Ash (20 page)

The room remained in this
bubble of uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, but then the strangest thing
happened. Instead of another explosion of anger from Ryder, he simply stepped
forward, clapped Kyle on his shoulder, nodded to the rest of us and walked
away.

“Ryder…” Kyle’s handsome
face fell as he called out, but Ryder didn’t stop. He exited the locker room,
leaving us all to our silence.

“Dammit!” Kyle slammed
his fist into a locker and I winced as I heard the crunch of bone. Tragedy
affected so much more than just one person. Molly’s death took something from
every person who cared for Ryder. I wondered then if Kyle had known the couple
before the ash thing. How far back did their ties go?

Deciding it was time to give everyone a
moment to cool off, I slowly hobbled back to the control room. Walking was not
pleasant. God, these assholes could create superhuman freaks with their sperm,
why the hell couldn’t they invent ash pain meds? I at least needed some vampire
moonshine to take the edge off of my shattered ankle. Although, I was told by
tomorrow it would only be slightly bruised and nearly fully healed. Another ash
perk.

Opening my email, I saw
Jayden had sent out an invite. It was addressed to Ryder, Kyle, Oliver, Sam,
Jared, Markus, and a few other random ash.

Dear Bitches,

I have recently come
across some fabulous information while gossiping in the feeder room. The Hive
has just opened a brand new club and it features karaoke. Join me tonight for
laughs, drinks and a damn good Diana Ross impression. Level 55.

Sincerely,

Jayden AKA Diana Ross

I smiled. If God were
real, then he’d created Jayden just to keep me sane in this hellhole. I loved
karaoke and needed to take my mind off everything. I replied with a big fat yes.
I highly doubted Ryder would be attending, and couldn’t believe Jayden referred
to him as one of his bitches. That alone was enough to brighten my mood.

After finishing my boring-ass shift, I
hobbled home to get ready for karaoke. My leg was feeling better already and I was
so pumped for tonight. Hells yeah. A little Celine, a few Whitneys – not to
mention some Cindy Lauper – and I’d be in song heaven. Yeah, I had a penchant
for 80s power women.

I chugged a bottle of O-negative
and then put on some low-rise black skinny jeans, tucking one side into a knee-high
flat boot, and the broken ankle side into the walking boot. I then threw on a
vintage cut-off
Star Wars
shirt that exposed my stomach. Remembering
Ryder’s compliment last time, I decided to leave my hair down, shaking out the
kink from my ponytail. The front door closed and I walked out of my room to
find Jayden just getting home from work. He looked at my outfit and I braced
myself for his comment about how shitty it was.

“Hmm, it works … in a
tomboy, grunge, gothic way.”

I rolled my eyes, but
then he eyed my walking boot and his face became serious. “Oliver told me what
happened today.”

I grinned. “It was
actually fun.”

He raised one perfectly-shaped
eyebrow. “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 the
last part because I wasn’t sure I could keep it in any longer. I hadn’t stopped
thinking 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 for
the rest of my life?” I put a hand on my hip.

He smirked. “You have a
point.”

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 on
level fifty-five and had the most banging view of Portland. The club had a
stage and high-tech karaoke setup, with an oxygen bar off to the side, and some
hot-ass female vamp waitresses wearing cut-off jean shorts and tight white tank-tops
with brown cowboy boots. It was interesting to see the vampires serving the
ash. Rarely in Hive society did that happen. These girls looked like they took
the job just to be able to bag a hot ash – judging by the sultry looks and
lingering touches between the vamp females and male ash.

As a perky blond vamp
with some seriously gorgeous full lips took our drink order, I plugged in a
song for Jayden and I to sing next. I couldn’t wait to let loose and feel the
beat. My attention shifted then as a familiar group walked into the bar – the sexy
six, 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 no
Ryder. 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’s
cheek. He turned and gave me a hug, whispering in my ear, “Word has gotten
around that you’re no longer off limits. Fair warning.”

He pulled away and I
tried to mask my confusion. Was he talking about the blood test results? My
eyes 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 my
private shit out there in the Hive world. This information was something I
intended to sit on for like five or six years before thinking too much about
it. I’d probably cry about it on that day in the future, and then move on
because you can’t change the past.  

Unease trickled down my
spine and I felt super aware of all the hot ash around us. Was I imagining
things or were they all looking at me? I was distracted then by the speaker
system. It called for Jayden and me, and at the same time the intro to our song
started. My BFF grabbed my hand and together we ran to the stage. As the
spotlight hit us, I was suddenly in my element. I was a Leo, and there were two
things Leos love: attention and more attention. Thank God for karaoke.

We grabbed the mics and
stood together on the stage as the lyrics rolled up. Jayden flashed his full
range 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 have
fu-un! Oh girls, just wanna have fun!”

I cracked up on the last
line as I noticed Oliver, Kyle, and Jared had left their booth and were crowded
around the stage. I wasn’t sure if they were singing along or mocking the shit
out of us. Either way, they were finally less badass and more relaxed-ass. Even
the ash boogiemen needed a night off on occasion. Markus was laughing in the
booth but hadn’t joined them. Sam was still in the shadows, nursing his vamp
booze. That man had some demons. Even more than…

As if I’d conjured him
with thought, a figure stepped out of the shadowy entrance and strode across to
the bar. I almost dropped the mic, my palms suddenly sweaty and mouth dry. It
was Ryder. He’d actually showed up. Our eyes locked and the rest of the room
fell away.

What power did this man
have over me?

He hadn’t looked away and
I was barely singing anymore, totally forgetting the lines to a song I had sung
a thousand times before. Our moment was broken then as a jostling almost
knocked me off the stage. I swung around to find an ash behind me. He was
clearly wasted as he jumped around and sent a few pelvic thrusts my way.

I wasn’t sure whether to
be amused or horrified, but his dancing was borderline obscene, so I had to
laugh. Oliver took control of the situation by throwing a lemon wedge at the
interloper, which actually knocked him down. Glancing back up, my eyes zoomed
back 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 expression
was doing all sorts of hot things to my insides, and there was something
different 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 waitress
approached him but he waved her off, continuing to stare. Hot damn, was I
sweating? This was intense. The song ended and Jayden flicked his eyes to Ryder
and raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged and left the stage with him. The
typical thing to do would be to walk over to the hot guy that had been staring
at you. But typical didn’t work for me, so I followed everyone back to the
table, squeezing in next to Jayden. Kyle left us then and my gaze followed him
as he approached Ryder. The head enforcer removed his eyes from me to give Kyle
a bro hug.

I finally had a breather
from the intensity that was Ryder, and a butt-load of air whooshed back into my
lungs. It was like I couldn’t breathe when Ryder locked me in his gaze. The force
was scorching, and my belly heated at the naughty thoughts running through my
head.

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’s
drunk.”

A tall dark ash
approached our table with a red drink and set it in front of me. “Hey,
beautiful.”

Not interested, buddy.

I stood quickly. “Oh, I
was just going to find the bathroom.” I walked away quickly, making a run for
the girls’ bathroom.

I walked down the dimly
lit hallway and shouldered the door, then stood in front of the mirror. I took
a moment to stare at my reflection. As always, the first thing to capture my
attention were my eyes. They were just so weird and it never got normal to see
silver instead of my original brown – not to mention the way they swirled and
held such an intense light. Just another thing which was gone from the old
Charlie Bennett’s life.

I turned on the water and
washed away some of the stickiness from my drink, all the time thinking of
Ryder. What was up with him? Since the first day I met him, he’d been my knight
in 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 I
recalled drinking his blood. That had probably been the single most intense and
confusing moment of my life. And I so wanted to do it again. I ran fingers
through my hair, yanking at the tangles in frustration. I was so confused! I
didn’t get confused about guys, I went for the one I wanted and didn’t have a
problem.

Seriously, Charlie…

Was I really standing in
the bathroom mooning over a guy? Okay, back to reality. Plan: get kissed
senseless tonight by a really hot ash and forget Ryder. I’d give him no
satisfaction in seeing the way he tied me up in knots. He was clearly still
hung up on Molly, his fiancée, and I couldn’t compete with her. She would
forever and always be the woman he lost. I had enough pride to know that I
deserved better than that. I wouldn’t be second best, not even for Ryder.

Crossing the bathroom
floor with quick even strides, I opened the door and ground to a halt, almost
smashing into the very man who was dominating my thoughts. Ryder was leaning
against 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 door
as I was assaulted by all of his hotness. 

“Dance with me.” He
offered his hand.

Wait, what? Just as I had
made the decision to give the chase a rest, he was stepping in. Not to mention
that I had asked him to dance before and still hadn’t washed off the sting of
that 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 on
my waist. He stopped me with ease, then spun me around to look down at me. I
wasn’t a tiny female, just average height with a slim build, but Ryder made me
feel downright delicate with all of his power surrounding me.

“I wasn’t asking.” And
there it was again, that
sexual tension between
 
Ryder
 
and I. It was tangible.

I was just about to shake
my head, but before I could he slowly lifted his other hand and gripped me
gently behind my neck. Our eyes were locked in a stare that held more passion
than I’d felt in my entire lousy sex life.

Some sort of fire took
over, starting low in my belly and spreading like a forest fire that just had
its first taste of fuel. I stood on my tiptoes, wanting to be closer, needing
to 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 had
shifted between us. I could feel his breath on my face. We were no more than an
inch apart now. Ryder had to lower his head to reach my level, even when I was
standing on my toes.