It kind of made me sad that I would never know his name.
My legs protested as I straightened. I wondered how long I’d been crouched there for. Probably long enough that someone in the Hive was looking for me. No doubt the enforcers had realized I was not with Jayden and were probably storming the place searching for me.
Shit! I hadn’t meant to stay out this long. It was a real asshole move to make them worry about me. Stupid memories.
I spun around, preparing to sprint my butt back through the trees, knowing I was going to get majorly ass-kicked by Ryder, which I totally deserved. But before I could even take a step, the figure standing about three yards from me had me grinding to a halt. The enforcer looked kind of pissed off, and yet at the same time he didn’t.
I cautiously approached Ryder, wondering if he was going to throw me over his shoulder and spank me or something. More importantly, did I want him to and was that even a punishment?
“I’m sorry,” I said, as I stepped closer. “I really just wanted a minute by myself. Some fresh air. I got a bit … distracted.”
Ryder’s eyes flicked across to where I’d been crouched, before coming back to rest on my face. “It’s okay, you’re not a prisoner. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
Those were surprisingly calm and reasonable words from my hotheaded boyfriend. Yeah, I totally used the B-word. Couldn’t think of what else to call him, and I liked having the claim on him. I paused inches from him, my body doing that thing where it gravitated toward him, like he was the magnet pulling my metal form straight into his grasp.
“What happened here, Charlie?”
Both of our gazes shifted back to the spot behind me. He must have been standing there for some time. He had seen my little breakdown. His hand brushed across my cheek, and I felt a slide of wetness.
“You were crying.” His voice went a little low and growly, and I knew that the calm, collected dude was about to disappear.
I pressed my cheek tighter to his palm, allowing his warmth to eliminate some of the cold which had seeped into my skin. I lifted my eyes to meet his blaze of swirling silver. The black was almost gone at the moment.
“I should have told you this a while ago, but there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up.” I shrugged a little, trying to make it seem less intense than it was. “The day that I woke up in the hospital wing was not the first time I was in the Hive. The first time was about a year before my ash genetics kicked in.”
If I hadn’t been watching so closely, I would have missed the tightening of his features. He was working very hard to remain calm, but I was starting to get a good read on him, and I knew he was upset.
I didn’t want to be there any longer, I didn’t want the negative energy seeping into me and Ryder. I laced our fingers together and led him away, back through the forest and out into a small patch of sunlight which had some flat rocks scattered around for us to sit on. The entire walk I felt Ryder growing grimmer and tenser, and I realized that starting my speech and not finishing it was the worst thing I could have done. He was probably imagining a bunch of terrible things.
With that in mind, I didn’t waste any time once we were seated close enough that I could feel his hard thigh pressed against mine. “So, like I said, I have been here before under pretty horrible circumstances. That’s partly why I was so negative about ash and vamps when I first arrived.”
Taking a deep breath, I told him everything. Ryder didn’t say a word during my story. I tried to keep my voice clinical, just listing the facts. I had been out at a club. Coming home, two ash had attacked me and dragged me into the compound. They knocked me around a bit before tearing my shirt off and half of my skirt. I was about ten seconds from being raped when some sort of guardian angel Viking saved me.
Ryder’s hand tightened around mine, falling just short of being painful. He was not dealing so well with this story. Shocker. Finally, when I was finished, and the silence was getting a little uncomfortable, he leaned forward and wrapped me in his arms. “I’m so damn sorry, Charlie. Shit! I recognized the spot you were sitting at—I’ll be honest, I’m feeling the need right now to go off and punch some things.”