"Kody," I gasped, pushing away from him and shaking my head. "I fucked Steele last night."
He cringed. "I know. We heard. Not to mention the fact that he was naked and asleep tangled up against your body when Arch needed to wake him up."
My face flushed with embarrassment, and I pulled away farther. "Right. So I can't just..." I shook my head, scrubbing my palm over my face. "It doesn't bother you? That I fucked your friend last night?"
Kody sat up slightly, propping himself up on his elbow to look at me with total seriousness. "It does," he admitted. "It bothers me more than I really thought it would. When I heard you guys last night..." He trailed off, his gaze ducking away from me and his jaw tense. "I've never been so jealous of Steele in my life. He's like a brother to me, but I could have happily knocked him out last night."
I blinked a couple of times, taken aback by this response. It was so much more emotional and possessive than I'd expected.
"Right," I said softly. "So, I should go shower."
I started to slide out of the bed, but he leaned over and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me back underneath him as he supported his weight with one thickly corded arm planted on the bed beside my head.
"I'm jealous as hell," he reiterated, "but that only showed me how much I want you. There's no way I'm walking away and bowing out gracefully. Not when you want me too."
This time when he kissed me, his pure, possessive dominance left me panting and frazzled. My pussy throbbed with need, and I could feel my own arousal slick on my thighs.
"I need a day," I said in a husky whisper as he peered down at me with his far too intuitive gaze. "A day to sort out my brain and think about... everything. I never should have slept with Steele in the first place. I'm still pissed off at him."
Kody didn't push this advantage, simply nodded and rolled to the side to let me escape. At the last second, I dragged the sheet with me, clutching it to my chest as I made a quick dash to the bathroom.
"A day," Kody repeated from my bed, and I risked a glance back at him.
That was a mistake. Thanks to me stealing the sheet, he was just laying there in the middle of my pink floral bed in nothing but a pair of tight red boxer briefs. Safe to say, underwear like that did nothing to hide what he was packing. Or how hard he was.
His smile turned sly. "One day. I can't promise you any more than that, baby."
My stomach flipped and my pulse raced, but I just nodded and closed the bathroom door between us.
Taking a few deep, calming breaths, I dropped the sheet, then cranked my shower on. Cold. Ice cold. Lord knew I needed a dip in the damn Arctic to cool myself off.
My teeth chattered as I soaped myself up, groaning when the scent of my own body wash just brought images of Steele stroking himself back to my mind.
Some moments later, Kody knocked on the door, then cracked it open.
"You want to go to Nadia's? We probably have a few hours until the guys get back."
My stomach rumbled hard, and I groaned. "Fuck yes! But no ex-girlfriends slapping me this time, right?"
Kody's laugh echoed through the bathroom. "I promise."
He closed the door again, and I hurried through the rest of my ice-cold shower. Now that he'd put the idea in my head, I was goddamn starving.
My bedroom was empty when I emerged wrapped in a towel, so I quickly dressed in skinny jeans, a ribbed, black V-neck sweater that did all kinds of great things for my tits, and my favorite knee-high, black leather, flat boots. After spending most of the night freezing my ass off in that mini-dress, I was definitely opting for comfort and warmth today.
"MK, babe!" Kody called up the stairs. "You ready to go?"
I hurried down to meet him, tucking my phone into my back pocket. "I'm right here; what's the rush?"
"Arch just texted to say he's been called into our manager's office for his prelim weigh-in. He'll want to work out when he gets back, so I need to load up on cake and caffeine before then." He led the way through to the garage and clicked the key fob for his blue Maserati.
He slid into the driver's seat as the garage door slowly rolled open, and I buckled my seat belt while waves of nervousness rolled through me. "Prelim weigh-in?" I asked, wetting my lips. "What's involved in that?"
Kody shot me a curious look. "Pretty much what it sounds like. The official weigh-in is a couple of hours prior to the fight itself, and if a fighter falls outside their weight class—"
"Yeah, I know the rules," I cut him off impatiently. "Big MMA fan, remember? I just meant... he has to go into your manager’s office just to record his weight? Seems like a pointless trip when you've got scales here."
Kody shrugged. "Yeah, but they'll often have an official there to do a random drug screening too. That's not the sort of thing you can choose to do whenever you want, you know?"
Oh shit.
I must have looked as panicked as I felt because Kody gave me a confused frown when we paused at the main gates of the mansion. They were electronic but took a moment to open.
"Why so interested, babe?"
I rolled my window down, suddenly super interested in the landscaping around the main gates. "No reason," I lied. Then I spotted something. "Hey, what's that?"
To the side of the main gates, below the keypad that allowed us to come and go without getting out of the car, was an elaborately wrapped present box.
Kody froze, staring at where I was pointing. He shifted the Maserati into park, then climbed out.
I hurried to follow, stopping only when he held a hand up at me.
"Just stay back, MK," he ordered. "It could be anything."
My brows shot up. "Well, no shit. That's sort of why we need to look."
Kody shot me a flat glare, then turned back to the gift box and nudged the lid off with his toe.
"What is it?" I asked, craning my neck from where I'd stopped on his command. "Is it... a bomb or something?"
The way Kody's head snapped back to me and his brow furrowed made me pause.
"Fucking hell, MK. That hadn't even crossed my mind. If it had been, we'd both probably be dead now." He let out a heavy sigh and stooped to pick the box up in his fingers. "No, it's... another one of these." He tilted the package in my direction, and I shuddered when the pink-haired doll stared back at me.
This time she was naked, red flecks of something distinctly blood-like splattered over her body and coating her hands. On her feet were a miniature pair of black high heels, complete with their red soles and ankle straps.
Bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed it back down, fighting for strength in my voice. "Is that... are those photos?" I indicated to the envelope underneath the doll.
Kody tossed the box and the creepy fucking doll down on the grass and ripped the envelope open. He flicked through the images quickly, his face set in an impassive mask, before handing them to me.
"Oh fuck," I gasped, clapping a hand over my mouth as I stared at the first image. I'd suspected this when I saw the doll’s "outfit," but this was... Holy fuck.
Taking a steadying breath, I flipped through the images. There I was, stretched out naked on my bed, face down with my heels still on as I reached into my bedside drawer. Steele was behind me, the angle wrong to show his finger buried in my pussy, but the expression on my face kind of made it clear.