Ash (17 page)

Whoa.
That
was completely unexpected and I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to Ryder
dishing out compliments. I didn’t want to read too closely into it. He was an
honest guy. Probably there was nothing more than simple approval.

“Thanks,” I finally
murmured.

You look good in a towel
.

We traveled the rest of
the way through the Hive in silence, before ending up in the courtyard.
Everyone piled into a big black unmarked van and then we headed to the club.
Hell yes. Finally, some normalcy in my life.

The doorman was a vampire. They must
completely change shifts when the curfew ended. I had no idea, I wasn’t one to
break curfew much. Ryder nodded at the bouncer and we all strode in without
paying or ID checks. Ryder posse perk.

The club was pumping, the
music louder and more bass driven than the last time I was here. I felt my body
loosen up as we strode further in. This was my world, not the fucking Hive.

“Charlie!” my bestie
shrieked, bounding over to me with blond curls bouncing. Girl looked all kinds
of gorgeous in her short, tight blue dress, eyes extra blue against the dark
liner. She slammed into me with the force of a truck and I laughed as I hugged
her. We stayed like that for an extended moment, flashes of our past flittering
through my head, and I knew she’d be thinking the same thing. The last time we
were in a club everything had been normal. Then that very same night,
everything changed. You really couldn’t take anything in life for granted, it
could be gone before you even had a chance to really know you had it. Eventually
we had to untangle ourselves and I handed her over to my other bestie. Tessa
and Jayden had been chatting over email but hadn’t met in person.

“Girl, your hair is
Marilyn Monroe gorgeous,” he told her. She grinned and hugged him. My heart
overflowed at my two BFFs finally meeting.

“It’s nice to finally
meet you. Thanks for dressing Charlie tonight.”

I scowled. “What! How do
you know he dressed me?”

Tessa rolled her eyes.
“Please…”

Her next words were cut
off as she finally focused on the enforcers, her eyes running across the six tall,
buff, and badass guys. She lingered the longest on Ryder. Somehow she knew
which one he was. She had never really met him; the last time she’d been passed
out. I was a little nervous about the glint in her eye. 

Please don’t say anything
stupid, Tessa.

“So, you’re Ryder,” Tessa
said. Her words made it sound like he was some important person in my life.
Shit. My cheeks reddened.

Ryder extended his hand
and shook hers. As he pulled away, a vampire strode in beside her and put an
arm around her shoulders. I bristled at the sight of a bloodsucker so close to
her.

Tessa smiled up at the
guy with his strawberry blond curls. Damn, he was sort of a cute, sexy version
of a grown-up Cabbage Patch Doll.

“Guys, this is Blake.”

I really did not like the
idea of Tessa having a regular vampire feeder, especially not one that acted
possessive of her.

Blake nodded to all of us,
then his eyes settled on the tall enforcer at my side.

“Ryder,” he said.

Ryder nodded back.
“Blake.”

It was clear Ryder had
the respect of all the vampires, which was an achievement since they thought of
ash as mongrel dogs.

The song changed then and
Tessa squealed, ducking out from under Blake’s arm and grabbing Jayden and my
hands, dragging us to the dance floor. Typical Tessa, she was a sucker for Britney
Spears. It felt good to let loose, and I got lost in the music for some time.
After dancing inside of a Jayden and Tessa sandwich for almost a half an hour,
I broke away to get some water. I was laying off the liquor for a bit. Human
alcohol was pretty much a waste now anyways.

As the crowd parted, I
noticed Ryder leaning against the bar, his eyes locked on me as I approached.
He lowered his glass from where he’d just taken a drink, his eyes traveling
across me. I approached him slowly, taken aback by the intensity of his gaze.

“Having fun?” I queried.

His reached around and
pulled me close to him, speaking in my ear. It was the only way to be heard in
here. “What did you say? I can’t hear you over the music?” he shouted.

His muscular thigh was
partly lodged between my legs, and to steady myself I reached out and let my
hand rest on his bicep. The only thing ruining this moment was the reek of
alcohol on his breath.

“Got a hold of some vamp
moonshine I see,” I shouted back.

He gave me a slow but
insanely sexy smile. “I’m told I need to lighten up.” 

I grinned. Well, well,
well … if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Ryder was more than a little
drunk. My straight-laced, overly rigid, tough as shit Ryder. And I was starting
to get the feeling that in his drunken state he wanted a piece of Charlie.

I knew I could lean into
him now … I could kiss him. But something held me back. This wasn’t how I
wanted it. Tomorrow the steel door to his emotions would close again and I knew
on instinct that one night with Ryder would never be enough, and I didn’t want
a taste only to lose it forever.

Before I could respond,
he leaned in so close that my hair covered his face and his cheek touched mine.
“I should have told you this long ago, but watching you fight in that culling was
among the worst moments of my life. I was half a second from jumping in the
fight and killing them all.”

My heart beat wildly in
my chest at his proclamation. Who was this ash? He seemed relaxed, his words
flowing more freely than usual. He pulled back then, slipping his leg out from
under me, leaning farther back onto the bar. He was then casually watching
people dance like he hadn’t just said the most romantic thing in the world. I
sank in next to him and ordered my water.

After taking a few sips,
I decided to be bold. “You wanna dance?” I gave him my bedroom eyes. This look
had never failed me. I was wearing nipple pasties, for Christ’s sake. No way
would he say no.

He swallowed before
shaking his head. “I shouldn’t.”

Well, there’s a first
time for everything. Awesome.
I’m a complete loser
. I noticed Kyle
heading our way, and not wanting to break down like a full-on girl, I swiveled
around.

“Right, see you later.” I
booked it for the bathroom, trying to remember where it was.

Stupid, Charlie!
He didn’t like me, he was just drunk and my boobs looked amazing in this shirt –
he got distracted.

I took a wrong turn down
the hallway before remembering that this led to an outside patio and smoking
area. Frustrated, I turned around and ran smack into a vampire.  

He caught me by the
shoulders to keep me from falling. His grip was firm.

“Oh sorry,” I said as I tried
to pull out of his grasp. He didn’t let go, and my eyes shot up to his face. His
hair was slicked back and jet black; he had a pointy nose, and his eyes were
doing the pulsing thing.

“I’ve been waiting all
week to meet you. Your performance in the culling was superb,” he purred, tightening
his hold on my shoulders.

“Thanks, I really need to
use the bathroom.” I reached up to brush his hands off. He tightened them
again, his grip an iron vice.
What the actual fu–

“Ow!” I shrieked as his
breathing hitched and he began to pant. Fangs slid from his upper lip. Shit. I
had never fought a full-fledged vampire before. I knew they were stronger than
ash, but not sure how much. I had a feeling I was about to find out.

I put both hands on his
chest and shoved him, hard. He stumbled backward a little, but my push only
served to enrage him more. He smelled of vamp alcohol and had clearly lost
control.

He slammed into me before
I could even track his movement. The back of my head cracked into the wall and
I yelped. He had me pinned against the brickwork; we were alone in this dark
hallway. His eyes pulsed from solid silver to some weird gray color.

“Help!” I screamed again,
hoping like hell someone would hear me this time. I felt the graze of razor
sharp points on my neck, and I knew he was just about to pierce my skin.
Pleasure chased along my spine, my body remembering how it felt to be fed on,
but it was quickly doused with how awful this situation was. Vamp asshole then
decided to take his time with me, slowly pushing his chompers into me. His wet
mouth sucked at my neck with greed. Gross. Vampire hickey. Just what I needed.
I kneed him firmly in the groin, but he just bit down on me harder.

“Got off, asshole!” I
screamed, but it was no use. He was like a two-hundred-pound mosquito.

Suddenly Ryder’s and
Kyle’s faces zoomed into focus, and before the relief even had time to hit, the
enforcers had grabbed the vamp by the neck, ripping him off of me. The vamp
went airborne and was slammed onto the ground. Kyle reached over and yanked me
up, holding me against his hard frame as one of his hands lifted to rest
against the side of my neck. Both of us froze as we watched Ryder go completely
into warrior mode, throwing a series of powerful blows to the vamp’s head, his
arms moving so fast I couldn’t track them. Holy shit, he was a monster. The
force at which the punches connected with the vamp’s face made sounds that I
was pretty sure would haunt my dreams. It was in this moment I truly realized
how easy Ryder had been going on me in training. I had not even the slightest
clue of his true abilities.

Kyle held me close until
my shaking stopped. “You okay, Charlie?” His dark eyes lifted from Ryder to
lock on me. “Shit, sorry girl, we got here as soon as we heard you scream.”

I tried to swallow, some
of the pain in my neck easing. Kyle lifted his hand away and his eyes swirled
as he stared. “The wound has closed over. You’re going to need some blood.”

He pulled himself away
from me and I realized that my blood was tempting him. I propped myself against
the wall as Kyle strode across to help Ryder. Markus, Jared, and Sam ran down
the hall then, and together the enforcers helped Kyle pull Ryder off the
unconscious vamp. I remained against the wall, too shaken to move yet, my focus
locked in on the one man who always had my back. Ryder’s eyes were wild, his
knuckles already bruised, cuts littering them. He left the vampire to his men,
crossing the space to crowd into me.

“Are you hurt?” His words
were barely audible, so much feral in his gaze.

Hurt? Oh right, I was
attacked.

My hand went up to my
neck, even though Kyle had told me it was healed. “He bit me.”

Ryder breathed deeply,
his serious eyes never leaving me. He didn’t seem drunk anymore, the fight
having washed away whatever buzz he’d had.

Finally, he turned back
to his guys, even though he did not shift out of my personal space. He spoke in
a low voice to the enforcers, and I used the time to move off the wall. My
limbs were shaking a little, the adrenalin starting to wear off. Why were these
bastards always trying to bite me? It didn’t seem normal.

Ryder turned back around,
and finding me moved, stepped back into my personal space. “If he were an ash,
I would kill him right here.” His hazy silver and black eyes flickered to the
lump on the floor.

Kyle nodded. He’d moved
close to Ryder’s back. “I think we should kill him anyways. Who cares what the
Quorum says.”

Ryder seemed to consider
this, then he grinned, catching me totally off guard. “No, I have a better
idea. Throw him in the pit for a month.”

Jared let out a low
whistle. “A month in the pit. Dude is going to be fried.” Damn that accent was good.
I needed to visit Australia one day. Also, note to self: Don’t get on Ryder’s
bad side and find out what the hell the pit was.

Ryder placed a hand on my
lower back. “Fun’s over. Let’s go.”

I got the distinct
feeling he would not be letting me out again soon. “I wouldn’t consider being
attacked by a vampire fun,” I retorted.

He frowned. “Yeah, bad
joke. Sorry.” He stopped and faced me. “Seriously, are you okay?” His hair was
tousled from the fight, and the protective way his hand rested against my spine
had my stomach all aflutter.

No
.

“I’m fine,” I said.

This was not Ryder’s
problem. I was the delicious, chocolate-covered unicorn donut, and while I’d
love it if Ryder were my own delicious chocolate-covered donut, the feeling
clearly wasn’t mutual.

I turned and left the
hallway with Ryder hot on my heels. The night of fun was over, and we were
heading back to the Hive. Back to the world of blood and vamps. If I didn’t
figure this out soon, how to stop all of this blood-lusting after me, I wasn’t
going to survive long past the culling anyways.  

The next day I awoke to a loud banging on
my door. This wasn’t a friendly, just-stopping-by knock. It was a police-raid I’m-going-to-Taser-your-ass,
bang-bang-bang sort of knock. I leapt off the bed, heart hammering and crossed
the hallway as Jayden flew out of his room, eyes wide.