by James Tate
He was sort of right, though. Okay. He was a lot right.
After recovering from my very real cold, I'd realized how far through October we were. The anniversary of Riot Night had been coming up and I already knew I'd be the center of attention around campus. So I saw no harm in milking my cold a bit longer.
And sure, maybe I'd been avoiding dealing with the guys for a similar reason. Kody and I had talked and resolved things about my arrest. But there was the lingering question of our crazy-hot attraction to each other.
Steele and I had spent that incredible night together, but resolved nothing outside of how electric we were in bed.
As for Archer?
"Go and get yourself cleaned up," he ordered me, like I was a dog and he was my master. "We're going to a party."
My brows shot up. "What? No. No way."
Archer just gave me a bored look. "This isn't up for negotiation, Madison Kate. Go upstairs, shower, and get dressed. We leave at eight."
I slammed my can of soda down on the counter. "No."
His brows raised. "No?"
Curling my lip, I gave him a poisonous glare. "I understand this isn't a word you hear often, Archer, but it means the opposite of yes. Here, let me put it in a sentence for you. No, I'm not going to a party with you on the anniversary of the second-worst night of my life. Understood?" I made to stomp out of the kitchen, but he shot out of his seat and blocked my exit with his huge body.
"We're going. You can either get showered and changed or you can go like this." He flickered a disgusted look over my outfit. "But I wouldn't advise it. You'll stand out a bit."
Fury built inside me again, burning away some of the sulking haze that'd settled over me since discovering the stalker’s pictures of Steele and I fucking.
"Listen, you overgrown bully," I snarled, poking Archer in his chest and kinda hurting my index finger, "you don't fucking own me; I'm my own damn person. You can't tell me what to do." I punctuated those last words with more chest jabs, regardless of the pain in my finger for it.
A cruel sort of smile curved Archer's lips. "That's not entirely true."
"Arch!" Steele snapped from somewhere behind me. "Go away. I'll talk to Madison Kate."
I glared Archer down, but the look he gave me in return sent jagged spikes of fear skittering down my spine.
"Arch," Steele said again, his voice like thunder. "Fuck off."
When the bad-tempered, ink-covered bastard left the kitchen, I whirled around to glare at Steele. "What the hell was that all about?"
He scrubbed a hand over his chin, his eyes betraying some level of tension that I hadn't noticed there before. "We—as in Arch, Kody, and I—need to go to this party tonight. It's a... business matter. But because we have to go, so do you."
I frowned and folded my arms. I felt considerably less combative with Steele than Archer, but I still wasn't backing down.
"Steele," I sighed, "why are you guys finding it so hard to understand that I don't want to go out tonight? Riot Night was a fucking nightmare for me, and I sure as hell don't want to be reminded of it all night. Just go to your party. I'm not leaving the house, so I'll be totally safe here alone."
Steele's shoulders tensed, and he ducked his eyes away from mine.
Shit.
"Steele," I growled, my tone warning. "Why won't I be safe here? If the perimeter alarms are all on, no one is getting in without triggering them."
Steele's jaw clenched, and his lips twisted in a grimace. "Another letter was sent, implying... that something might happen tonight. Arch—no, we all would feel a hell of a lot better if we could keep eyes on you."
A flash of fear choked me for a second, but a couple of calming breaths helped me shift it again so that I could speak. "Why do you even care?"
Steele stepped closer to me, brushing a greasy strand of my dusky-rose hair away from my face and stroking his index finger down my cheek. For a tense moment, I thought he was going to tell me something profound and life-altering. Some dark secret that they'd all been hiding, something that would explain why they'd become so interwoven in my life.
But he just dropped his hand away again. "Go and get changed, Hellcat. And don't forget, it's Halloween." He gave me a pointed look, then left me alone with my jumbled thoughts and emotions.
I abandoned my soda and made my way back to my bedroom in a bit of a daze. As badly as I wanted to kick back against their orders and tell them to go shove their authoritarian bullshit straight up their asses... Steele had struck a nerve.
They'd received something else from my stalker? When? Why hadn't they told me?
Frustrated, I put myself through a thorough wash in the shower—holy crap, my hair needed it—then tucked a towel around myself while I went through the time-intensive process of drying and straightening it. The rose tone had been fading a bit, but thanks to my color-depositing conditioner, it was back to lush and pink again.
When my hair was done, I went to work on my makeup, laying it on thick and dark. After all, it wasn't just the anniversary of Riot Night. It was also Halloween.
I couldn't imagine Steele had meant for me to wear a costume when he pointed that out, and he'd be shit out of luck if he did. But I did err on the dramatic side with my makeup.
Emerging from my bathroom still wrapped in my pink towel, I found a gift on my bed.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Kody, biting back the smile that wanted to play across my lips. The whole process of showering, doing my hair, putting on makeup... it had grounded me, cleared my head and helped me gain a bit of clarity on the situation. If they truly felt I was unsafe here at the house alone, then I wasn't going to be a dumb shit and force the issue. That's the kind of crap those too-stupid-to-live heroines of slasher flicks tended to do.
"Came to check on you," he replied, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his hand. He'd done that a lot in the last two weeks. Checked in on me. It was sweet as hell, but I could tell from the hungry way he watched me that he was biding his time to finish our... conversation.
I gave him a knowing grin. "Uh-huh. And you just happened to lose your shirt on the way to my room?" He was all stretched out on my floral-pink comforter in nothing but a pair of dark denim jeans, slung low on his hips as if to deliberately highlight that delicious V that ripped men had.
Kody's smile was all male satisfaction, and my lower belly fluttered in response. "Is the sight of me shirtless distracting for you, MK?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, then continued across the room to my walk-in closet. I needed to find something... Halloween-y.
"This isn't a costume party or anything, right?" I called out to Kody while I flipped through the clothes hanging on my racks. Ninety percent of them I hadn't purchased, so I wasn't even totally sure what options I had to pick from.
"Not really," he called back, "only loosely. Arch has some masks for us to wear, and that's about as much as we'll ever dress up."
Okay, so no need to aim for a specific look then. Just something... comfortable? Or... sexy?
I ducked back into the bedroom and grabbed my phone off the end of the bed, pretending to ignore the way Kody's heavy-lidded eyes followed me. I pulled up Bree's number and hit the button for video chat.
"Hey girl," she greeted me when she answered, then did a double take. "Damn, you look gorgeous! What's the occasion? I thought you were still sick." There was an edge of hurt in her tone, and a stab of guilt hit me.
"Uh, yeah, I'm feeling better," I hedged, taking her with me to the closet. "The guys are making me go to some shitty party with them tonight. Will you help me pick an outfit?"
"Oh!" Her brows shot up, and she looked a bit taken aback. "You're going to a party? That's... I’d sort of assumed you would be at home tonight. You know... tonight." She was glammed-up herself, and I remembered we usually went to our old friend Veronica’s annual Halloween party.
I laughed. "I'm all too aware of what tonight is, Bree. But the guys aren't taking no for an
answer." I rolled my eyes, and she gave a weak laugh in response, then frowned.
"Well, tell them to fuck off. You're a strong, independent woman. You'll be totally fine at home on your own. You've got that fancy security system all set up." There was something off about her voice, but I chalked it up to her being annoyed at me not inviting her to the party with us.
I just gave her a shrug. "It's not so bad. I need to get out anyway. So, help me pick something to wear?"
A small line creased her brow, but she nodded in agreement.
Some minutes later, after she'd made me virtually walk through all the options I'd been considering, she pulled together an admittedly pretty cute outfit. The look was a bit darker and more punk rock than my usual style, but it was Halloween after all.
"Thanks Bree, you're the best," I told her, walking back out into the bedroom with my outfit in my other hand. I dropped it on the end of my bed, then turned to grab some underwear from my dresser.
Bree let out a screech from my phone, and I looked down at the screen in a panic.
"What?" I asked, worried something bad had happened.
Instead she was gaping at me, her mouth open. "Um, MK, did you forget to mention the half-naked Adonis lying in your bed?"
I shot a look at Kody, and he just grinned like a smug fucking cat. "No, I didn't forget. He just lost his shirt and wanted to borrow one of mine. I think he wants that baby-blue lace crop top."
Bree just erupted into giggles, shaking her head. "Gossip," she ordered me. "Tomorrow over coffee. No excuses."
"Yes, ma'am," I replied with a grumble, then ended the call as she continued to cackle on the other end.
"That's interesting," Kody murmured as I tossed my phone onto the dresser and gathered the appropriate underwear for my outfit. "You don't gossip about your love life with your bestie? I thought that's what all chicks did."
I snorted a laugh. "No, Kodiak Jones, that's apparently what boys do. Otherwise how the hell did Archer find out those dirty details about what happened with Steele at the fight?"
Yeah, I was still salty on that. There wasn't even a question of him kissing and telling about our sexcapade after Bree's party. For one thing, we'd been loud enough to give the entire house a front row seat. For another, my stalker's telephoto-lens pictures did the deed for us.
Kody gave me a nod of acknowledgement. "Don't hold that one too hard against him, babe. His loyalty to Arch runs deeper than blood, and back then we didn't know you like we do now."
I huffed, folding my arms across my towel and making sure it was firmly tucked in place. "It was only a month ago, Kody."
His brows lifted. "A lot has changed in a month."
A door slammed somewhere in the house, and Kody glanced at the time on his chunky black watch. "I better go try on that lace crop top of yours," he said, sitting up with a delicious crunch of his abs. "See you downstairs, gorgeous." Casual as fucking anything, he smacked a quick kiss on my mouth, then left the room.
I pressed my fingers to my lips, feeling the print of his touch there like a ghost kiss for way too long after he was gone.
Eventually, I gave myself a mental shake and quickly got dressed—after triple-checking that the blackout blind was still firmly in place over my window. I hadn’t opened it once since getting those telephoto-lens pictures. I’d rather live in the dark, thank you.
Bree's choice of a black pleated miniskirt, black scoop-neck, form-fitting top, and a belt made of loose, interlinked chains really worked out well. The whole thing was topped off with some black high heels that almost looked like they had laces up the front of the foot. All in all, I looked like some kind of gothic, sexy schoolgirl—a win-win because it echoed the slutty outfit I’d worn on my first day at SGU. The one Archer had felt so inclined to douse in orange juice.
Giving myself a quick once-over in the mirror, I smiled. Bree had good taste.
I hoped the guys thought so, too.
Not that it should matter what they thought of my outfit, of course, but also... I couldn't push it out of my mind. Damn it.
35
The mask Archer handed me before we got out of the G-Wagen was made of red leather with small devil horns attached. Kody and Steele both slipped identical masks over their own faces, while Archer's was black.
I smiled, wondering if this was just a coincidence or...
"Cute," I commented as we got out of the car, "these remind me of Bree's favorite book."
Steele and Kody didn't react at all, but Archer—the one who'd chosen the masks and kept the black one for himself—allowed the corner of his lips to pull up in a sly half grin.
"I find time loops fascinating," he murmured, confirming my suspicions about the masks being a deliberate nod to a romance novel. He brushed past me without another word on the subject and led the way toward the old warehouse where lights and music indicated the party was happening.
I bit back my own smile, having no clue what to make of that statement. For one, I'd never even seen Archer crack so much as a magazine, let alone a chunky-ass book. For another, the book in question was a reverse harem romance. Meaning the main character—Karma—had more than one love interest and they never made her choose.
Did that mean Archer would be okay with that lifestyle?
Ugh. Come on, MK. Hell didn't just freeze over.
"You going to stand there all night?" Steele asked me, grinning. "Or are we going to have some fun?"
The way his mask hid the top half of his face made his smile so much more alluring, so much sexier. Not that he needed any help in that department.
With a sigh, I slipped my own mask on and took his outstretched hand. I laughed as he pulled me along faster, running a bit in my high heels to catch up with Kody and Archer.
The four of us entered the party together, as a unit. Damn, if that didn't feel kind of awesome. There was heavy security at the main door, checking names off a list and stamping everyone’s wrists as they entered, but they just waved us through. Clearly Archer was recognizable.
At the far end of the warehouse, a raised booth had been erected, and an alien-costumed DJ was rocking out to his own tunes while people went nuts below him. The track was familiar, and my brow creased while I tried to place it.
"Wait, isn't that guy kinda famous right now?" I asked Kody, pointing to the bouncing alien. Then again, he was in a full costume, so it could just be some punk-ass kid hitting "play" on his laptop.
Kody nodded. "Probably. The girl throwing this gig is a bit of a snob, so she'd have happily thrown a stack of cash around to get the real deal."
That sparked my curiosity. We were over on the poorer side of Shadow Grove, in the industrial area that had been abandoned for probably fifty years or more. So who was this girl throwing a Halloween Party with a Ministry of Sound DJ in attendance? And more to the point... why did the guys need to attend?
"I suppose it’d be a waste of breath to ask what business you're doing here tonight," I commented, folding my arms under my breasts. It was cold as shit, and while I'd thrown a leather jacket on before leaving the house, my legs were bare. My tiny skirt didn't exactly cover much.
"Pretty much," Archer replied, his eyes hard and cold behind that black leather mask. "Kody, you got this?"
"This?" I repeated in a snarl, knowing perfectly well he was referring to me. Despite how much calmer I’d felt since showering, I was still a bit prickly, and if Archer wanted a fight, I was all too happy to provide one.
The big guy clearly had better things to do, though, as he just gave Kody a meaningful look before disappearing into the crowd.
"Don't worry, Hellcat," Steele said to me with a smirk. "When we're done here, I'll hold him so you can get a free punch in."
I snorted a laugh, and his gray eyes twinkled behind his mask. With a small nod to Kody, he followed in the direction Archer had gone.
"Stuck on babysitter duty again, huh?" I teased Kody as we made our way through the crowded warehouse to find the bar. "Don'
t tell me Archer needs Steele's particular skills again tonight?"
Kody shrugged. "Ideally not. But you never know how these things will go." He guided me ahead of him with a hand on the small of my back. It wasn't a sexual thing, but there was something about that gesture that sent girly flutters through me.
"For the record, though," he continued as we found the bar—which was a seriously professional setup. This chick hadn't cut corners, other than her location. "I didn't get stuck babysitting. I volunteered to stay with you."
I gave him a considering stare as we waited to be served. "Why?"
Kody shook his head, his green eyes amused behind his red mask. "Because it seems like a really dumb idea to leave you alone at a warehouse party full of drunk dickheads in costumes, especially as you have an increasingly threatening stalker out there somewhere."
I grimaced, waiting while Kody ordered us drinks. "Well yeah, sure," I agreed. "You could've just left me at home. No one is getting in there."
He just shrugged and handed me one of the plastic cups the bartender had set down in front of us. "I don't think any of us really wanted to run that risk tonight, MK. Did you?"
Now that he put it that way... yeah, the idea of being all alone in my father's eerie mansion would have given me the creeps in a big way. For all my determination to get rid of the guys, I'd grown accustomed to them always being around. Being alone, on Halloween no less, probably would have seen me jumping at every shadow.
"Besides," Kody carried on with a small smile, "I like hanging out with you. And we left a conversation unfinished the other weekend..." His green eyes flashed, and I took a huge gulp of my drink give myself a moment.
"Shit," I commented, peering into the plastic cup. "This is really good."
He nodded. "It'd wanna be." When I gave him a confused look, he just waved it off. "Story for another day."