I grinned. “It wasactually fun.”
He raised one perfectly-shapedeyebrow. “Say what? Getting your ankle shattered was fun?”
“No, obviously not that –the excitement of going out on an emergency call, helping save the woman,subduing the ash. It was a thrill. I want to be an enforcer!” I blurted thelast part because I wasn’t sure I could keep it in any longer. I hadn’t stoppedthinking about it since I went out with Kyle.
Jayden laughed. “Hah hah,like for Halloween?”
I smacked his big-ass arm.“No, asshat, like every day. Do I look like I’m destined to answer phones forthe rest of my life?” I put a hand on my hip.
He smirked. “You have apoint.”
My eyes lit up. “Really?You think Ryder would let me?”
Jayden’s smirk fell. “No,honey, I don’t.”
I growled. Dammit,weren’t friends supposed to support your dreams?
The brand new Hive karaoke club was onlevel fifty-five and had the most banging view of Portland. The club had astage and high-tech karaoke setup, with an oxygen bar off to the side, and somehot-ass female vamp waitresses wearing cut-off jean shorts and tight white tank-topswith brown cowboy boots. It was interesting to see the vampires serving theash. Rarely in Hive society did that happen. These girls looked like they tookthe job just to be able to bag a hot ash – judging by the sultry looks andlingering touches between the vamp females and male ash.
As a perky blond vampwith some seriously gorgeous full lips took our drink order, I plugged in asong for Jayden and I to sing next. I couldn’t wait to let loose and feel thebeat. My attention shifted then as a familiar group walked into the bar – the sexysix, only they were missing a member, so right now they were the fine ass five.My eyes remained glued on the door for a few extra beats, but there was noRyder. Sigh. I really needed to get over that shit. I was getting pathetic.
Oliver spotted us first,and with eyes for his boy, reached our table and dropped a kiss on Jayden’scheek. He turned and gave me a hug, whispering in my ear, “Word has gottenaround that you’re no longer off limits. Fair warning.”
He pulled away and Itried to mask my confusion. Was he talking about the blood test results? Myeyes darted around, trying to figure out if everyone knew I was infertile now,and why that would make them all think I was open for lots of casual sex?
I seriously hated myprivate shit out there in the Hive world. This information was something Iintended to sit on for like five or six years before thinking too much aboutit. I’d probably cry about it on that day in the future, and then move onbecause you can’t change the past.
Unease trickled down myspine and I felt super aware of all the hot ash around us. Was I imaginingthings or were they all looking at me? I was distracted then by the speakersystem. It called for Jayden and me, and at the same time the intro to our songstarted. My BFF grabbed my hand and together we ran to the stage. As thespotlight hit us, I was suddenly in my element. I was a Leo, and there were twothings Leos love: attention and more attention. Thank God for karaoke.
We grabbed the mics andstood together on the stage as the lyrics rolled up. Jayden flashed his fullrange of pearly whites and opened wide to belt out the tune.
We were pretty tame,right up until the chorus hit, and then it was time to let loose.
“Girls just wanna havefu-un! Oh girls, just wanna have fun!”
I cracked up on the lastline as I noticed Oliver, Kyle, and Jared had left their booth and were crowdedaround the stage. I wasn’t sure if they were singing along or mocking the shitout of us. Either way, they were finally less badass and more relaxed-ass. Eventhe ash boogiemen needed a night off on occasion. Markus was laughing in thebooth but hadn’t joined them. Sam was still in the shadows, nursing his vampbooze. That man had some demons. Even more than…
As if I’d conjured himwith thought, a figure stepped out of the shadowy entrance and strode across tothe bar. I almost dropped the mic, my palms suddenly sweaty and mouth dry. Itwas Ryder. He’d actually showed up. Our eyes locked and the rest of the roomfell away.
What power did this manhave over me?
He hadn’t looked away andI was barely singing anymore, totally forgetting the lines to a song I had sunga thousand times before. Our moment was broken then as a jostling almostknocked me off the stage. I swung around to find an ash behind me. He wasclearly wasted as he jumped around and sent a few pelvic thrusts my way.
I wasn’t sure whether tobe amused or horrified, but his dancing was borderline obscene, so I had tolaugh. Oliver took control of the situation by throwing a lemon wedge at theinterloper, which actually knocked him down. Glancing back up, my eyes zoomedback to the find Ryder leaning sexily up against the bar, eyes still on me,like he had not removed them for even one moment.Oh my.His expressionwas doing all sorts of hot things to my insides, and there was somethingdifferent about him. Like he had less walls around him. Was he drunk again?Vampire moonshine seemed to be his warrior juice with the ladies.
A female waitressapproached him but he waved her off, continuing to stare. Hot damn, was Isweating? This was intense. The song ended and Jayden flicked his eyes to Ryderand raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged and left the stage with him. Thetypical thing to do would be to walk over to the hot guy that had been staringat you. But typical didn’t work for me, so I followed everyone back to thetable, squeezing in next to Jayden. Kyle left us then and my gaze followed himas he approached Ryder. The head enforcer removed his eyes from me to give Kylea bro hug.
I finally had a breatherfrom the intensity that was Ryder, and a butt-load of air whooshed back into mylungs. It was like I couldn’t breathe when Ryder locked me in his gaze. The forcewas scorching, and my belly heated at the naughty thoughts running through myhead.
Jayden fanned himself.“Woo it’s getting hot in here! What’s up with Mr. Tasty?”
Oliver smacked his arm.“Hey, I thought I was Mr. Tasty.”
I shrugged. “Maybe he’sdrunk.”
A tall dark ashapproached our table with a red drink and set it in front of me. “Hey,beautiful.”
Not interested, buddy.
