Riders (Riders, #1)(15)
So far the Army had been the opposite of noble work for me. I got a mental image right then of Cory with shoelaces of snot coming out of his nose during a swim evolution. But hey. Someday I would put my life on the line for my country, so I didn’t see any harm in letting her opinion stand.
Joy and I shouted small talk at each other for a little while. She was cute and she seemed nice. She told me all about the great beaches in the Philippines, where she was from. Some place called Cebu. I wasn’t sure how I was doing hitting on her.
You’ll find this shocking, Cordero, but I haven’t always been the specimen you see in front of you. It wasn’t just the braces or the zits that slowed me down in high school. I never really tried. My lack of game never bothered me much, though. I’d never met anyone where it had actually mattered. Not until Daryn. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Anna had gone back to hanging out with Taylor again. My sister looked okay. She didn’t look upset. On the other side of the room, Wyatt and his preppy buddies were having a competition to see who could show the most teeth when they laughed.
My gaze went to the patio where I’d met Joy earlier. A girl stood out there with a few other people, but she clearly wasn’t with them. She stood alone in front of the open sliding door. What held my attention, besides the fact that she was pretty, was her expression. She stared right at me, and she looked intense and determined. Like we were in the middle of an argument even though we hadn’t said a word to each other.
She stepped into the apartment and threaded through the people dancing at the center without breaking eye contact. Her gaze felt like a challenge, so I stepped up to the plate and met it. I wasn’t going to break first, but my confusion must have shown. Joy stopped talking and followed my sight line.
“Do you know that girl?” she asked.
“I think so.” She sure seemed to know me. “Can you give us a minute?”
“Sure.” Joy glanced at her plastic cup. “I’m empty anyway,” she said, and headed off.
The girl from the patio came right up and stopped in front of me. She obviously had an agenda. It seemed like the right call to let her make the first move, so I stood there, trying to look relaxed.
She was prettier up close—streaky blond hair that fell over one shoulder and tan skin. Not a lot of makeup. Maybe none. She wore a weathered black jacket, tight jeans, and scuffed boots. A backpack was slung over her right shoulder. She wasn’t a college student, though. She just didn’t look it. This girl had switchblades in her eyes and don’t mess with me in her posture. She looked like she could handle herself. Super confident.
Her gaze flicked down to my left wrist. I immediately regretted not wearing a sweatshirt to cover up the cuff. When her eyes lifted again, the look in them was such an insane mixture of curiosity, relief, and fear that for a second, I wondered if I’d met her at some point in the past, offended her, then forgotten all about her.
No way, though. This wasn’t a girl you forgot. I was only five seconds into knowing her, but I already knew that much.
“I need you to come with me,” she said. “Right now.”
“I bet that line works on all the guys.”
Like I said, no game, but she was intimidating as hell. The party swirled behind her, all grinding bodies and thudding music, but she stood there as still as a lighthouse.
“This isn’t a joke.” She glanced toward the front door. “We have to get out of here or you’re going to get hurt.”
I laughed. “Sorry … what?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know anything, do you?”
That didn’t sit great with me. It struck a nerve that was already pretty raw. “I know a few things.”
“Then why haven’t you found the others?”
“Oh, wait. This is about the others?” I straightened off the wall. “I can explain that. See, I tried to find them but the spaceship left right when I got there. Just took right off. Can you believe the others did that to me? Flaky bastards.” I was being a smart-ass, but I didn’t want her to leave. “Look, what do you say we try this again?” I held out my hand, because why? I guess I wanted to make this more awkward. “I’m—”
“Gideon. I know,” she said. Her palm closed over mine, her fingers taking a firm grip of my hand. “I’m Daryn. Let’s get out of here.” She did a one-eighty, still holding on to my hand, and started towing me toward the front door.
I needed a second to process a lot of things. Her crazy behavior. The fact that she had a guy’s name. The fact that she knew my name. The fact that she was taking me … where? And that it should’ve felt like a good thing, an awesome thing, but somehow didn’t.
She stopped suddenly. I ran right into her back.
“Whoa, sorry,” I said, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me.
The front door of the apartment had just swung open. Three people entered, two guys and a girl. Adrenaline roared through me. I knew instantly, on a primal level, something was about to go down.
The first guy was in his mid-twenties. Short black hair, and the kind of face that had to make life easier for him. His clothes were pretty slick, modern, and he was built. He had me by thirty pounds at least, but that didn’t necessarily worry me. I could handle myself in a fight. What worried me was that he looked like he could handle himself in a fight, too.