Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) by Jaymin Eve, Leia Stone Page A

hand on his arm. Did anyone have happy stories in this damned place?
    His eyes were dark as he stared down at me from his mammoth height. “I learned quickly. It was fight or die, and I am determined you don’t find yourself in the same position. If we aren’t here one day to protect your back, I need to know you can do it on your own.”
    I gave an exaggerated sigh, before patting his muscled forearm one last time and striding back to take my position again.
    I waved my hand at him. “Okay, guilty McGuilt-trip, bring it on.”
    Bring it he did. I was lucky I walked out of there on my own.
     
    Later that afternoon, after an ice bath, hot tub, and another ice bath, I managed to regain use of my limbs and made it back to my apartment, bodyguards attached again. Jayden, who must have just finished his shift, catwalked through the door just after me. He was acting strange as hell, giving me all these serious looks. Eventually, we ended up alone in the kitchen; the boys were on the couch chatting. I confronted him by the fridge.
    “What’s up? You’re being weirder than usual.”
    Jayden picked at his nails—eyes so dark no silver was visible. Made him look like one of those demons off Supernatural . A hot, buff one.
    “We need to talk alone,” was all he said. Well, shit. That wasn’t good.
    Giving him one last flinty stare, I strode out into the living room and begged Kyle and Oliver to give me some alone time with my BAFF.
    Oliver shook his head. “Ryder said two guards, and we already let you escape once today.”
    Jayden, who had followed me from the kitchen, put one hand on his hip and gave his boyfriend the staredown. “Are you saying I’m not capable of protecting Charlie?”
    Uh oh, that was a question Oliver was going to want to think long and hard about before answering. The enforcer clearly knew that; he was looking quite trapped, like he didn’t know what to say. Finally Kyle, attempting to save his friend, spoke gently: “Jayden, you’re not a trained—”
    Jayden cut him off with a raised palm. Oliver groaned at the same time. He knew his man well enough now to know this was turning into a code red.
    “Excuse me?” Jayden was all narrowed eyes, one hand in the air and the other on his hip. “Did you watch the culling? I’m a killing machine, bitch. I can take care of my best friend for an hour.”
    I grinned. Oliver was trying to hide a smile as Kyle narrowed his eyes but I could see he respected Jayden. I decided it was time for me to step in again, reassert my own authority.
    “Look, guys, I love ya, but I need time alone with my BAFF. I have a gun, Jayden has a nail file. We’ll be fine.”
    Jayden gave a nod when I said nail file. “That’s right,” he said. “We get attacked, I will file a bitch.”
    I grinned. With a shake of his head, Oliver took off his walkie-talkie and tucked it into Jayden’s belt. Bit of overkill considering I had my own. Sure, I on occasion left it places that weren’t on my person, but still … overkill.
    “One hour,” Oliver commanded in a stern tone.
    Jayden put his hand up in an army salute and Oliver rolled his eyes. Jayden and I left the apartment and made our way to the ground floor so we could go outside. It was the only place I didn’t feel like a member of the Hive. Plus, I knew for sure Jayden did not want to be overheard by any spying vamp asshats.
    When we got to the creek, we both sat on a log. His expression was hard to read, but he was definitely having deep thoughts.
    “Sooo … are you pregnant?” I said in a dead-serious voice.
    Jayden lifted his perfectly-shaped eyebrows and gave me a devilish smile. “Girl, I wish.”
    I laughed. “Seriously, what’s up?”
    His face darkened. “If bad shit is happening but there’s nothing you can do about it, are you one of those people that wants to go about life not knowing and thinking everything is sunshine and rainbows or—”
    I interrupted him—no thought required on that question