"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.