Ryder reached out and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "That will never happen, brother. Not while I'm still alive to fight."
Sam's worried words brought it all home for me. He was right. No matter who found out about this, there was no happy ending for Charlie. Can I just say FML?
Chapter 2
The next morning I stumbled out to find Jayden sitting at the coffee table nursing a bottle of blood and giving me the evil eye.
"What?" I grumbled. I needed a bottle of half blood, half espresso right now. After returning from my date I had tossed and turned, thinking about all the drama in my life, worried and scared. I hated that feeling of being out of control, like I was sitting on a bomb and I had no idea how long until it exploded.
Jayden pointed a finger at me. "You didn't wake me to tell me about your date so I figured Ryder slept over and now I see your ass stumble out of your room alone. Tell me you at least made out with him?"
I smiled. Oh Jayden. Always making sure my sex life was legit. Where to start? "Well, there was a steamy kiss at my door."
He leaned forward, eyebrows raised, and I swear he even turned his ear in my direction like he didn't want to miss a word.
"But that was after we got attacked on our date by a religious group that thinks vampires are the devil incarnate."
The cheeky expression fell from his face. "Oh. I see. Kind of a mood killer."
I nodded. "Yep and that's not all."
If Ryder was telling the sexy six, I sure as hell was telling my bestie. I knew what Sam had said about never repeating my secret in the Hive was sound advice, but I wasn't planning on being inside these walls when I did.
Grabbing his hand, I tilted my head to indicate we needed to walk outside the apartment. Jayden looked confused for a second, but didn't hesitate to follow my lead as I slipped on my tennis shoes and grabbed a bottle of O-negative. There was no conversation as I led Jayden to the roof jogging track. It was empty this time of day. Bright with the light of the sun, no vampires would be up here. I also found great perspective staring out over the entire city.
Taking Jayden's hand, I led him as far from the entrance as possible, to the edge, staring down the sixty stories. My bestie was quiet, which was about as far removed from his personality as was possible. He no doubt had sensed the secrecy in my actions. Standing up on my tiptoes, I whispered into his ear.
"That guy that bit me at the club turned into a human. My blood is so tempting because it's the cure and we might need to leave the Hive at any moment because people are after me."
I popped back down on my flat feet and waited for his response. As our eyes locked, I could see his were wide and full of emotions. A lot of which looked like concern. He slipped his hand in mine and squeezed.
"Oliver knows?" he murmured.
I nodded. "As of last night."
His face became serious. "Don't you leave me here, bitch. No protecting me for my own good." I sucked in deeply, so relieved to know that even with this new information on my magic blood, nothing had changed between Jayden and I.
I grinned, punching him lightly on the arm. "Wouldn't dream of it, bitch."
Needing to relieve my inner tension, I took off running, Jayden at my heels. He could have easily overtaken me-he was descended from the second house, and they had an affinity for speed-but instead kept pace with me. Running was my drug now. As my feet pounded the track, the wind in my hair, I felt like I was running from all of my problems and it gave me a temporary reprieve from the insanity that had become my life.
After showering, I dragged myself down to my boring-ass job of answering phones in the enforcer call room. Stepping through the door, I stumbled a little to see Ryder sitting in my chair, his feet up at my desk. I often had an enforcer in here with me, but never the big bad leader of the crew.
I nudged his legs out of my way. "Excuse me, big day ahead. Important job of phone answering."
His heavy boots hit the floor. "Nope, sorry. You're fired."
I ground to a halt halfway into my chair. "What?"
Could he fire me? Was the Quorum involved? Maybe after last night they wanted me somewhere else. OMG please don't let it be washing dishes or some shit.
Ryder produced a sleek black gun from behind his back and a walkie-talkie. My eyebrows shot up as he handed them to me.
"Let's be honest, you're not a people person, and how am I going to keep an eye on you unless I make you an enforcer trainee?"
OMFG. "What? I'm an enforcer?" I jumped up and down like a teenager as Ryder's lips quirked into a smile.
"No. You're a trainee, a rookie who will watch and learn and never leave the car. Got it?"
I took the gun, sliding it into my belt, and clipped on the walkie-talkie. Fuck yeah. "Got it."
He nodded and walked away, motioning that I was to follow. I looked behind me and glanced one last time at my boring-ass desk and phone. Peace out, stupid job. Peace out.
Following Ryder into the enforcer locker room, I met the gaze of the sexy six and tried not to smirk in pride.
Kyle looked me up and down, his eyes resting on my walkie-talkie. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
Markus advanced towards me, inhaling deeply. "Smells like a rookie."
I rolled my eyes. First unicorn, now rookie. Oh hells no. Pick a nickname and stick with it.
"Rookie with a gun, boys," I joked, turning a full circle to show it tucked in my waist belt.
Oliver gave a half smile. "Perks of dating the boss. I didn't get a gun for months."
Slivers of heat filled my cheeks. I knew my face was probably a little red. Were we officially dating? I mean … we had been on a date. Still, there were no labels or titles attached to us yet. Ryder was all dark and mysterious; he probably beat labels up for fun in his spare time.
Ignoring the Latino enforcer, Ryder called the boys in closer. "Listen up, Lucas has approved Charlie to be an enforcer trainee. This gives her a weapon, an access badge, and clearance to leave the Hive grounds on official business."
The room was heavy, our silence saying everything as we all shared a look. This was a part of a greater plan, this was Ryder preparing for the possibility that we may one day leave the Hive. I swallowed hard, losing the thrill I'd initially felt at my new job.
The boys nodded curtly, which had me squaring my shoulders. I could do this, I was going to be trained and have a gun. Screw the Hive. Game on, bitches.
Ryder turned to me, handing me a keycard with my name on it. "Guard this with your life. Don't go sneaking around, and stay out of the medical ward. Every door you open with that gets logged into a database that the Quorum looks over daily. Be good."
I saluted him. "Yes, boss."
My curt reply was followed up with a sexy smoldering grin, all eyelashes and bedroom eyes. How far could I push him now that he was my boss and possible dating partner?
A few of the boys snickered.
Ryder quickly concealed his earlier charm into a mask of calm, not giving into my pushing of his buttons. "Your locker is number eleven. Uniform is inside."
I rolled my eyes. He was no fun. All work. I strode across the aisle and found number eleven quickly. There'd better be some cool black army fatigues inside, ones with small pockets so I could hide knives and shit. Pulling the lever, I opened the locker. A whoosh of air hit me first, and then in the next instant I was doused in a warm brown liquid. My breath caught as a startled scream ripped from my throat.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
I blinked a few times in shock as the liquid ran down my face and dripped into my open mouth. The moment it hit my tongue I recognized the smooth, sugary flavor. Chocolate.
Those mutha … effing … asshole … freaking …
At the roar of laughter behind me, I swung around with my biggest baddest death glare. "Welcome to training, rookie," Jared choked out between laughs.
Even Sam was trying to contain his usual toughass façade.
I didn't utter a word, continuing to glare. They were just lucky I hadn't been wearing my favorite shoes. I would have actually shot them with my new gun if my ass-kicking boots had been ruined. Something in my expression must have finally sunk into the stupid six across from me.
Their laughter stopped.
Oliver gave Ryder a worried look. "Her gun isn't loaded, right?"
Ryder's smile was quickly lost. "Charlie, it's a joke. We've all been through it."
Usually his slightly pleading expression would soften me right up, but today I was covered from head to toe in a bucket of warm melty chocolate. Did I mention how hard this was going to be to get out of my hair? Not to mention how torn I was to not start licking this liquid orgasm off of my arm. I was a chocolate whore for sure, but I wouldn't tell them that.
I smiled sweetly. "Oh, totally, just a joke, right. Ha, ha." The words had barely left my mouth before I began stalking towards Ryder. All of the guys backed up, but unfortunately for them they'd caged themselves into the side of the locker room where there was no easy escape.