still eyeing her. “Well since we have
that
cleared up, are you ready to stop fucking around and get this over with?”

“Yep.” This time, Jill pulled out carefully and headed for the exit of the compound driveway. Flicking on her blinker, she looked for traffic and pulled out, smiling at herself for getting that far without killing them. As they travelled down the road, Jill kept a death grip on the wheel, her eyes going all over the place looking for obstacles she could murder with the car.

Leaning over, Jax looked at the dashboard and sighed, “How about pushing on the accelerator a little harder, Jill. It shouldn’t take us a half an hour to go a block and a half.”

Frowning, Jill did as he said. She should have said no yelling
and
no being a smartass. “Where to?”

“You know how to get to the bar?” Jax looked at his watch.

“Yeah.” Jill continued to drive and everything seemed to be going smoothly until someone pulled out in front of her. Jill slammed on her brakes barely missing the car. “Are you serious! Watch where you’re going, asshole!! Are you freaking blind?” Jill screamed, blaring her horn. “Come on. Can we go faster than two miles an hour?”

Jill flipped on the blinker, getting in the other lane to pass. As she passed, she and Jax looked into the car. A little old man, who was absolutely adorable and could barely see over the steering wheel, glanced at them, giving them a grandfatherly smile.

Jax slowly looked at Jill with a frown. “I suggest, if that happens during your test, do what you did, minus the blaring of the horn and screaming threats at old people in a fit of road rage.”

Jill shifted on the seat, frowning, but nodded. “Understood.”

“Make sure you use your signals all the time.” Jax sat back, relaxed, as if enjoying the ride. “You missed a few. I’m not sure how many points that will be. Have you ever parallel parked?”

Stopping at a red light, Jill glanced over at Jax. “No.”

“Never?” Jax frowned and cursed. “Okay, no big deal, but we need to practice that. You’re okay driving when you’re paying attention. Find a street that cars park on.”

Driving up and down streets, she finally found one. Seeing a parking spot between two cars Jill slowed down. “Is that a good one?”

Jax looked at it and actually got out for a closer look. Walking back to her side of the window, he bent down. “Get out and let me do it first. Stand over there and watch.”

Getting out of the car, Jax pulled her aside as someone drove past. Heading over to stand, she watched what Jax did and shook her head once he was in the spot looking at her. After pulling back out into the street, he got out and waved her over.

Shit, there was no way she was going to be able to do that. “There is no way,” Jill spoke her thoughts out loud.