The Rush (The Siren Series) - By Rachel Higginson Page 0,89

And unless I worked out my own freedom, I would remain a slave until the day I died.

My phone chimed with a new text message. I pulled it out of my jeans pocket and didn’t recognize the number although it was local.

Thank you for that.

For what? Who is this?

For Chase. Ryder.

Freaking Ryder.

How did you get my number? I wasn’t exactly surprised that he had it. But still.

Your file.

You have access to my file? What the hell…. I kind of wanted to strangle him at this point.

Not why I’m texting. Band practice tonight. I will pick you up. 7.

But I just broke up with Chase.

And I still need you.

My heart started pounding fast and hard in my chest and even though the rational part of my brain screamed he was only talking about the band, I couldn’t help but repeat that phrase over and over and over. I still need you. I still need you. I still need you.

And even though I knew this was the opportunity to run, to cut ties completely with Ryder and that entire circle of friends that deserved more than knowing me…. I could take on the wrestling team. Or band geeks. Or drop out of school today and save everyone the hassle of dealing with me. My fingers were typing out my response before anything logical and sane registered. Instead the rush of those words were all that I felt.

I still need you.

That’s what sealed the deal.

Fine.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“My cell number is not in my file,” I declared irritably when I climbed into Ryder’s death trap that night.

I had been waiting on the stairs in front of the circular drive in front of my apartment building for fifteen minutes and I was cold and a little bit damp. Even though Nix was out of the country and my mom was off on a date, I hated the idea of Ryder stepping foot in my building again. I wanted him nowhere near where the Queen of the Damned, aka my mother, resided. Nor did I want him caught on security tape entering the building. And even though I was extremely annoyed with him for making me do this stupid band thing… Ok, I was annoyed because he made me want to do the band thing…. I wasn’t stupid enough to draw attention to him twice in one week.

Did I really think Nix checked the security tape of our building whenever he was away, which was usually most of the time?

No.

Well. Maybe.

I wouldn’t put it past him.

It was a risk I was not willing to take anyway.

“It’s not?” Ryder asked completely innocently. He shot me a crooked smile from the driver’s seat of his Bronco, not even calling attention to the fact I didn’t say hello. I kind of liked him more for that. He wasn’t all about being polite. He could just roll with anything.

“No, it’s not.”

“Oh,” he said thoughtfully while pulling onto Farnam. He ran a hand through his wild mess of hair, making it stand up on its ends. “Huh.”

“Huh,” I mimicked in an exaggerated tone.

“Ok, Phoenix gave it to me,” he admitted without looking at me. His profile was shaded by the evening darkness, only spotlighted every once in a while by a streetlamp or stoplight. I could make out just the barest scruff along his jaw line, not enough to hide the way his neck muscles moved when he swallowed nervously. He probably had the sexiest neck alive. Which was weird of me to think. Right? How sexy could a neck be? It had to be the Adam’s apple, or the pronounced muscles…. Or the way it connected to his broad shoulders.

I blinked to work myself off of that bizarre thought train.

“And how did Phoenix get it?” He was hiding something, I could feel it. My fingers itched to get to the bottom of this, although I had no idea why he was creating so much mystery.

“He got it from Chase,” he breathed on a whisper like he was hiding it. I shot him a meaningful look that demanded he finish his story but he just kept his eyes on the street ahead while he turned left at the next block and then left again so that he could head east on Harney.

“When?”

Ryder didn’t answer.

“Really, after I broke up with him?” I demanded in a tone full of accusation.

“Ivy, you guys were never really going out,” Ryder was so carefully controlled, so condescending that I had to sit on my hands to keep