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 mentioning 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.