Zombie Games by Kristen Middleton Read Free Book Online Page A

sighed. “I’m sure she’s just upset.”
    “Tell me about it. Anyway, that’s why I wanted to ask you about her. I really don’t know her aside from this class. It seems to me that she comes around as some kind of tough ass most of the time. She has this prickly wall around her. Then other times she throws me for a loop by acting normal, almost sweet. I think she actually flirted with me yesterday.”
    I smiled. “Maybe she likes you?”
    He snorted. “Well, she has a strange way of showing it.”
    “Seriously Scott, I know very little about her myself. She hasn’t made many friends at school; she either scares people away or just blows them off. To tell you the truth, I was shocked when she asked me to hang out with her this weekend.”
    Just then Bryce stormed over, interrupting us. “Hey?”
    “Yes?” I answered.
    He studied my face for a minute. “You two going to sit here and waste time or did you actually want to learn something today?”
    His rudeness surprised and irritated me. I glared at him. “Sure, but who put you in charge?”
    Bryce put his hands on his waist. “Excuse me? That’s no way to talk to an instructor, Wild,” he answered gruffly.
    “Respect is earned,” I countered.
    A muscle twitched in his jaw as we stared at each other. Before I had a chance to catch my breath, he stalked away.
    I looked at Scott. “What crawled up his butt?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. He was fine earlier.”
    I glanced towards Bryce, who was now on his cell phone. From the expression on his face, he was in the middle of a very heated discussion.
    Master Jordan took that moment to step out of his office, up-beat as usual.
    “Hi guys! Listen, Bryce’s going to assist you tonight with training. I promised Mae I’d take her to dinner tonight.”
    I released a heavy sigh. “Great.”
    Master Jordan took my arm and pulled me aside. “What is it? Is Bryce giving you any trouble?”
    I shook my head. “Not really, he’s just…grouchy.”
    He scratched his closely cropped beard and said. “Well, I came down hard on him this afternoon for his performance yesterday. This is a respectable karate studio, not a dating service.”
    I looked at him blankly. “What do you mean?”
    “Come on, I heard the way he was flirting with you yesterday.”
    Embarrassed, I lowered my eyes. “Oh.”
    He touched my shoulder. “Cassie, if he gives you any trouble, let me know right away. Call me, text me; whatever you have to do. But sincerely, I don’t think you have to worry about him; he really is a decent guy. He just needed a little reminder of whom and wha t he’s representing here at the studio.”

“Well, don’t worry about me. I can certainly take care of myself.”
    Secretly I hadn’t minded the banter between us yesterday. In fact, his taunting blue eyes were all I’d thought about since then. It was one of the reasons I’d showed up today.
    “By the way,” Master Jordan said as he lifted my hands and examined my fingertips. “Your nails look very lovely… for a killing machine .”
    I giggled. “Thank you, Sensei .”
    “Now my dear Cassie, I think they’re waiting for you,” he said releasing my hands and turning me around.
    Bryce avoided eye contact, which made me even more irritated. I hadn’t done anything to deserve his cruel attitude today.
    “See you guys next week!” waved Master Jordan as he walked out of the studio.
    As I waved, I caught Bryce staring at me again. He looked away and took a drink of water.
    “Ready guys?” he asked finally. Then he had us form a line to do several push-ups and sit-ups.
    The next half hour we practiced several difficult kicks and punches which I normally enjoy. Today it was pure hell. Bryce was so intolerable that even Scott noticed and started getting frustrated.
    “Dude, what is your problem? Ever since The Wild One got here, you’ve been riding our asses!”
    I wanted to kick Scott for saying that. He liked to tease me about my nickname