The Rush (The Siren Series) - By Rachel Higginson Page 0,129

to you.”

“Yeah?” I asked. My stomach erupted in nerves. Not nerves like the butterflies Ryder gave me, unless these butterflies had strapped razor blades to their wings and were flying about with the sole intention of shredding me from the inside out until I bled to death.

“It seems you have a few things to learn, Ivy. I didn’t want to have to do this, but I’m sending you on a job.” His eyes were pure authoritative arrogance. There was nothing there but cold decisiveness. This was a lesson he decided he needed to teach me. And he was right, if he really thought I was going to stay with him. I needed to be broken, bridled. But because I knew that there was no way in hell I would ever stay with him, a shudder convulsed my body and I gripped at the table so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Nix, noticing my reaction grunted a short puff of air in disapproval. “You brought this on yourself, Ivy. I would have been happy to have trained you…. personally. But I cannot ignore your disruptive behavior or your disrespectful attitude. So you’re going on a job tomorrow night with Anaxandra and Evaleen. It’s nothing you won’t be capable of, just a friendly dinner with some colleagues of mine.”

An escort. I was going to be an escort.

“Nix, I am sixteen,” I hissed frantically. My nails bit into the underside of the table, any more pressure and I would rip them off.

“Ivy, it’s dinner. That’s all. Trust me, I would not ask more of you than that. Do not forget that you are mine.” His words were a heavy bark of an order before his eyes flickered to Ryder who was setting our drinks down on the table.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, ignoring Ryder as he tried to catch my gaze. I couldn’t acknowledge him in front of Nix, not after this conversation, not after what happened in the kitchen.

Ryder disappeared back behind the counter but I could feel his concentrated stare as he watched us.

“Let’s take these to go,” Nix stood with his coffee. “We have more to discuss.”

I obeyed. What else could I do? I was still a prisoner. Still chained to this Godforsaken life.

I dared a quick glance at Ryder on my way out, before Nix got to the door and held it open for me. I expected to see anger and revulsion staring back. I expected Ryder to be righteously pissed. But instead his gaze was soft and steady. He narrowed his eyes in an expression of support and he tilted his chin down as if to promise that everything would be alright.

If it had been fury staring back at me the shame would have overcome me, and left me useless.

But his silent show of support had the opposite affect and instead of soul-eating guilt I could stand up straighter and square my shoulders. I would live through this.

I had Ryder, I would be just fine.

Chapter Thirty-Five

I looked at the clock for the hundredth time in the last five minutes and regrettably noticed only five minutes had passed. Unable to sit still any longer, I stood up and started pacing the foyer. Smoothing out invisible lines on my campy black satin cocktail dress, I looked up to gauge Anaxandra and Evaleen.

They sat unmoving, with legs crossed and hands neatly folded in their laps, like they had done this plenty of times before. Hell, maybe they had.

Technically they weren’t supposed to be assets yet, but you couldn’t tell that from the way they shot bored looks around the hotel lobby or sighed impatiently. They looked like pros sitting on the plush bench seat, their slinky stilettos dangling from their toes, their tight skirts riding up just a smidge too high and exposing mile long legs. Eva’s stems were ivory porcelain underneath her silk pink off the shoulder dress. Her long chestnut hair hung down to the middle of her back, straight and sleek. And her lips were glossed and kept strategically away from bangs that slanted over one eye. Ana was just as gorgeous tonight, with her messy blonde braid hanging loosely over one shoulder and her bright blue strapless dress the exact color of her eyes. They were minxy perfection.

And I was a jumbled ball of nerves.

My palms were sweaty, my knees were clammy, my dress felt suffocating and too small. My hair was in this really intricate knot thing on the back of my head, with some faux bangs swept