The Rush (The Siren Series) - By Rachel Higginson Page 0,57

think about it,” I said pensively. “I look like a lumpy pumpkin in orange, but it could open all kinds of doors for me as a private eye. So, yeah… maybe.”

“You do understand becoming Velma means you have to have friends?” Ryder warned with a note too close to serious for me.

“I have friends,” I grumbled. I leaned back into Chase, inhaling his warm comfort.

“Boyfriends,” one of Kenna’s friends snorted.

“Boyfriend,” Chase corrected and then looked down at me to make sure it was Ok to say that. I waggled my eyebrows at him flirtatiously, but felt my heart turn five shades darker with the knowledge he wouldn’t be for long.

Kenna cleared her throat and tried to cover for her rude friends. “Ivy, do you know Blair and Reagan?”

“Nice to meet you both.” I tried to be charming and friendly and…. nonthreatening, but there was no way a friendship with any of these girls stood a chance.

“Whatever,” Reagan, a girl with rich chocolate shoulder length layers and a spattering of freckles underneath artsy, green glasses sighed. She didn’t even seem like the snotty type. She totally came off as the nose-in-a-book-wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly type. It was me. I brought out the worst in all of humanity. “Ready, Ken?”

“Where are you ladies off to?” Ryder asked looking Kenna directly in the eye. A weird kind of tension filled the room and it made me wonder if the happy couple had been fighting earlier.

“The backyard,” Kenna replied sweetly, kissing Ryder’s jaw line.

“Are you kidding me?” Ryder did not even try to conceal his irritation and I had to assume the backyard was generally the worst of the partying.

“Relax, Ryder,” Kenna whispered sharply. “Blair just wants to find Hayden and then I’ll come back in.”

“Whatever, Ken,” Ryder wiggled out of Kenna’s arms. Kenna’s pretty face scrunched irritably and she turned her back on him in a gesture of dismissal. Ryder turned away from her too, but straight to me. The tension in the air grew thick and ugly and settled a heavy silence over us until Ryder broke it. “Ready?” he asked, his gaze holding mine fiercely.

“F-for what?” I was afraid of the answer, his eyes had melted into gunmetal pools of intensity and I didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire of whatever was going on with him and Kenna. I hated that he put me between them, like he was using me to get back at his girlfriend. At the same time this was the first time I had been used against another female. I mean, guys had left girls for me, sure, but never with the intention of going back to the relationship. And even now I knew Ryder had no intention of leaving Kenna for me. This was innocent.

Well as innocent as trifling manipulation went.

I was used to way worse behavior than this.

“Austin Powers? Remember? We have to make sure your sins against humanity are absolved?” The teasing tone was back in his voice but he was studiously ignoring Kenna and her friends like they weren’t even there. Kenna rolled her eyes and pushed her friend Reagan through the kitchen and to the back door. Her silky black hair floated in waves around her slender shoulders. She was somehow prettier when she was mad, her green eyes alive with a fire that was usually dimmed and subtle.

“Uh, sure,” I answered inarticulately. “Ryder thinks my life isn’t complete until I watch this dumb movie,” I explained to Chase who was watching me with mild amusement. “Up for it?”

“First of all, Ryder’s right. You need to watch this movie, it’s absolutely essential to your present and future happiness. And I am up for it, but first I need to find Nick Barrett and rip him a new asshole.” Chase kind of mumbled his last sentence while staring out the window over the kitchen sink. Something had apparently caught his attention because he was letting me go and almost sprinting out the back door before I could ask him any questions.

I gave a curious glance to Phoenix but his attention was on the backyard too. “That little shit,” he mumbled and flew off after Chase.

“What in the world?” I turned to Ryder.

“Nick Barrett’s the only good keeper we have and he’s missed the last three indoor games. Chase is one of the captains and it looks like he’s about to find out why.” Ryder explained. He hardly glanced in the backyard. I would have loved to turn around to find out what was going