The Protectors: Book 1 in the Protectors Saga by Paige Dooling

slender, but muscled body. She had straight midnight
black hair that fell down to her mid-back and pouty vixen lips. Her
cat-like eyes were a dark chocolate brown, but turned a dangerous
black when she got angry.
    Jade knew her looks were intimidating, and she played
it up, always wearing black and motorcycle boots, driving around
town, breaking the speed limit on her bike, skipping school, and
acting tough.
    The people of Redemption saw her as a troubled girl
with absentee parents, too much anger, and no future. Jade knew
what they thought of her, so she played the part, but Avery knew
the truth. Avery knew that Jade was like a double sided coin. One
part of her was the tough, motorcycle riding; devil-may-care girl
from the trailer park, but the other side of her was sensitive,
vulnerable, insecure, and even goofy. It was the people that were
close to her who got to see that part, and that was the part of her
that Avery loved.
    Jade stood up from the ground, wiping a dirty wrench
off on her black jeans, “Avery?” She asked, looking a little
puzzled, “What are you doing here?”
    Jade knew that the trailer park had always made Avery
uncomfortable. Although most of the residents of Rebel Moon Trailer
Park were perfectly lovely, there were a few who were not the most
respectable in Redemption. One in particular was Curt Weiner who
lived next door to Jade. Avery hated how he couldn’t put one
sentence together without having at least four explicative’s thrown
in, or how he never wore a t-shirt over his wolfman chest, all the
while telling Avery what a pretty girl she was growing up to be.
Plus, Avery knew for certain that it wasn’t an herb garden he had
begun planting on the side of his house. Then there was the Draper
family who lived three trailers down and collected guns the way
some people collect Pez dispensers. Their favorite form of
entertainment was getting black-out drunk and shooting their guns
into the sky.
    Thinking about the usual uneasiness she felt in the
trailer park, Avery realized her nerves were blotting out her
discomfort. For the first time in her whole life, Avery actually
began to appreciate the value of being nervous.
    Avery was about to explain to Jade why she had come,
but as she stared into Jade’s dark eyes, she found herself lost for
words, “I…um,” she struggled for something, anything to say, “you
weren’t at school today.” Avery knew that was lame, but it was the
first thing that popped into her head.
    Jade laughed, “Avery, the real news flash would be if
I actually went to school. I’m never there…you know that better
than anyone.” She picked up a towel lying across the seat of the
motorcycle and began to clean the grease off of her face, “Don’t
tell me you drove all the way out here to give me my homework.”
That made Jade laugh even harder, the thought of her actually doing
homework, mixed with the thought of Avery actually driving to the
trailer park to give it to her.
    Jade’s laughter help erase some of Avery’s nerves,
“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to do homework once in awhile,
Jade. It is something you have to do to actually pass high school.
Well, that and showing up.” Avery scolded Jade. Avery hated the
laissez-faire attitude Jade took towards school and she could never
understand why Jade didn’t care more.
    “Oh, Avery, I love you to death,” Jade said,
sauntering up to Avery and placing her hand on Avery’s shoulder,
“but,” she shrugged, “let’s face it; you’re the geek in this pair.
You always have been and you always will be.” Jade flashed a sharp
side smile, “I’m just the incredible looking brawn.”
    Avery rolled her eyes, thinking how unbelievable Jade
could be sometimes.
    A car door slammed behind Avery, causing her to
freeze. She saw Jade’s eyes grow wide, and she knew exactly what
Jade was looking at.
    “Who the hell is that?” Jade asked, pointing the
wrench she was still holding in her hand towards the