Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(21)
“Love you too, bitch,” he replied, and Becca just shook her head.
“You should try it sometime. It’s freeing,” I said to her.
She just smiled and waved goodbye as they drove out of the outbuilding and into the snowy grounds. Twenty feet from us the snowmobile ground to a halt. Sam stepped forward, pausing when Becca’s head popped up and she turned, facing us.
“Bye, bitches!” she shouted, and held on to the roof bar as Jayden peeled out. I could hear his laughter echoing through the night.
Sam’s mouth was gaping open. “Jayden is a bad influence on her.”
I busted out laughing. “Jayden will make her fabulous. One month locked in a cabin with him and she’ll be wearing push-up bras and giving you lap dances.”
Well, hello. Was that a little interest I saw there on Sam’s face? Not to mention the slight grin.
Ryder laced our hands together then and started leading me toward the house. “I’m tired. I think we should go to bed.” His voice was low, like a caress. Heat curled through my belly. Bed was definitely code for sex.
There was no more leading after that. Ryder had to haul butt to keep up with me. This was our last night in this snowy wilderness and I was going to take full advantage.
Chapter 5
The sun was killing me right now. Why was everything so bright in this state? Seriously, it was amazing there was even a Hive in California; the vamps would be prisoners for the vast majority of the day in summer, and even right now, on the cusp of the Christmas season, it was still warm. Well, especially compared to Alaska.
“Don’t rub at your eyes, Charlie.”
The sun and hours of travel had left Markus cranky too. But he had a point. I kept dislodging my sunglasses by lifting them to rub my tired eyes. And of course that was really ruining my “not an ashpire” disguise. Me, Ryder, Kyle, and Markus were all perched against the railing of Santa Monica Muscle Beach. This was our rendezvous point with the other guys, who had taken a slightly different route down here.
“What time is it?” I asked. “Are they late? Should we be worried?”
There were a lot of people around, and despite the intense sun it was starting to lower in the perfect blue sky. So it was late afternoon or something. I had sort of gotten used to not having a cell phone attached to me at all times, but it still frustrated me when I wanted to know the time. Or check my horoscope.
“They’re not late yet. No need to worry, they’ll be here,” Ryder said, drawing a comforting arm down my side and pulling me into him. He was trying to keep me from stomping around. But all he did was make me worry more. Seriously though, I did need to chill out, because my agitated eye rubbing and pacing was surely going to draw attention. And that was the last thing we needed.
“What if they figured out the ID’s were fake?” My voice was muffled against Ryder’s side.
Kyle laughed then, his deep tones booming out across the beach. “Charlie, girl, you’re worrying for nothing. We made it here and the boys will too. If they knew our ID’s were fake, we would have been detained at the airport. Relax.”
As I pulled myself out of the very comfortable embrace of my enforcer, I noticed that people were starting to stare at our group. A lot of them were women. Scantily clad women. Didn’t they know it was winter? Damn. Still, it wasn’t a huge surprise. These three men commanded attention; they were tall, handsome, and had that extra something which my mom always called charisma.
“We should move,” Ryder said. “We’ve been standing in this spot for too long. Time to start blending in with the locals.”
Blending. Sure. We could do that. It wasn’t that long ago I was a human. So why did it feel as if it was years ago and they were suddenly this weird, alien species I couldn’t understand?
#ashpireproblems
The beach was calling us, so we left the path and made our way onto the golden sands. I loved the feel of the salty air and the rush of waves breaking against the shoreline. My leather boots were calf high and kept the majority of sand out, but I felt an urge to rip them off and sink barefoot into the white grains.
“Ryder!” The shout came when we were halfway to the water, and as a group we spun around to find Sam, Jared, and Oliver speed-walking our way. Thank God!
As I started stumbling across the sand toward them, I noted they were dressed the same as us. Glasses clad, and looking quite sophisticated. Jayden had outfitted us before we left, insisting that if we all wore our favorite black enforcer gear, we would stand out in Cali. So now we were in a mix of jeans, army-style pants and neutral-colored cotton shirts. Jared even sported a button-up Hawaiian number, which suited his surfer boy looks.
When I reached their side I threw myself at them. “Where the hell have you guys been? I’ve been worried sick!”
Arms wrapped around me as each of them gave me a hug.
“Sorry, Mum,” Jared said. “We got a little delayed at one of the airports. Apparently Sam forgot you can’t carry a pocket knife on a commercial flight.”
The silent enforcer grimaced. “It was one tiny little knife set. The way they freaked out you’d think I was trying to haul an AK-47 on board.”
Ryder pulled me out of Jared’s arms and deposited me at his side.
“Getting too used to traveling by private plane, Mr. Money Bags,” I teased Sam.