HATE: MADISON KATE #1

by James Tate

  He rubbed his palm across the dark stubble on his jaw, giving me a look that walked the line way too close to pity. "I was just going to say you're welcome to come mope about your shit decisions in the gym. You know, if you don't want to be alone right now."

  Just like that, Archer D'Ath proved me wrong again. His words touched my soul, alright. Just not in any way I'd been prepared for.

  * * *

  I lasted about half an hour in the gym, sitting on the floor and watching Kody put Archer through the paces of what, to me, seemed to be the workout from hell.

  Don't get me wrong; despite having avoided the gym since arriving home, I was no slouch in the fitness department. The difference was, though, that I worked out to stay fit and healthy so I could run away from someone chasing me. Riot Night had proven the necessity of that. Archer and Kody seemed to relish in the sheer pain of pushing their bodies to the absolute limits. It was scary hot, but soon the novelty wore off.

  I yawned and stood up from the floor right when Kody was making Archer do this weird thing with two huge-ass ropes that stretched half the length of the room.

  "I'm bored," I admitted after Kody barked at Archer not to stop, then came over to check on me. "I'm going to go see what Steele is working on in the garage."

  Kody grabbed a small towel and wiped the sweat off his face. Despite his role as Archer's trainer, he wasn't exactly sitting back and watching the whole time.

  "I thought you were pretty pissed off at him," he said, watching Archer as he continued making waves with the heavy-ass ropes. The big guy then dropped the ropes and did some stupidly impressive push-ups with one hand, then some jumping things, then back to the ropes.

  I cleared my throat, realizing I'd just gotten distracted. "Uh, yeah. I am. But I'm also shit-scared some psycho will jump out from behind a hat stand and like... make a human skin suit out of me. So I'll make lemonade for now."

  Kody gave me a half smile. "Babe, life gave you more than lemons. You got like... I don't even know. Tomatoes. When you ordered strawberries."

  I wrinkled my nose and sighed. "True that."

  He reached out and touched my face gently, stroking his finger down my cheek, then raising my chin up so I'd meet his eyes. "Don't even worry, MK. You can just make bloody marys instead."

  Kody shot me a teasing wink, then turned back to his training session with Archer.

  I shook my head, confused as hell with his behavior, then left the gym with the intense sensation of eyes on my back. Except these eyes didn't make my skin crawl and my anxiety spike. They just made me feel... seen.

  Not wanting to be alone for any longer than necessary, I hurried through to the garage. All the lights were off inside, though, and I seriously doubted Steele worked on cars in the dark.

  "Crap," I muttered to myself. He'd said he had work to do... maybe course work? I didn't even know what the guys were studying at SGU. Shows how much attention I paid to anything that didn't further my revenge plans.

  Not wanting to return to the gym so soon, I made my way upstairs and knocked on Steele's bedroom door. He didn't answer immediately, and I started to walk away just before the door opened.

  "Madison Kate?" he called out, his words shadowed with surprise.

  I turned back around to face him, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. He had headphones looped around his neck, and his hair was mussed up. Had he been watching porn or something?

  "Hey, uh, I was just..." I trailed off, biting my lip and feeling like a total idiot. I was still angry as hell at him for playing me at the fight and for telling his stupid friends all about it afterward. But... I'd enjoyed the time we'd spent together before making out in the bathroom. Okay, fine, that part too.

  He arched a lopsided, understanding smile at me. "You got bored as hell watching those dickheads work out, huh?" I nodded sheepishly. "Well, you can come hang out in here, but I can't promise you'll be any less bored."

  His cheeks tinted slightly as he said this, and my curiosity got the better of me.

  "Why? What are you doing?" I stepped into his room as he held the door open, then realized I hadn't actually seen the inside of his bedroom before. "Ohhh, I see."

  Against one wall he had a large desk with an expensive-looking keyboard sitting on top. Based on the sheets and sheets of music pages scattered across the rest of the desk, the floor, even on the bed, I could guess what he'd been doing.

  "Make yourself at home," he invited me, waving to the bed. It was really the only place for me to sit, seeing as his desk chair was clearly where he'd been sitting. "I was just... messing around."

  I shrugged, sitting awkwardly on the edge of his bed and trying really hard not to snoop around with my gaze. It was a pretty simple room, masculine in the use of dark wood and cool gray-blue tones. The walls just held a few framed pieces of ancient-looking sheet music, but that was it. No photos or awards or trophies or... really anything personal. But maybe that in itself spoke more truthfully to Steele's personality.

  "How come you're not using the music room?" I asked him after I'd gawked at everything I could see. "There's a full-size grand piano down there."

  He sat back down on his desk chair, rearranging some of the scattered papers and setting them aside. "Yeah, I know. But... here I can connect my headphones to the keyboard so that no one else hears me play."

  That explained the wireless headphones around his neck. I was suddenly so damn curious to hear him play, though. He'd said his parents wanted him to become a concert pianist, so he had to be good.

  "Can I?" I asked, blurting the question out without thinking it over first. "Hear you play, I mean."

  He seemed startled, and I sort of expected him to say no. But then he gave a small nod and set his headphones aside. "Just... stay super quiet, okay? So I can pretend you're not there."

  It was an interesting request for someone considering a career that depended on huge halls of people watching and listening. But what did I know? Maybe that was a normal thing for musicians.

  Steele arched a brow at me, and I mimed zipping my lips. That seemed to satisfy him because he turned back to the keyboard and rested his fingers ever so softly on the keys.

  He paused like that long enough that I worried he'd changed his mind about playing for me. But I was wrong.

  From the very first notes he played, I was lost to his music.

  He poured his entire fucking soul into the piece he played for me. All his emotions, his hopes and fears and desires. It was utterly spellbinding.

  At some point I found myself shuffling up his bed and laying down with my head on his pillow, closing my eyes and just letting the raw energy of his song wash over me.

  26

  I don't know how long Steele played his keyboard for, but it felt like all night. I drifted in and out of sleep, but the soothing sound of his music lulled me., When morning came, all was quiet.

  Quiet and warm.

  I breathed a deep sigh, my nostrils filling with the scent of clean soap and underlying grease and petrol. Steele.

  "I didn't mean to fall asleep here," I whispered, knowing he was there by the radiating warmth beside me. I didn't open my eyes or raise my voice above that soft whisper because I loved that moment suspended between sleep and waking. I never wanted to rush it.

  Steele shifted, the sheets rustling. "I'm glad you did," he whispered back, his voice rough with sleep.

  Neither one of us spoke again for an indefinite amount of time, just lying there dozing. We weren't touching, but our bodies were close enough that it was strangely intimate.

  Sounds of people awake in the house, footsteps in the hallway and doors opening and closing, finally broke our bubble, and I flipped onto my back.

  "What time is it?" I asked, turning my head to the side just enough to look at him through my lashes. My mascara was probably halfway down my face, and I was still in Bree's black sweater dress from yesterday, but at least I'd taken the boots off.

  His gray eyes found mine, a
nd a soft smile touched his lips. "Time to get up if you're planning on attending classes today."

  I wrinkled my nose, but scrubbed a hand over my face and nodded. "Yep. Classes." I sat up with a mammoth effort and cringed when I felt the bird’s nest that my loose braids had turned into. "Don't you usually wake up at the crack of dawn to work out with the other two stooges?" I arched a brow at him, but my insult held no heat.

  After tugging the hair ties from my braids, I ran my fingers through to loosen the strands out.

  Tucking his arms under his head, he just gave me a slow grin. "Usually. But then I'd have missed seeing you like this."

  I frowned. "Like what?"

  Steele shook his head. "Never mind." He yawned, then climbed out of his bed. "Hey, seeing as I let you sleep in my awesome bed all night..." He trailed off, pausing near the door and shooting me an over the top pleading look.

  "Yes...?"

  "Will you make my coffee this morning? You don't understand how bad that shit Archer makes is." He looked pained at the thought of it, so I snickered a laugh and agreed as we both left his bedroom—him, to the bathroom the three guys shared, and me, back to my own room. The fact that I had the only en suite bathroom in this section of the house hadn't escaped my notice.

  I hurried through my morning routine, feeling the prickling sensation of paranoia the whole time I was in my room alone. What if there were hidden cameras?

  Just in case, I dressed inside my closet—a navy-blue, lace-detailed top, black skinny jeans, and knee-high leather boots—then opted to leave my braid-kinked hair loose and messy.

  After a lightning-fast swipe of makeup, I grabbed a leather jacket from my closet—because the weather had definitely taken a cold turn in the last few days—and headed downstairs.

  It only took me a few minutes to make coffee for both Steele and myself, then on a whim I made two extras. Clearly my brain hadn't fully woken up yet because I didn't even bat an eyelash when Kody came in from the gym and took one with an appreciative groan.

  I did, however, experience a flash of guilt as Archer walked in drinking the last of his protein shake out of his plastic shaker. But I easily pushed the guilt aside. Regardless of his rare display of kindness around my stalker, he was still an unrepentant prick who needed to be punished for framing me.

  "You made coffee for everyone?" he asked me, frowning down at the mug with a perfect fern leaf created out of crema and milk foam.

  I shrugged. "Not a big deal."

  He kept frowning at the coffee like he was confused, but Kody smacked him on the arm.

  "Shut up and drink the damn coffee, dickhead," he muttered. "You've got a one-hour rest, and then you're back in the gym. Got it?"

  Archer grunted a sound of understanding, then gulped his whole coffee in one hit. He set the empty cup into the sink, then stalked out of the kitchen without another word.

  "What got his panties in a wad this morning?" I muttered under my breath, pouring sugary cereal into a big bowl and filling it up with milk. "There's such a thing as too much time working out, you know."

  Steele chuckled into his coffee, and Kody looked horrified. He reached over me and grabbed the box of novelty cereal, pouring his own big bowl.

  "Wash your mouth out," he scolded me teasingly. "Besides, Arch is training for a big fight coming up."

  Excitement flared inside me, and I frowned like I'd totally forgotten about his televised UFC debut scheduled for just a week after Halloween. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

  "Uh-huh." Kody squinted at me like he didn't believe that for a fucking second. "Anyway, you're welcome to come and work out with us some time. I wouldn't mind showing you some grappling techniques." His wink was all sex, and I needed to bite my lip to remind myself not to get turned on. Damn it.

  "Thanks but no thanks," I forced myself to say, then raised my brows at his choice of breakfast food. "Uh, aren't fitness dicks supposed to be all clean-eating and shit? Lucky Charms probably don't even feature on your food pyramid at all."

  Kody just shoveled a huge scoop of cereal into his mouth and chewed before giving me a grin. "Don't be a hater, MK."

  I rolled my eyes but had no comebacks. Whatever he was doing, it was clearly working. He was just in a pair of loose shorts—no shirt—and every damn muscle was defined. Every, single, one.

  Catching myself drooling, I cleared my throat and searched for a change of subject.

  "What was the song you were playing last night, Steele?" I asked, genuinely interested. "It's been on loop in my brain all morning."

  Kody's spoon paused halfway to his mouth, milk dripping back into his bowl as he stared at me... then at Steele.

  The gray-eyed guy gave me a deer-in-headlights kind of look, and I got the distinct impression I'd said the wrong thing. Did this have something to do with his use of headphones rather than playing in the music room?

  "Um," he finally replied, ducking his eyes away from mine. "Just something new I was working on." He checked his phone for the time, then quickly stacked up his plates. "We should probably go. I'll get the car out of the garage."

  "Wait, what?" I shook my head. "I don't need a lift. Bree picks me up for class, remember?"

  Kody and Steele exchanged a look, and I narrowed my eyes at the two of them.

  "What?" I snapped, folding my arms.

  "Nothing," Steele replied, giving Kody another quick look. "We'd just feel better if we could keep an eye on you for a couple of days. Is that okay?"

  It was a good thing Steele said that and not Kody because he somehow managed to make it sound like a caring request and not a macho-man power trip. But still... were they implying Bree could have had something to do with the stalker?

  "Archer already told Bree you had a ride, anyway," Kody added. "So you'll be late if you wait for her to drive over now."

  Stifling another eye roll, I didn't protest any further as Steele left the kitchen to grab his car. It was just a ride to class, and if I was totally honest with myself, I felt safer with the three of them around anyway.

  How fucked up was that that the three guys responsible for derailing my life were now the ones I leaned on?

  I cleaned up my mess, then grabbed my jacket and bag before realizing Kody was staring at me thoughtfully.

  "Something else to say, Kodiak Jones?" I prompted, pulling my jacket on and sweeping my wavy hair out of it.

  He ran the pad of his thumb over his lower lip like he was debating how much to say to me. Something was clearly on his mind.

  "Steele played piano for you?" He hesitated slightly as he asked this, his gaze darting in the direction his friend had just gone.

  I nodded, frowning. It was all too obvious I was missing something to do with Steele and his music. "Yeah. Didn't you hear him? He played for ages. I sort of fell asleep."

  Kody shook his head. "Nah, Arch and I only stopped briefly for dinner, then headed out the back to swim." His smile turned cruel. "Or Arch did. I stood on the side and yelled, uh, encouragement."

  "Sounds fun," I replied, my tone loaded with sarcasm. I started to leave, but he spoke again and made me pause.

  "We haven't heard him play in over a year," he said in a quiet voice. "I had no idea he'd started writing again."

  Yep, I'd definitely waded into something I knew nothing about. So instead of pressing Kody for more information, I just shrugged and headed out of the house to find Steele.

  If anyone was going to tell me that story, it'd be him.

  "Uh... really?" I asked, eyeing his vehicle of choice parked in front of the main entrance to the house.

  Steele flashed me a devilish smile and tossed a black helmet at me. I fumbled, but managed to catch it. "Live a little, Hellcat," he teased. "You're too pretty for frown lines."

  I wanted to tell him where to shove his shallow comment, but it was all too obvious he was running from his demons this morning. There was a tightness to his jaw that hadn't been present when we woke up, and I felt partly responsible. It had been me menti
oning his music in front of Kody that shifted his mood, so I kinda owed it to him not to argue this small thing.

  That, and I badly wanted to ride his motorcycle.

  Hell yeah.

  27

  Over the next week and a half, I found that without Bree driving me to and from SGU every day, it was increasingly difficult to see her. First it was late tutorials that prevented us from hanging out in the evenings, then she had to spend the weekend with Granny Graves. I was starting to feel a bit like she was deliberately avoiding me.

  Dallas was just as absent, but in his case I was the one finding excuses not to hang out. My father's threats were all too fresh in my mind, and I'd never forgive myself if Dallas was sent back to jail again. Worse than that, the threat on my stalker mail was haunting me every time I saw his name pop up on my phone. What if some sicko hurt Dallas because they thought he and I were together? Nope. Not going there.

  By the end of the next week, I'd pretty much decided Bree was being a bitch. So of course, that's when I found her waiting for me after my psychology lab.

  "Well, fancy seeing you, stranger," I muttered, brushing past her and continuing down the hallway. Steele was still driving me to and from SGU and hadn't once asked why I wasn't driving myself, which I appreciated. But he started getting irritated if I made him wait too long—he had an admirer on campus who saw it as her opportunity to flirt shamelessly—so I tried to be considerate.

  Bree laughed like I was joking. I wasn't.

  "Sorry I've been so busy lately, MK. I feel like such a shitty friend, considering everything that happened last week." She bit her lip, her eyes shifty as I scowled at her. "Anyway, I want to make it up to you."

  "Oh yeah?" I asked, not touching her comment about being a shitty friend. "How so?"

  She beamed a little too brightly as I pushed the doors open to the back parking lot, where Steele had taken to parking on the days Archer and Kody weren't in class.