I stood quickly. “Oh, Iwas just going to find the bathroom.” I walked away quickly, making a run forthe girls’ bathroom.
I walked down the dimlylit hallway and shouldered the door, then stood in front of the mirror. I tooka moment to stare at my reflection. As always, the first thing to capture myattention were my eyes. They were just so weird and it never got normal to seesilver instead of my original brown – not to mention the way they swirled andheld such an intense light. Just another thing which was gone from the oldCharlie Bennett’s life.
I turned on the water andwashed away some of the stickiness from my drink, all the time thinking ofRyder. What was up with him? Since the first day I met him, he’d been my knightin shining armor, stepping in and saving me. He’d saved me from hurting my mom,brought me into the Hive, trained me to survive. Why? Because it was his job?Or something more?
My body heated as Irecalled drinking his blood. That had probably been the single most intense andconfusing moment of my life. And I so wanted to do it again. I ran fingersthrough my hair, yanking at the tangles in frustration. I was so confused! Ididn’t get confused about guys, I went for the one I wanted and didn’t have aproblem.
Seriously, Charlie…
Was I really standing inthe bathroom mooning over a guy? Okay, back to reality. Plan: get kissedsenseless tonight by a really hot ash and forget Ryder. I’d give him nosatisfaction in seeing the way he tied me up in knots. He was clearly stillhung up on Molly, his fiancée, and I couldn’t compete with her. She wouldforever and always be the woman he lost. I had enough pride to know that Ideserved better than that. I wouldn’t be second best, not even for Ryder.
Crossing the bathroomfloor with quick even strides, I opened the door and ground to a halt, almostsmashing into the very man who was dominating my thoughts. Ryder was leaningagainst the wall, one hand in his pocket, the other rubbing across his five o’clock shadow. Sweet baby Jesus. All of my previous reasoning flew out the dooras I was assaulted by all of his hotness.
“Dance with me.” Heoffered his hand.
Wait, what? Just as I hadmade the decision to give the chase a rest, he was stepping in. Not to mentionthat I had asked him to dance before and still hadn’t washed off the sting ofthat rejection. I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.
“I shouldn’t.” I shrugged,tossing his own words back at him and walking right past him.
I felt a strong hand onmy waist. He stopped me with ease, then spun me around to look down at me. Iwasn’t a tiny female, just average height with a slim build, but Ryder made mefeel downright delicate with all of his power surrounding me.
“I wasn’t asking.” Andthere it was again, thatsexual tension betweenRyderand I. It was tangible.
I was just about to shakemy head, but before I could he slowly lifted his other hand and gripped megently behind my neck. Our eyes were locked in a stare that held more passionthan I’d felt in my entire lousy sex life.
Some sort of fire tookover, starting low in my belly and spreading like a forest fire that just hadits first taste of fuel. I stood on my tiptoes, wanting to be closer, needingto feel our bodies pressed together. He’d held me at arm’s length for so long,keeping it just enforcer and ash, but those walls were down. Something hadshifted between us. I could feel his breath on my face. We were no more than aninch apart now. Ryder had to lower his head to reach my level, even when I wasstanding on my toes.
I hadn’t actually beensure he was going to kiss me, but my worries were finally unfounded. His softlips descended to press on mine. The first touch was gentle, barely the brushof our mouths together, but as I fell further into him, his breath hitched and his hands came around my waist. Thismovement brought our hips together, and just like that my body was plastered tohis. He took control then, opening his mouth and deepening thekiss, demanding more,his teeth nipping at me as he sought entry between my lips.I could denyhim nothing; the taste was intoxicating and I wanted more.
I moanedsoftly as our tongues slowly explored each other. God damn the boy couldkiss. The gentleplay started to ease as hormones took over. My body was humming now and I hadthe strangest urge to climb up onto Ryder. I wanted more. I wanted to be closerto him. As if he’d read my thoughts, he grabbed my butt and hoisted me up withone hand. My body knew what to do then, and as I wrapped my legs around him,crossing my ankles behind, this position felt like home. He turned around andpressed me back up against the wall, our mouths still locked, kissing me like Iwas the only woman in the world. Like he needed me to survive. Like I waseverything.
“Ryder!” Kyle brokethrough my bliss. Ryder didn’t falter, although he did pull those lips awayfrom me as he turned to his best friend. Through my hazy lust vision, I noticedthat the other enforcer looked stressed. His hair was even messier than usual.
“There’s been a massillegal outbreak and hostage situation involving the Quorum in Seattle. Helicopteris waiting.” Kyle had to shout to be heard over the music. I was still fuzzyfrom the most amazing kiss of my life, but what he said sounded pretty darnserious.
Ryder looked down at me,regret and so many more things in those flashing silver eyes. “Charlie … damn,I have to go.” He lowered me gently to the ground. My feet had barely hit thefloor before he was gone, Kyle close behind.
I exhaled a shaky breath,leaning against the wall and giving my legs a chance to regain some feeling.Ryder had kissed me … and then run off in the line of duty. Well, it wasn’texactly how I’d imagined ending that kiss – was kind of hoping we’d make itback to my bedroom for a heavy make-out session, but … I guess I had to takeit.
I had planned on beingkissed by a hot ash tonight, and there was no denying that was exactly what hadhappened.
Chapter 9
The next three days were among the worstof my life.
Dear Men everywhere, theabsolute worst thing in the world you can do is kiss a woman like you haven’tkissed in years and then run off like your ass is on fire and don’t contacther. Go screw yourself. With love, Charlie.
Jayden was allowing me tomope around, but I knew he was sick of my shit. Frankly, I was sick of my ownshit too. I had all but convinced myself early on that night at karaoke that Iwas okay without Ryder, that I deserved better … and then he kissed me – with askill that should be banned, as it was most definitely some sort of weapon.That kiss had blown my previous pep talk straight out the window and I had donenothing since he left than bitch and whine, take phone calls, whine some more,jog, more whining, and think about that damn sexy man. Jayden had all butslapped me up the side of the head today and told me that Oliver had emailedhim and the ash were due back tonight.
Yep, freakin’ Jayden gotan email and I got nothing. I was seriously going to kick Ryder in the teethwhen he finally got back here.
It was time for myfeeding, and I headed there at the pace of an elderly cripple. I just couldn’tfind the joy in bottled blood any longer. It was bland and cold. I was reallystarting to hate that I’d fed off a living being. It was too hard to go back. Everythingfelt too hard. Still, at least I now had the answer to what happened when anash bit another ash. The blood wasn’t as sustaining in the long term as bottledblood, which was probably why we generally didn’t feed from each other. Butwith Ryder, that hadn’t seemed to matter. It was perfect.
I finally dragged myselfto floor eleven, striding past the ash on the desk and grabbing my usualbottles of blood. Slipping into my cubicle, I almost shrieked as a familiarblond head of hair sprang into my vision.
“Tess!” I forced myselfnot to bowl her over in my enthusiasm. This was not a scheduled visit but shemust have known how badly I needed her. We were totally due some girl talk.
In my distracted state,it took me longer than usual to notice how glammed-up my best friend was. Shehad always dressed nicely. Her mother’s family had more than enough money toindulge her sense of fashion, but this was a whole other level. Her icy bluedress was skin-tight and clearly designer. Its thin straps barely held herboobs in, and there were these gold drapings of chain crisscrossing over thebackless part. Gold, which looked real. You could always tell that cheesyyellow from the true golden color of the real stuff. Real freakin’ gold on herdress! Her boots were thigh-highs, and looked to be made from the skin of aseal or something, soft and rich. What the hell? This was Tess Couture Barbie.
