by Raine Thomas
“I know you’re all ready to enjoy your meal,” Chaz continued, “but I just wanted to introduce myself and say that if you need anything else this evening, you have only to ask. It’s an honor to have orchestrated this event for you. Now without further ado, dinner is served.”
The servers once again stepped forward and began lifting all of the lids with a great flourish. Keith heard murmuring from the surrounding tables as everyone tried to get a glimpse of the meal they’d soon be getting. The House of Archer cameras circled the table, presumably for the same reason.
Keith wondered if they were seeing as little as he was.
The “meal” on his plate consisted of a tiny, fibrous-looking cup containing what looked like shreds of lettuce and parmesan cheese, a piece of toasted bread the size of his thumb topped with something thin and pink garnished with a green sprig that he assumed was some kind of herb, a gelatinous white cube resting in a porcelain spoon on a bed of oily black beads, and what he was pretty sure was a single ravioli covered in frothy pink foam.
He stared at his plate for a good, long minute, not realizing that everyone else at the table was doing the same thing until he slid a sideways glance at Sydney and noticed her expression. She looked like she had just stumbled across a grisly crime scene.
“Wow,” Lily said, breaking the lengthy silence.
“I just knew you would love it,” Chaz effused, holding the microphone in both hands right in front of his persistent smile. “Bon appetite,” he added with a grand bow.
Thankfully, the dinner music picked back up and the servers moved on to begin delivering plates to the other guests. Keith wasn’t sure he could have come up with a polite response if Chaz had asked for his opinion on the meal.
Lily picked up her fork and poked at the strange white cube. A couple of the black beads beneath it popped and oozed down the side of the spoon. She immediately put her fork back down.
Across the table, Noelle made a sound like, “Blerg.”
Sydney leaned closer to Keith and asked, “Do you think this is all the food we’re getting?”
“I think you’re playing it awfully fast and loose with the word ‘food,’ Slick.”
“Someone threw up on my ravioli,” Sage lamented.
Lily pushed her plate away, looking a little green. “I wish they’d put the lid back on.”
“Well, hell,” Xander said, gamely lifting the spoon with the cube. “It’s here, right?”
Everyone watched as he paused to steel himself before tossing back the contents of the spoon. His expression ranged from instinctive disgust to mild curiosity. It seemed to take him an eternity to swallow.
Reaching for his water, he cleared his throat and said a little hoarsely, “Yep. It’s worse than it looks.”
“All right,” Archer said. “Change of plans. We’re all meeting in the green room in thirty minutes for pizza.”
Lily smiled as she accepted her cell phone back from him. Keith realized that Barney had left the room, so Archer must have texted him about the pizza.
“Yes!” Noelle said, exchanging fist bumps with Sage.
“We should probably make it at least look like we tried to eat this stuff,” Aria mused, using her fork to break open the small salad cup. “I think this is just lettuce and cheese. Even you can manage that, Lily.”
“But it’s so close to the scary black stuff.”
Archer rolled his eyes and reached over to take the salad cup from Lily’s plate. When he popped it into his mouth and shrugged as though to indicate it was non-offensive, everyone else dared to eat theirs, too. Keith thought it tasted like a bite of Caesar salad.
They all made a show of moving their food around on their plates. By the time he was done, Keith’s plate looked like a squid had been slaughtered there thanks to the smears of black goop. Xander informed them that the toasted bread was topped with salmon and dill, so a few people ate that, too. Keith wasn’t a fan of fish, so he took a pass. Sydney seemed equally unenthused.
Once again, he felt as though something was off with her. She was even quieter than usual, not making any attempt to converse with him. It seemed like something other than hunger.
“V, why don’t you go and chat with the DJ,” Archer suggested. “We need something to distract us from our hunger until the pizza arrives. Might as well start the party on the dance floor.”
“Sure,” Sage said, pushing back from the table and getting to his feet.
“I’ll come with you,” Noelle offered as she also rose. “It’ll keep me from breaking down and eating the barf ravioli.”
“Yum,” Archer said. “On that happy note, since the music is slow for what is likely the only time this evening, I’d better take advantage of it.”
Lily smiled as he stood up and held his hand out to her. She took it and allowed him to lead her out onto the empty dance floor. It didn’t take more than a minute for other couples to follow their lead, including Xander and Aria. More importantly, the House of Archer cameras moved away from the table to focus on Archer and Lily.
That worked well, Keith thought.
Now he could finally find out why Sydney seemed like she’d rather be anywhere else than there with him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“All right, Slick,” Keith said. “What’s bugging you?”
Sydney turned from watching Archer and Lily to focus on Keith. “Nothing,” she replied. “Why?”
He gave her a look that said he wasn’t buying it. “Don’t go all female on me and say it’s nothing when something is clearly on your mind.”
Her shoulders stiffened in insult before she realized that he was right. She hadn’t been telling the truth when she’d said nothing was bothering her. But what she’d been pondering for the past hour was more embarrassing than troubling. She couldn’t even imagine expressing it to Keith.
“I should be offended by that female remark,” she said. “But I guess I know where that’s coming from. It’s really nothing, though. Just stupid female insecurity...completely my problem, not yours.”
She saw him considering her reply. It made her embarrassment even more profound that he felt compelled to press her about it. Keith wasn’t one to press anyone to express their feelings.
“Did you see me interact with a fan in a way you didn’t like?” he guessed.
“No. Honestly, it’s silly. You didn’t do anything, I promise.”
“I’m just going to keep asking until you tell me the truth. I don’t like seeing you in this mood.”
She hadn’t even realized she had been projecting such a mood. It rather surprised her that he had noticed. Even more, it surprised her that he cared.
And that wasn’t fair. Keith had shown her in more ways than one over the past few days that he cared about her. Apparently the point currently under discussion was bothering her more than she had even admitted to herself.
Sighing, she said, “Fine. I’ll just ask you then. Do you think I’m too vanilla for you?”
“What?”
She forced herself to keep her eyes on his rather than shifting them down to her lap where her hands were pressed together. “It’s just...earlier I was talking with one of your fans and I mentioned you and I are dating. He said he couldn’t believe it because he thought I was too vanilla for you. He said you’d never be interested in someone like me. At least, not for long.”
His expression went carefully blank. She followed his cool gaze as it swept the room and fell on the exact fan she had mentioned. Sydney did a double-take when she realized the fan was currently sitting at the table with Suddenly Something. She’d had no idea he was connected to the band. He had presented himself as a big Void fan. What was that all about?
And how had Keith known who she meant?
He took her hand. “Come with me.”
She didn’t object as he led her from the table out onto the dance floor. He headed right for Archer and Lily, seemingly not caring that he was interrupting their slow dance. As sh
e stopped with Keith in the middle of the dance floor, Sydney forced herself not to look at the surrounding cameras. What in the world was Keith doing?
“Hey, Arch,” he said. “What’s my favorite ice cream flavor?”
Archer and Lily continued to dance as they both answered, “Vanilla.”
Sydney’s eyes widened. She felt her cheeks grow warm as Keith’s point hit home.
“And pudding?” Keith persisted.
“Vanilla,” they said again.
“And cake?”
“Vanilla.” Lily then tacked on, “And I just don’t get that, ‘cuz everyone knows chocolate cake is the best.”
Sydney reached up and placed a hand on the side of Keith’s face until he looked at her. “I understand,” she said quietly.
“Do you?” he asked, turning so they faced each other.
Since they were standing there and the music was still playing, she lifted her arms and put them around his neck. He pulled her close and started moving with her. She tried to think of what to say that wouldn’t make her feel even more foolish.
“You have nothing to feel insecure about, Sydney Ward,” he said, his face just inches from hers. “You’re the kind of woman other women try to measure up to be. You speak four languages and have a master’s degree in a challenging career. You change kids’ lives. You sing like an angel and you look like sin. And you make a mean Nutella and banana pancake.”
She teetered between joy and a sudden desire to weep. Over these past couple weeks with Keith, she had shared only things about herself that she thought wouldn’t make him feel inferior as she taught him to read. Many of those facts had been downright humiliating. Yet he saw her the way he’d just described.
“I would have guessed hazelnut was your favorite flavor based on your frequent orders of those pancakes,” she joked when she was sure her voice would remain steady.
“Fact of the day,” he said next to her ear. “I got used to ordering those pancakes because I couldn’t read the menus to order anything else off of them.”
His warm breath made pleasant shivers course along her body. She leaned more heavily against him even as she thought she really should have figured that out before.
“And they don’t typically make vanilla pancakes,” he added. “Or I’d order those instead.”
She knew he was once again pointing out that vanilla wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, he was saying it was what he preferred. That meant more to her than he would ever know.
“I’m not usually like this,” she said, tilting her head back enough to meet his gaze. “It’s just...I’ve never been in love before. I guess I’m afraid of losing it. Well, losing you. And that makes me sound even more neurotic.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Does that mean you’re crazy about me?”
A laugh burst out of her. “Very clever. Now who’s the slick one?”
The humor in his gaze eased into a hunger she was coming to know well. His eyes moved down to her mouth. She couldn’t resist leaning up to brush her lips against his. With his body pressed so close to hers and his enticing scent floating around them, she wanted to do much more than that. The nearby cameras stopped her though.
“I thought Sage was going to get some dance music started,” she mused when she realized the slow song currently playing was different than the one they had started dancing to.
“Oh, well,” Keith drawled. “Guess we have to keep dancing.”
She smiled. He leaned down and kissed her again a bit more deeply this time. When he eventually pulled away, she breathed a contented sigh and turned her head to lay her cheek against his chest.
That was how she saw the blond fan storming towards them through the other dancers. She tensed when she noticed his murderous expression. Somehow, she knew that fury was directed right at Keith.
Seconds later, the guy grabbed Keith’s shoulder. Even as he pulled Keith away from her, she saw the guy’s fist come up. She reacted purely on instinct, springing back in front of Keith.
“No!” she cried.
His fist caught her squarely in the left side of her face. She felt the blast of pain from that, then the sharp pain of the back of her head connecting with Keith’s jaw.
Then nothing.
* * *
Archer saw everything happen over the top of Lily’s head. He’d just been thinking how nice it was that Keith and Sydney seemed so happy when he caught sight of the pissed off blond guy cutting through the crowd.
With the threatening e-mail still at the front of his mind, Archer thought first of Lily. He caught Trey’s gaze on the edge of the dance floor and noted his bodyguard was already starting through the crowd. People darted out of the muscular man’s path like pins in front of a spinning bowling ball. Quickly gauging that Trey’s interception wouldn’t happen before the guy reached them, Archer started to turn to push Lily behind him.
The blond guy stopped instead next to Keith and Sydney. Archer watched with amazement as Sydney jumped in front of Keith. His astonishment multiplied when he saw the guy’s fist fly towards her. The sound of that fist connecting with Sydney’s face had Lily drawing in a sharp breath beside him. He saw Sydney’s head snap back and catch Keith squarely in the jaw.
Several things ran through Archer’s mind in an instant: relief that the guy hadn’t been after Lily, guilt over that relief as he watched Sydney slump towards the ground after taking the hard hit.
And bone-deep certainty that Keith was about to commit homicide right there on the dance floor.
“Oh my God,” Lily gasped. “Sydney!”
There were similar exclamations from others as Keith caught Sydney under her arms before she hit the floor. Archer surged forward when the blond guy looked like he was going to take advantage of Keith’s distraction to swing again. Trey intervened before Archer could, grabbing the guy’s arms and pinning them behind him.
“Let go of me!” the guy shouted as Trey started dragging him away. His burning gaze bore into Keith. “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve, Connors, flaunting that slut in front of my sister.”
Archer saw the moment Keith’s shock transitioned to icy fury. He figured Keith was going to hand Sydney over to someone and charge after the guy. Archer could hardly blame him. In fact, what the hell...he’d offer to hold Sydney for him. Xander must have felt the same way, as he stepped over to Keith’s other side.
But Keith looked from the guy back to Sydney, whom he was still holding pressed against him so she didn’t collapse. His anger transitioned into concern.
“Sydney,” he said, tilting her so her face was visible. “Syd?”
Getting no response, he bent slightly and picked her up, shifting to balance her weight. She looked alarmingly lifeless dangling from his arms.
“What’s going on?” came a loud voice. “Oh my heavens!”
Archer realized Chaz had gotten wind of what was happening. The event planner strode towards the dance floor with both of his hands pressed dramatically to his cheeks. Several members of the security team followed him.
“Someone get the onsite EMTs!” Chaz shouted, snapping his fingers at several hovering members of the catering team. “Get moving, people!”
“We need to get Sydney out of here,” Lily said at Archer’s side.
He realized she was crying and reached for her hand. “Yeah. Let’s get her to the green room.”
Xander moved in front of Keith, serving as a human bulldozer to clear a path as they made their way off the dance floor. Aria hurried forward to join him, throwing concerned glances at Sydney over her shoulder. Archer and Lily followed Keith, effectively closing him in. Sage and Noelle soon fell into step beside them.
The House of Archer cameras had split up. One of them now followed The Void, one was following the still-spewing blond guy being led out of a back door by Trey, and one had split off to film Nikki, who now peeled away from the Suddenly Something table and rushed forward.
“Keith, I swear I had no idea Derrick w
as going to do that,” she said. “He must have thought I was jealous or something, which is just ridiculous. If I had known...”
She trailed off when she realized no one was reacting to her speech, walking past her as though she wasn’t even there. Archer saw Christopher advance with two members of the security team.
“Miss Calvey, you’ll need to come with us,” one of the security guys said.
“What?” she replied. “Oh, hell no. I didn’t do anything. Get your hands off me!”
Archer didn’t bother looking back as they exited the event space with several additional escorts from the security team. He figured they’d catch the playback when the House of Archer episode aired.
Because as terrible as all of this was, there was no denying it was television gold.
When they reached the green room, Keith lowered Sydney onto one of the two couches. He moved her aside enough that he could sit next to her. Everyone crowded around as Keith examined her cheek. It was already starting to swell and bruise. His fingers brushed over it, reminding Archer of how he felt when he found Lily sobbing on the bathroom floor after her mother struck her. He knew Keith would have given anything to reverse time so he could take the punch instead.
“Sydney?” Keith said again, still getting no response. “Where the hell are the EMTs?”
“I’ll check,” Sage said, hurrying out of the room.
“I can’t believe she did that,” Lily murmured, going to her knees beside the couch and taking Sydney’s limp hand in hers.
“I hope he didn’t break anything in her face,” Aria fretted as she sat on the arm of the couch near Sydney’s feet. “God, it sounded awful.”
Seeing Keith’s jaw flex over that statement, Archer said, “She’ll be okay,” even as he silently urged the EMTs to get there faster.
“Are you okay, Keith?” Lily asked. “You took a pretty hard hit to the face yourself.”
“I’m fine,” Keith said brusquely.
The door opened and Christopher walked into the room carrying several purses and Sydney’s shrug. Sage and two EMTs bearing first aid kits followed close behind him. The EMTs headed right for the couch.