Red Handed by Gena Showalter

Author:Gena Showalter
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: MTV Books
Published: 2007-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

9

We rode an elevator to the basement, each of us silent and unsure. To distract myself—Ryan!—I finally piped up with, “Has anyone been to the cage before?”

A chorus of “no” filled the small enclosure.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t wait to see Ryan again,” Dani said with a wicked grin. “That boy is hot!”

Murmurs of agreement circled, and I fought a wave of jealousy. A part of me considered him mine. My property. I had a crush on him, which meant I wanted him to be hands-off to the other girls. So what that he was forbidden to date me? So what that he might not feel the same about me?

He was cute. He was (sometimes) sweet.

“Oh, cool,” Jenn said. “Look.”

I followed the direction in which she pointed. There were multicolored buttons on the side wall and there was a screen on the back wall that flashed images of Arcadians fighting humans.

A preview of our next class, perhaps?

“Word on the street is you’ve fought side-by-side with him, Phoenix,” Jenn said. “What’s he like?”

I didn’t have to ask who “he” was.

Dani’s eyes widened. “You fought with him?”

“Yes,” I answered, “and he’s okay.” I didn’t want to increase their salivating.

“Okay?” Cara nudged my arm. “That’s all? Come on. Surely there’s more.”

“Nope. That really is all.” Except maybe, he’s mine. And, don’t touch.

When did you become so possessive?

Since last night, when he’d invaded my thoughts and all I wanted to do was kiss him.

“I wonder what we’ll have to do in the cage,” I said, taking us back to the subject that had started all the wonderings about Ryan. Would we be locked up? Forced to fight each other? I chewed on my bottom lip, wondering how that would go over.

Boys could fight and make up, no problem. Girls couldn’t. None that I’d met, at least. Girls held grudges for every scratch.

“I hate that we’re forbidden to date the instructors,” Cara whined, disregarding my subject change. “I’m already imagining the things I could do to Ryan….”

Grrr. My teeth gnashed together. Maybe fighting in the cage wasn’t such a bad idea. Cara could use an introduction to my fist.

All this anger over a boy who probably doesn’t remember your name?

He’d remember, I thought, chin lifting. He’d even tweaked my nose. Actions of a brother to a sister, idiot.

“If top brass is going to have a nondating rule like that,” Kitten purred, “then the instructors need to be ugly.”

Everyone laughed. Even me. She was right. So far, every instructor I’d seen was a candidate for a beefcake or angelcake holocalendar. I guess I understood the need for a certain body type, though. To catch predators, you had to be fast. You had to be strong. You had to be flexible.

I wasn’t particularly fast. Or flexible. Yet. But I would be, I vowed. I’d work hard. I’d exercise. I’d—gag—eat right. Maybe Ryan would notice me as more than a sister type then.

“What kind of meals do they serve here?” I asked.

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