Sloan (The Protectors Series) Book #9 (3 page)

Chapter 4

Blaze stood back, watching the warrior trainees work on their ground fighting skills. His eyes kept going to Katrina. She was small and most of the guys there, wanting to prove their macho bullshit, just tossed her around like she was nothing. It was really starting to piss him off.

“What’s got your eyes swirling?” Jared asked as he came to stand next to Blaze.

“They don’t even give her a chance.” Blaze nodded toward Katrina, ignoring the swirling eyes comment.

“Yeah, she’s struggling.” Jared frowned, his eyes narrowing when the guy she was working with bent her arm back at an odd angle, not even doing the move right. “You want to take care of that or should I?”

Blaze didn’t answer when Katrina cried out. He marched over, pulling the dumbass up by the neck. “What the fuck are you trying to do, break her arm?”

“I’m fine.” Katrina’s voice matched her size. She was quietly spoken, but he had seen a spark in her.

Blaze ignored her, still glaring at the guy who stared wide-eyed at him. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“You didn’t.” Katrina shook her head, but Blaze knew she was lying. “Come on, let’s do it again.”

Blaze let the guy go, his eyes going to Katrina. Instead of beating the shit out of the guy like he wanted to, he kicked off his boots. “Lie on your back,” he instructed, which she did quickly. “Mount her. What’s your name again?”

“John,” the guy replied, his voice a little shaky.

Once John straddled Katrina, Blaze knelt. “I want you to do the arm bar again, but slowly. Get the move down before you try to speed it up. Katrina, I want you to start punching toward his face.”

Katrina did without making contact.

Blaze watched as John caught her left arm. “Okay, now slowly spin and flip your right leg over her head, hugging the arm to your chest. Scoot your ass against her shoulder as tight as you possibly can as your butt hits the mat. Good. Now make sure your right leg is against her neck and your left is against her ribcage. Good.” Blaze watched as John slowly took his instructions. “Lie back. The bend of her elbow should be in your crotch. Okay, good. Now arch your back, make sure her thumb is pointing toward the ceiling.”

Blaze was ready to pull John’s arms away if Katrina didn’t tap, but once John arched, she tapped his leg with her free hand.

“Was that okay?” John asked, hope in his eyes that he’d done it right.

“It’s a start and you didn’t break her fucking arm off.” Blaze wasn’t one to give praise lightly. “Do it again.”

Sitting close, Blaze watched John repeat the maneuver, but his ears picked up the snide comments about Katrina from the other trainees. He hated stupid people. There wasn’t really a place in the world for dumbasses.

“Okay, Katrina.” Blaze nodded at her. “Your turn.”

Katrina quickly rolled to her knees then mounted John when he’d lain flat on his back.

“Guess you got to have tits to get special attention.” Blaze heard the comment come from across the room.

One of the trainees snorted quietly, but not quietly enough. “John’s a lucky fuck. Though if she mounted me, I’d have my dick—”

Blaze grabbed his boot and let it fly, hitting the bigmouth in the face. “Next time, motherfucker, my foot will be in that boot.” Blaze knew his eyes swirled with fire, but he kept his cool… for now. “Instead of running your mouth, you should be working, because a fucking toddler could beat your ass.” Blaze didn’t stop glaring until the asshole was back at work, practicing with more gusto.

******

Katrina knew her face was flaming in embarrassment, but nothing anyone said in there was going to make her give up. She had nothing, absolutely nothing but this. No family, friends, nothing. She might as well be invisible other than the crude comments from the other trainees. All her life, even before she had been turned into a half-breed, she was just a passing thought to most. She was used to it; sick of it, but used to it. She wanted to make a difference. Wanted to belong. Wanted to feel important, but even when the sickness had begun to hit all the half-breeds and they’d finally received permission to be turned, she had been overlooked. It wasn’t until Jill found her throwing up that she had been taken to Slade. Katrina had refused Slade to be the one who’d turn her. Jill was his mate and she’d respected Jill too much to let him do it. It had become a big ordeal. She’d been ready to leave until Blaze had stepped in.

“Katrina?” Blaze’s deep voice broke her thoughts. “Ignore that shit and do the arm bar.”

Katrina nodded to the Warrior who had changed her, saved her life. She worshipped him but knew the feelings weren’t mutual. With that thought, she focused on her directive, knowing that nothing she could do could make a man like Blaze notice her. When she spun to flip her leg over John’s head, she failed to lift her leg high enough, causing her foot to smash into John’s face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Katrina let go of his arm, hopping off him. Blood poured from his nose. She cringed at the snickers surrounding her.

“It’s okay.” John held his nose, his watering eyes glancing at Blaze, who nodded for him to go to the bathroom.

She didn’t even want to look at Blaze. She was worthless and it showed in every damn thing she did. But still she fought and refused to believe what her stepfather had told her more times that she could count.

“You are not fit for anything, Katrina,” he would say with such hatred it burned her soul. “You are worthless.”

“Hey?” Blaze’s voice broke into her dark thoughts.

Without saying a word, she looked over at him. He was on his back, his stare penetrating.

“You need to focus on the present.” Blaze’s voice was low and deep.

Surprised that he somehow knew she was reliving a past best left forgotten, she nodded.

“Good, now mount me,” Blaze ordered, his gaze daring her to do anything else.

Her stomach rose to her throat while her eyes widened as they ran down his large, hard body. No way could this be happening. Quickly looking behind her to see if John was coming back from the bathroom, she swallowed hard, seeing no sign of him.

“Today, Katrina,” Blaze all but growled, growing inpatient.

Jumping, Katrina quickly straddled Blaze. He was so big compared to her that her knees barely touched the floor. How many damn times has she thought of this exact scenario, except in her scenario, he had added “baby” to his demand of “mount me.” Now that she was living her thoughts of Blaze, she was scared to death she’d make a complete ass out of herself.

As Blaze raised his arms for her to do her arm bar maneuver, her mind went completely blank. All she could do was stare down into his strong, fierce face and focus on not drooling. She had no control over her body’s reaction to their contact. It wasn’t until she saw the understanding of her predicament in his eyes that she began to panic. No way in hell was he to know her feelings. She had to do something fast.

She punched him in the face.

“What in the fuck are you doing?” Blaze bellowed, using his arms to push himself up with her still straddling him.

“Oh, I, ah….” Katrina figured the words weren’t going to come so she shrugged.

Blaze cursed a couple more times before lying back. “Katrina, do the arm bar.” His eyes narrowed. “
Without
any contact to my face, that comes later. You need to get this down before you can move on.”

Katrina nodded, wishing she could disappear. She knew she was being watched and laughed at, which she should be used to, but it still hurt. She had never been good at anything, and having the chance to maybe do something awesome, she instead was crushing on the man she had to count on to do that something special.

“Grab his arm.” Jared knelt down beside them.

She knew this, but she was such a klutz it didn’t matter if she knew it; she’d mess it up.

“They might as well just let her go,” one of the guys grumbled. “She’s just holding us back.”

Seeing the look on Blaze’s face daring her to make them see different, she grabbed his arm and in a fluid motion, had Blaze’s strong muscled arm in an arm bar that would make any MMA fighter proud.

“There you go.” Jared gave her a gentle slap on the back before moving on to help others.

Blaze tapped, then sat up when Katrina released his arm. “Good job.” He stood and nodded to John, who was heading toward them with Kleenex stuck up his nose. “Keep working on it with that confidence and you’ll be shutting up a lot of assholes in here.”

Before Katrina could respond, Blaze had picked up his boot and headed toward the other one he had thrown. Not wanting him to see her staring at him, she looked away only to face John.

“I’m really sorry.” She cringed, eyeing the tissue. She then grinned because John really did look funny.

“I’m sure I’ll be bleeding more of my blood before this is all said and done.” He chuckled. “Now come and try that again, but this time watch the nose.”

Katrina laughed then mounted John, her eyes meeting Blaze’s, who stood against the wall watching every move she made. Suddenly she became very worried about John’s well-being, because with Blaze watching her constantly, her klutziness was going to make many appearances.

Chapter 5

Becky stored the last document with a sigh. There had been over three hundred files. The last set she’d organized were records related to deceased Warriors. She’d remembered seeing on the news about the Warriors who had been killed during a Warrior initiation not long ago. At the time, Becky had had no connection with the VC, but she’d still felt sad. After reading about the aftermath in the files, her sorrow had grown deeper.

Picking up the files Sloan had asked for, she turned to see him sitting at his desk texting on his phone. She had never seen a busier man in her life. People constantly came in the office while his phone rang and dinged nonstop. Meanwhile, she’d filed all day. Though it was her first day, she was already trying to figure out what more she could do to help him.

Jill and Caroline had invited her to lunch, but she’d waved them off and decided to work through. She had forgotten hers anyway at home in her rush not to be late. They had stayed for only a few minutes to see if she had any questions, but she really didn’t have any. She worked for Sloan Murphy and if she needed questions answered, she would ask him. Like, where her scooter keys were for one.

Gathering her courage, she stood and headed toward his desk. “Here are the files you asked for.”

Sloan looked up from his phone and reached out, taking them. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, hating how awkward she felt with him, but he was a very intimidating man. “Is there anything else you need me to do before I leave?”

“Actually, yes, can you find one more?” He shuffled around papers on his desk. “I need Ronan McDonald’s file.”

Becky made her way to the filing cabinet, pleased she remembered the name because it reminded her of Ronald McDonald, though the Warrior’s picture was far from Ronald McDonald, with a dark exotic look, not the white clown face and bright red hair. Why did all these Warriors have to be so damn good-looking?

Before she reached the cabinet, her phone rang in her back pocket. Grabbing it, she frowned when she saw her now ex-husband’s number. Dammit, she really needed to talk to the asshole, but she was still on the clock. If she didn’t answer, God only knew how long it would before she got hold of him. Glancing quickly over her shoulder, Becky saw that Sloan was preoccupied so she answered her phone.

“Hello,” she said, trying to sound breezy. Her ex, Frank Spencer, would love nothing more than to think she was wasting away just waiting for his call. She had left the message two days ago, the jerk.

“What do you want?” Frank’s voice sounded annoyed.

“I don’t want anything,” Becky snapped, then took a calming breath. Oh, how she hated this man. “But your son needs books and that is part of our settlement agreement and so far, you haven’t done anything.”

“He’s eighteen, Becky,” Frank snapped in her ear. “He can get a job and buy his own books. If you hadn’t babied him, he would be a man by now.”

“He does have a job, Frank,” Becky snapped back, forgetting where she was. “And he is more of a man than his father will ever be. Now pay him the money or I will be calling my lawyer. You agreed to this and I will make sure you hold up to your end of the bargain. If not, I will take
my
house back and half
your
damn money.”

“You are such a fucking bitch!” Frank screamed over the phone before he hung up on her.

“Damn straight I am, you asshole, piece-of-shit dick breath.” Becky had pulled the phone away from her ear and was growling at it. Then she dropped it to her side, took a deep breath, and cranked her neck back and forth before she realized where she was. “Shit,” she whispered, sensing Sloan was staring at her; she could actually feel his gaze on her back because the little hairs on her neck stood on end.

Without even looking at him, she opened the cabinet and took her time searching for the file he needed. Knowing she couldn’t put off facing him much longer, she grabbed the file she’d passed over at least six times and pulled it out. Closing the drawer, she turned. Sure enough, Sloan was staring straight at her.

“Here you go.” She handed it to him. “And sorry about that. It won’t happen again, but I knew if I didn’t answer I wouldn’t be able to get hold of him again and I really needed to talk to him.”

“Who, dick breath?” Sloan tilted his head. His eyes crinkled in a smile, but his lips didn’t curve.

“My ex.” Becky shifted from foot to foot. “Like I said, it won’t happen again and I know that wasn’t very professional of me, but—”

He held up his hand. “You don’t need to explain to me.” Sloan looked down at the file. “If you heard some of the conversations in this office, you’d understand that nothing fazes me.”

“Yeah, well, it still was very unprofessional, but he makes me so mad and I’m not a very good curser when I’m mad.” Becky couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with her boss of one day.

“Asshole, piece-of-shit dick breath, probably would have gotten you a high five from some of the Warriors around here,” Sloan teased with a cocked eyebrow.

Becky chuckled, immediately relaxing. “Well, thank you for understanding.”

“No problem.” He smiled and every lady part hit high alert. Sweet baby Jesus, a frowning Sloan was handsome, but a full-on smiling Sloan Murphy was what women’s dreams were made of.

Dammit, his mouth was moving and she had no idea what he was saying. “I’m sorry, what?”

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he repeated himself. “Tomorrow I will set you up on the accounting.”

“Thank God.” Jill walked in with a relieved grin. “Love ya, boss man, but those late paychecks just aren’t doing it.”

“Yeah, well no paycheck could be a bitch also, so watch yourself,” Sloan shot back.

“So, how did your first day go?” Jill asked, her smile beaming before she turned and frowned at Sloan. “Was he mean to you?”

“It went fine.” Becky kind of felt sorry for Sloan. He seriously wasn’t that bad if you didn’t make him mad, and she had no plans to do that. “And no, not at all.”

“Jill, get the fuck out of my office,” Sloan grumbled, reaching in his drawer and pulling out Becky’s scooter keys.

“He’s just kidding.” Jill waved him away with a smile.

“No, I’m not.” Sloan growled.

Becky couldn’t help but smile. Even with all their bitching back and forth, the respect they had for each other was obvious.

“Getting kicked out of the office again, Jill?” Jared asked as he walked in with Slade and Sid following.

Taking a step back from the desk, Becky watched as Slade, who was handsome as sin, put his large hand on Jill’s shoulder affectionately. She felt a ping of… not jealously, but something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Loneliness maybe. Shaking the feeling away, she glanced at her keys on Sloan’s desk next to his large hand and she suddenly wondered what it would feel like—
No, just stop it!

“So what’s up, boss?” Sid sat in one of the chairs and started to raise his feet, but stopped midraise when Sloan growled.

“These are my picks.” Sloan gave them each a file of different Warriors. “Check them out and give me your opinion. Right now I’m only bringing in one.”

“This Ronald McDonald seems like a good pick.” Sid thumbed through the file.

Becky snorted with a surprised chuckle. When everyone looked at her, she cleared her throat. “Sorry.” She shifted uncomfortably. Knowing she should just keep her mouth closed, she felt the need to explain. “I thought that when I saw his name. Even though he looks nothing like the McDonald’s….” Jesus, why couldn’t she shut the hell up?

Sid stared at her for a moment then gave her a nod before looking at Sloan. “She’ll do.”

“Will fit in perfectly.” Jared chuckled without looking up from his file.

Becky watched Sloan roll his eyes with a head shake. Damn, she needed to be more careful. Not everyone liked her weird sense of humor. Well, except Jared and Sid, but they didn’t sign her paycheck.

“Ronan would be my pick also, but I want everyone’s input.” Sloan ignored it all. He was all business. “The rest are out on patrol, but when they come in, I’ll get their pick. If it’s different from what you all feel, we’ll take a vote.”

“Sounds good to me.” Jared put the file back on Sloan’s desk. “So anything you need me to do tonight? Tessa is working so if not, I’m going to head on over to the bar and hang with her.”

Sloan’s eyes went to Becky. “Actually you’re good to go, Jared. I need Jill and Slade.” He stood, grabbing a set of keys off a board behind his desk, and handed them to her.

“Those aren’t mine.” Becky frowned, not taking them.

“They are as long as you work for me.” Slade’s tone was sharp, daring her to argue. “As long as you are working here, you will drive one of our cars.”

“But—” Becky tried to argue, but Sloan just shook his head.

“Jill will follow you home on the scooter and Slade can pick her up.” Sloan sat down as if it were a done deal.

“That’s really not necessary.” Becky was surprised that her scooter was causing such an issue.

“It is, and any more conversation on the matter is pointless,” Sloan added, his eyes daring her.

It took everything Becky had not to open her mouth, but she needed this job.

“It doesn’t matter what you say, he isn’t budging.” Jill filled the awkward silence, then caught the scooter keys that Sloan tossed her. “Sloan doesn’t budge, ever.”

“I can at least drive my scooter home,” Becky argued.

Jill glanced at Sloan, who shook his head. “Nope, I got it.”

Becky once again tried to argue, but Sloan’s phone rang and he answered, the look he shot her saying he was done with the conversation. With a frown, she grabbed her bag and followed Jill and Slade out of the room.

“This is crazy.” Becky huffed as soon as they were outside. “I’m a big girl. I can drive myself home. I’ve done it for a while now.”

“Hey.” Jill grinned at her. “You’re in Warrior territory now. They are a little protective. Get used to it and pick your battles. Although, there will be very few battles you can win with the boss man.”

“Wanna bet?” Becky said, but then realized she was getting into a car and not on her scooter.