[06] Slade (9 page)

Wishing she could see his face, Jill pulled back. “No one has ever needed anything from me, Slade. I need to be needed.” She drew in a shaky breath. “I need you.”

“Do you know what dominance is, Jill?” His glanced down at her, his eyes still searching for something Jill prayed she could give him.

Understanding finally evaded her brain. “Yes, I do…” She looked into his eyes, then with a small smile added, “Sir.” She may not be able to read, but she loved books and listened to audios anytime she could find the time and thank God, for that and Cherise Sinclair.

His growl at her response sent sensations through her body almost scaring her with the intensity. “I’m very demanding behind closed doors,” Slade warned, his breath hot against her face.

“Are you trying to scare me off?” Jill asked, her hand grasping his shirt in an attempt to show him it wasn’t working.

“Yes, I am.” Slade cursed again managing to pull out of her grip, but kept his eyes on her, looking torn.

“You either want me or you don’t, Slade.” Jill stood there, terrified of what he was going to see if he looked too hard.

“Oh, there is no doubt I want you, Jill.” He grabbed her hand placing it on his hard cock that was pressing to be free. He bent down, tilting his head to see her better. “Does that scare you?”

“No, it doesn’t.” She pressed her hand harder against him as she tilted her head mocking him. “Does that scare
you
?”

Slade totally pulled away as if her touch burned him. “You’re playing with things you don’t understand.”

“No, actually, you’re the one playing, Warrior.” Jill knew without a doubt he could walk out that door right now, but her mind and body couldn’t take much more. She was either going to go insane or up in flames; hell, she might do both. “I said what I had to say, even as embarrassing as it was, but I fucking said it. Now, it’s your turn.”

When he remained silent, the tick in his jaw beat a frantic pulse as he glared at her.

Taking off her shirt, she threw it at him. He just stood as it hit his chest and fell to the floor. The only thing that moved was his eyes as they caressed her body. “And I repeat…you either want me or you don’t.” Inside, she prayed he wanted her. If not, she was pretty confident she would die. His silence might kill her anyway. “Say something, dammit!”

Her words seemed to snap him out of it. “Fuck!” With a curse, he made his way past her toward the door. Jill watched, her heart sinking to her stomach as angry tears threatened to explode from her eyes.

“You bastard,” Jill’s words quivered as she turned her back on him. She couldn’t stand seeing him walk out the door. She grabbed the nearest object ready to throw it at the closed door, but stopped when she heard the loud sound of the lock clicking.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Jillian.” Slade’s deep voice washed over her like a caress. Whenever he used her full name, her insides shook. “If you ever threaten to kill yourself, even in a teasing manner or call me names again, I will blister your ass.”

Only turning her head, she peeked over her shoulder. Her eyes going from the lock to him, something inside her that she didn’t know existed came to the surface, a sexy half-grin formed on her lips. “Promise?” Even her voice sounded different to her own ears. She knew without a doubt she was playing with fire. As he grabbed her pulling her to him, her body became supersensitive, her skin and insides felt electrified. This had to be what heaven felt like.

When Lana and Sid started whispering to each other, Caroline knew it was time to go. After a great night of hanging with her sister and the other girls watching
Gladiators
on television and in real life, so to speak, it was time for her to go. Smiling, she watched the way her sister reacted to Sid. She had never seen Lana so happy with a man, and Sid, what could she say about him other than he openly adored her twin sister and the family loved him, as did she.

Envy heated her chest, but Caroline pushed it away. She was happy like that once, but that had all changed in the face of Rod’s lies. Her family was everything to her, but Rod never took to her sister or their gift. It scared him, so Caroline had pushed it down, telling everyone that her gift frightened her. In truth, it did frighten her, but she had learned to deal with it. Her phone went off, making her jump. Glancing at it quickly, she frowned, clicking the ignore button. She had blocked Rod’s number, but he would borrow someone’s phone and call from a different number. She knew it was him because she never received unknown numbers on her cell phone before.

“Hey!” Lana walked up behind her. “Was that Mom?”

Startled, she dropped her bag. “Ah, no.” Caroline hoped to get out of there before her sister could interrogate her further, knowing Lana she would go hunting for her ex. “Why? You need to me to tell her anything?”

“Yeah.” Lana stared at her for a few seconds. “Tell her we can do dinner Wednesday.”

“Will do.” Caroline smiled, giving Lana a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing toward the door. “Thanks for the movie.”

“Caroline,” Lana stopped her, “is Rod bothering you?”

“I’ve got it under control, Lana.” Caroline finger-waved to Sid who gave her a wink from across the room where he was talking to Damon and Nicole. Ignoring Lana’s frown, she didn’t even look her way as she headed out of the room calling out over her shoulder, “Now, I gotta go. See ya Wednesday.”

Once out of the room, Caroline let out a long breath. Almost making it to the door, she heard the beautiful, soothing, but faint sound of a guitar. Tilting her head, she looked up the steps that led to the living quarters. Taking a glance around, she looked back up the steps to see Jax’s sister on the stairs looking down at her. Knowing now who was playing, she made her way to the steps and began to climb. His sister faded from sight as Caroline made it down a few mazes of hallways and doors before the music became louder. Standing outside the door, Caroline leaned quietly against the wall, listening to the beautiful strumming, wondering how in the world she had heard it from downstairs, but she was glad she did. She could actually feel her nerves ease, making her feel light and slightly sleepy, almost to the point she jumped a mile high when a deep male voice boomed from behind the door, “Are you going to stand outside my door all night or knock?”

Caroline glared at the door before rolling her eyes. She didn’t really want to knock, but if it would get him to play again, she would do it. Raising her hand, she started to knock, but the door flew open before her hand made contact.

“What?” Jax’s tone was not pleasant as he looked down at her. He stuck his head out the door, looking up and down the hallway.

She didn’t expect a shirtless Jax to open his door, but there he was. Beautiful tattoos covered his upper body. Her eyes followed the patterns. Holy wow, he was a sexy specimen. She wondered briefly what each tattoo meant, because, knowing the intense Warrior, he didn’t do things without a lot of deep thought.

“More messages from my dead sister?” he asked, his tone taunting as he looked down at her. “Or are you just going to stare?”

Color bloomed across her cheeks as a lie built inside her head and almost made it out of her mouth, but she pulled it back. She had to understand that most people were not going to be so accepting of her gifts, especially if it was painful. As she looked into his golden eyes, she saw a glimpse of pain brought on by the words he spoke of his sister. “Listen, I’m sorry about that,” Caroline, who rarely apologized, apologized. “I shouldn’t have blurted out in front of everyone about your sister. I should have warned you first.”

“Yes, you should have,” Jax agreed. “Not that I believe in all that bullshit.”

Caroline glared at him before turning away from his door. “Whatever.” She headed down the hall. “I apologized and I couldn’t care less if you believe it or not.”

“Wait a minute,” Jax called out. “Is that the only reason you came up here?” There was suspicion in his tone.

Being a teacher who faced a room full of kids ready to call you out on anything and everything, nothing much fazed Caroline, but this man’s attitude did, and not in a good way. “You know what,” Caroline turned around and walked back toward him, “actually, that wasn’t the reason I came up here at all. I heard the guitar and thought it was beautiful.”

A small grin played at the corner of Jax’s full mouth. “So your apology meant…?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Caroline tilted her chin. “It’s what I do. It’s what my sister and I do. I fought it for a while and that got me into a world of trouble, changing my life. So yeah, I’m not sorry.”

Jax leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “School teachers shouldn’t lie.”

Now that surprised her. “How did you know I was a school teacher?”

“Not the fancy way you find out things about people like talking to the dead.” He cocked his eyebrow at her. “I asked Sid.”

“Actually, you did do exactly what I do,” Caroline replied in her best teacher tone. “Sid is technically dead.”

Jax’s laugh boomed through the hallway. “Not only beautiful and smart, but quick with humorous comebacks.”

Caroline felt herself blushing, and then cursed at herself. She couldn’t afford being attracted to anyone right now, especially a gorgeous jackass like Jax Wheeler. “Just stating a fact.”

Nodding, Jax stared at her with his intense golden gaze. “So was bringing my sister up just stating facts also?”

Not really knowing what he meant by that, Caroline frowned. “No, actually, it was because you were being so hard on Jill.” Caroline leaned up against the wall across from him. “Whether you like it or not, Jill is not going to stop. Lana has told me a lot about the girl and it takes a lot to impress my sister, but Jill has. I know what happened with your sister, Jax, and it wasn’t your fault, but if you continue your campaign against Jill, which I think even you know is bullshit, it will be your fault if something happens to her. She needs your support.”

Jax straightened away from the wall during her little speech and was leaning over her. He didn’t look happy. “First of all,
teach
, you don’t know shit about what happened in my past.” He slammed one hand on the wall next to her head, leaning in. “And Jill has plenty of support.”

Not one to be intimidated, Caroline slammed her hand on his chest and pushed. When he stepped back, she knew it was his decision to do so because he was nothing but solid muscle and her small push wouldn’t have budged him unless he wanted to be budged. “Your sister was killed during initiation into the VC Warriors over 200 years ago. You also had a younger brother, but he didn’t go through with the initiation.” Caroline didn’t stop at the shocked look on his face. “There was nothing you could do. She made her choice to follow her big brother into the program. You did everything you could to help her.”

“And it still wasn’t enough.” Jax frowned, and then glared at her. “Women do not belong in this program. They are liabilities.”

Caroline really looked at Jax, seeing the man behind the anger. His dark Native American looks and badass attitude almost had her fooled, but she saw a glimpse into his past through his sister and this was a good man, whether he wanted to admit it or not. “No.” She took a step toward him. “The person, whether male or female, who doesn’t believe in someone is the liability, because that small feeling of doubt a person gets in themselves during a time of the tests comes not from themselves, but the doubts someone put in their mind.”

Jax shook his head. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

Tilting her head, she looked up at him, wondering which Indian tribe he came from. He was a damn handsome man and smart, so she knew he knew exactly what she was talking about. “The more you put Jill down, give her a hard time, the more you put doubts in her head. When it comes down to it, you are her liability. She is no one’s liability.”

Surprise flashed across his face, but soon disappeared. “What do you teach?”

“History. And I sure would like to talk to you about your past.” Caroline smiled at deepening frown on his full lips. She decided since he was changing the subject, she would too. “Why didn’t your brother go through with the initiation? Alisha doesn’t talk about him much, but—”

“My brother is dead to me.” Jax’s eyes turned dark with something Caroline figured was a deep anger. “Seems you know more than you should about my past as it is,” Jax grumbled.

“Not even close.” Caroline’s smile turned into a full-blown grin. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask your sister anything and I haven’t. She has given me all this information voluntarily.”

Her phone rang at that moment and the ring tone was unfamiliar, so she knew who it was. She did her best to ignore it.

“You going to answer that?” Jax frowned down at her bag where the ringing was coming from.

“No,” Caroline replied, hefting the bag further on her shoulder. The ringing stopped, only to start again. Rolling her eyes, she dug into her purse pulling out her phone. “It’s just my ex.”

“He giving you a hard time?” Jax eyed the phone, which she turned to silent.