Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (11 page)

“One hour,” Oliver commanded in a stern tone.

Jayden put his hand up in an army salute and Oliver rolled his eyes. Jayden and I left the apartment and made our way to the ground floor so we could go outside. It was the only place I didn’t feel like a member of the Hive. Plus, I knew for sure Jayden did not want to be overheard by any spying vamp asshats.

When we got to the creek, we both sat on a log. His expression was hard to read, but he was definitely having deep thoughts.

“Sooo … are you pregnant?” I said in a dead-serious voice.

Jayden lifted his perfectly-shaped eyebrows and gave me a devilish smile. “Girl, I wish.”

I laughed. “Seriously, what’s up?”

His face darkened. “If bad shit is happening but there’s nothing you can do about it, are you one of those people that wants to go about life not knowing and thinking everything is sunshine and rainbows or—”

I interrupted him—no thought required on that question at all. “Or. I’m the or. Tell me.”

He swallowed hard. “The feeding center has become a hub of gossip. I hear it all. Most of it probably isn’t even true.”

Okay, he was definitely priming this for a bad news drop.

“But…?”

“But…” He picked at his nails again, one of his few nervous tics. “So there are always these rumors flying around this place that the vampires give out high interest loans to humans in exchange for stuff. Until today I’d never known for sure, but there were these two vampires talking in the feeding room—”

I raised an eyebrow, which was admittedly much less groomed than my BAFF’s, and interrupted him: “So, I gather that mostly what you do for your job is spying.”

He pursed his lips. “No! Maybe. Whatever. Anyway, I overheard the vampires saying they finally got something on Senator McGreelie. Pictures his wife wouldn’t want to see.”

“Who is Senator McGreelie?”

Jayden rolled his eyes. “That’s not what’s important. Charlie, it’s all true. The vampires have blackmail files on all of the major politicians. Despite the fact that their numbers are greater, the human world is secretly ruled by the vampires.”

Holy shit. Unbridled rage swept through me. Enough was enough. This was not okay. I pulled out my all-access keycard. Jayden had more than piqued my interest, and now I had to know for sure. Because if this was true, it had cemented something inside of me which had been brewing since I found out I was the cure.

“Want to have some fun?” I asked.

He gave me his grin, the one which told me he was down for anything.

Ten minutes later we were in a room full of filing cabinets. Jayden had told me plenty of times about this secret little room. Since he had to constantly log in blood donations and keep records of blood types and schedules of feeders, he knew the administrative side of the Hive. My fancy badge got us into the room and hopefully no one would pay attention to the security log, because while Jayden had a legitimate reason to come in here on occasion, I had none.

We were alone. The ten-foot-high rows of filing cabinets were menacing, casting shadows on the cement floors, making me paranoid. The room was small, maybe fifteen feet long and ten feet wide.

As we crept along one row Jayden whispered: “I overheard one of the ash saying that a few years ago the vampires were hacked and lost a lot of precious info. Since then they have printed everything and kept it in hard copy form.”

Everything?
Holy shit. Could it be that easy? Their paranoia was going to make our snooping on the vamps that much easier. Not to mention, so many of the vamps were older than dirt, and found it hard to assimilate into the twenty-first century. Here’s hoping that we would just open one of these cabinets and find the dark secrets of the Hive. Why hadn’t Ryder and his boys done this before? Probably something to do with pit-style punishment if they were caught.

Eek, we’d better not get caught.

Knowing time was short, I began scanning the cabinet labels:
Blood Types, Feeder Data, Hive Construction Permits
…

“Boring,” I murmured, before moving on to the next one. It was equally as useless. As I rounded the first row I noticed that Jayden had stopped dead in front of a cabinet that looked different from the others. It was sturdier and had a key lock on the front, while the others had a simple push-button to open. Moving in behind him I read the label.
Classified.
And there we had the perfect example of the arrogance of vampires. Jayden jiggled the locking mechanism, and it was solid. Thick.

Dammit! Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. One of the Quorum members probably had the key. Oh well, we would just have to find another way to get the Hive’s dirty little secrets. Turning to leave, I did a double take as my bestie reached into his pocket and pulled out two bobby pins. He then started tinkering with them, straightening one and twisting the other.

He flipped up his head and gave me a sheepish look. “Don’t judge me for what you are about to see.”

I just stared at him, mystified, until he inserted both pins into the lock and began to twist them around. No way! My sassy BAFF knew how to break and enter with the skill of a master thief.

“Dude!
Where did you learn to pick locks?”
He’d told me he was a Portland native, and lock-picking was not a big skill around these parts.

“Girl, you don’t want to know. Growing up … the struggle was real.” He quipped and I laughed, stepping forward to give him a hug from behind.

Suddenly I heard a click and Jayden opened the drawer in one smooth move. Holy crap, we were going to be in serious shit if we got caught. Looking left and right to make sure we were still alone, I began to riffle through the folders. Names, dates, and businesses were labeled at the top. I picked one at random.

Jeff Burns, CEO of Global Oil
, the label read. Popping the folder open, I scanned the contents. Holy hell on steroids. There were multiple payments issued from Global Oil to Portland Hive. In the back of the folder was a series of photographs showing who I assumed was Jeff Burns wearing a gag ball and leather bondage outfit, posing half naked on a bed. Okay, that shit was going to be burned into my brain for a really long time. Jayden, who was pressed close to my back, was reading over my shoulder. I had the uncomfortable feeling he was taking mental notes. Ugh. Just no. I had to draw the line at ball gags. Putting the folder back, I grabbed another.

Union Blood Bank
,
it read. Scanning the folder, I began to seethe. My mom worked for the local hospital. I recognized Union Blood Bank as one of the main donation centers for humans to give blood to save other humans. But no, according to this file, Union Blood Bank only gave twenty percent of their blood from humans to the hospitals. The rest was funneled to the Hive, against the humans’ knowledge or wishes.

These files were like crack. I needed more. Looking at Jayden, who was now on his own set of files, I saw he was open-mouthed staring hard.

“What? Another bondage scene?” My laughter died as I leaned over and saw a photo of an absolute bloodbath, a massacre I didn’t even want to describe or ever see again—pooling of blood, decapitated heads, entrails, organs. The victims had been torn to pieces.

Jayden spoke with a hollow voice: “Operation Freedom …when they killed all of the Originals.”

I gasped, opening and closing my mouth, trying to make sense of that carnage.

The sound of a slamming door jarred me out of it.
Shit!
Footsteps and voices could be heard coming towards us. Frickity frak! Jayden and I both shoved our files in the cabinet, uncaring where they ended up, before slamming the door shut. There was no sneaking out of this room. Every sound echoed off of the walls and there was only one exit. Trying to alleviate suspicion, we crept away from the classified cabinet, moving toward the more boring stuff.

“Who’s there?” a deep male voice called out.

We froze, and Jayden looked at me as if waiting for me to do something. Time to improvise. I quickly yanked off my shirt, exposing my bra. Jayden gave me a solid WTF look, before raising his brows like I was a crazy person who had just escaped from a padded room.

“Kiss me!” I whispered. His
you’re insane
look quickly morphed in one of disgust.

I smooshed my body against his and pressed my lips to the corner of his mouth. The footsteps stomped closer and with a faked gasp I pulled back from Jayden, feigning a caught expression and covering my chest.

It was a bit of a relief to see that it wasn’t a vampire, but Jose, the ash who had given me my first Hive tour. Another ash was close behind him. Jose looked at me, shocked. His eyes went from my shirt on the ground, to Jayden and then back to me.

“I … what…?” Jose started. The other ash looked just as confused. “I thought you were…”

Jayden smirked. “Sometimes I like to bat for both teams. Plus, it’s Charlie. Everyone wants a piece of unicorn ass once in their life.”

Luckily no one mentioned the fact that we were roommates, and could have just made out in our living area if we wanted to. I think the shock had fried their brains. I grabbed my shirt, throwing it on, already making plans to beat on Jayden later for calling me a piece of ass.

Jose recovered first, and started flapping his hands in an agitated manner. “Get out of here, you’re not supposed to be in here,” he said. Jayden grabbed my hand and we booked it out of there. The second we were far enough away, we broke into laughter.

Jayden shook his head back and forth. “I’m totally telling Oliver I kissed a girl. He will get a kick out of that.”

I chuckled, but then my face darkened at the memory of what we found. How deep did the Hive’s control go? We had spent five minutes looking through those files. What would we have found if we had more time? Was there a file on me in there? Shit, I should have looked for that first.

Each new piece of knowledge only cemented my feelings that I needed to do something to change the Hive world, to shake up the evil little vampire leaders. Not yet, but very soon. For now I would bide my time and suppress all that shit I’d just read.

Jayden and I wordlessly went back to my apartment. I decided that next time we were up on the roof together I would tell the boys what we’d discovered. I wondered if it would surprise them how deep the corruption ran. Probably not. They were already suspicious by nature.

The next day passed slowly, and by the afternoon I still hadn’t seen Ryder and was feeling bummed. We hadn’t really hung out since our kind of intense and emotional conversation and I was feeling insecure.

After visiting Jayden at the feeding center, I made it back to my apartment with Oliver and Kyle at my side. As my door came into view I couldn’t help the broad smile which broke across my face. Ryder was leaning against my door, one hand in his pocket, looking all kinds of sexy.

Ryder nodded to the boys. “I’ll take over watch now.”

The pair exchanged a glance, all smirks and raised eyebrows. Kyle gave me a wink as they walked away. I swallowed hard, and my belly heated at the thought of alone time with Ryder.

Dear God, please let this very hot ash badass finally take advantage of me. Love, Charlie.

After letting us inside, I realized there was no one else waiting for us. No other enforcers. Jayden wouldn’t be back for hours. He was working the late shift at the feeding center. I wondered why Ryder had relaxed the two guards at all times rule. It was the first time in days we’d been alone in my apartment.

“Wanna watch a movie?” I set the keys on the counter and turned
around to find Ryder a few inches from my face, silver-black eyes scanning my body.

“Not really,” he said, his eyes falling to my lips.

Oh my gawd.

Ryder reached out and brushed my cheek. “Since becoming an ash I’ve barely slept more than a few hours straight. Until that night I slept next to you.” He paused, his expression turning playful. “Could have been the drugs, but I know in my gut that it was you. You have bewitched me, and now I can’t stay away from you.”

I grinned. “I thought I snored.”

He palmed the back of my neck. “You do, like a little kitten.”

I laughed and met his gaze as something intense built between us. We stayed locked in that stare for what seemed like forever.

“Charlie…” He stepped closer, and my hands found their way to his hips and the tight muscles there.

“Yes?” I panted in anticipation.

His lips brushed close to me. “You drive me crazy. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.”

He pulled back just in time for my lips to crash into his. He didn’t hesitate, gripping under my butt and lifting me up so I could straddle him. Our kiss deepened as he walked us back to my bedroom. I wrenched myself from him long enough to peel off my shirt, exposing my red lace bra. His hooded stare, as his gaze devoured my body, nearly sent me over the edge. Thank God Jayden had picked out my clothes today. Yep,
even my underwear.

Ryder carefully laid me down on the bed, before kneeling between my legs. Pulling his shirt over his head, the entire time I was mentally chanting
slower, slower, slower.
Okay, I actually couldn’t wait to see him naked, but the show was so freaking good that I also wanted to draw it out. When he was finally naked from the waist up, I reached out a hand and dragged it across his hard abdomen. It was perfect again now, no marks or scarring from his surgery.

And holy lord of all things sexy, Ryder was a piece of work. Tan tight skin wrapped around rock hard muscle, swirling silvery eyes and twenty-four hours of stubble—he was so fine that my insides were constricting in pure need. Ryder seemed to be enjoying my perusal, but eventually our gravity grew too strong to ignore. Our lips met again, and the taste of him was like a shot of orgasm right to my girly parts. Somehow we got naked, magically, because I don’t even remember that part happening, but I sure as hell was glad that it did.

Ryder’s lips left mine as he started to kiss down my cheek and along the ridge of my jaw. My eyes rolled back in my head as he made his way along my neck. “You are insanely beautiful,” he murmured between kisses.