Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(35)

That’s when Becca said, “Samuel! You can’t be serious. What if I had run off on my own and said you shouldn’t follow me?” She put one hand on her hip.

Sam’s face was frozen in hard angry lines, as if the mere thought of Becca disappearing without him had his insides turning to ice.

“I’d kill anyone who got in my way of going after you, Becca. You know that. I’ll always come for you.”

Becca swallowed hard, clearly not prepared for the emotional depth of his answer. The fact that they had had sex once and never again continued to astonish me. The feels were real between them. I could practically see the attraction and emotion spiraling through the air.

Since it seemed Sam was not about to attack me, I left them to their eye-screwing and slowly crept out of the room. I needed to find Kyle. We were leaving, stat; Ryder was stubborn as hell but so was I. There was another ding from Sam’s computer just as I was crossing the threshold.

Pausing, I turned around. “Tell him unicorn and BFF are inbound and I’ll be the one tying him up later. And not in the fun way.”

Sam smiled, and with a shake of his head turned back to his computer to read the note. His face fell. “Oh shit. Tessa.”

Those three words were enough to bring my whole world crashing down.





Chapter 8


It was 5AM and I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Tessa in the pit being starved to death by Fugly, and Ryder being killed the second he stepped into the Hive. Lucas had written to tell us that Tessa was caught doing something suspicious against the Quorum and they threw her in the pit for a month. That was two weeks ago. He could only now get word. He said the entire Portland Hive had been turned into a military regime where Fugly’s word ruled all. Any rebellion was met with the pit or death. Sounded like Tessa was lucky to get the pit, but something told me they still had plans for her. Plans which involved me.

Sam had called in a favor and got us new identification and a chartered private plane. Being rich really was awesome. Thank you, Deliverance.

I was itching to go. When Sam and Kyle entered the room, a burst of excitement flooded me. We might be finally ready to go.

Sam looked at Kyle and they seemed to be considering something, then I saw the scissors in Sam’s hands. Both ash faced me.

“Hey, Charlie … how attached to your hair are you?” Sam asked.

Oh hell no. “How attached to your penis are you?” I countered, hands on hips and eyes narrowed.

Kyle tried to hide his laugh but couldn’t.

Sam groaned. “It won’t be long before the humans know there’s a cure. My gut says that your picture could be plastered all over the news by sundown. I’ve got you new passports, but a new look would really give you guys a fighting chance.”

Shit. Was he serious? I loved my long hair. I wasn’t overly vain in that type of way, but it took me forever to grow it out from this horrendous bowl cut I had in middle school. Not to mention my jaw was wide and short cuts didn’t look good on me. But dammit, Sam had a point. I couldn’t go walking around like this much longer and expect not to be noticed.

I just nodded. “Fine. Just do it.”

My hair was in a low ponytail at the base of my neck. It hung down my back past where my bra clipped. Sam gave me a sympathetic look and took a firm grip on my pony tail. I closed my eyes, telling myself to grow the fuck up and put my big girl pants on.

“PUT THE SCISSORS DOWN!” Jayden’s voice boomed down the hallway and my eyes snapped open. My BAFF was looking at Sam in shock and clutching his chest.

“How dare you try to cut her hair so barbarically! Sam, for future reference, when a gay man is available, you always ask him to do these things.”

My face lit up with a smile. Jayden would make sure I didn’t have another “middle school bowl cut.” Sam handed him the scissors and Jayden wasted no time in pulling out a dining room chair and placing a plastic bag over my shoulders.

“Okay, honey, do you want the Jennifer Aniston from Friends bob or short chunky like Charlize Theron?”

“Ohhh, Charlize, definitely,” I said.

Jayden was in his element as he brushed out my hair and started to slice away. I nearly cried when I saw twelve inch strands falling to the floor, but ten minutes later I had a super cute short chunky hairstyle that actually looked good. Somehow he’d managed to accent my nicer facial features and hide those which were not so attractive. Like the fat chin … it was looking positively slender.

Jumping to my feet, Jayden dusted me off, and when I was finally clear of my departed hair, I pulled my BAFF in for a hug. “Thank you for everything,” I whispered. “I love you, and I’ll do my damn best to return to you and to bring all of our boys back.”

His grip was tight on me; his chest heaved a few times but he didn’t speak. Something told me he couldn’t. With a breathless “Love you,” he took off into the house, and I fought the urge to follow him. His pain was my pain. But right now there was no time for either of our agony. We had a job to do.

Squaring my shoulders, I grabbed my pack and Kyle and I left. As we crossed those front porch steps, part of me knew I would never see this place again. I threw my pack into the back of the buggy, and Kyle was just about to jump into the driver’s seat when I stopped him.

“My turn to drive,” I said.