"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."
There had to be hundreds of people on the heaving dance floor, all in some degree of costume, and with the flashing strobe lights, it created a hell of an image.
"I hate costume parties," I muttered, flinching as a macabre clown brushed past us. "Especially ones with clowns." I shuddered and Kody laughed.
"Let's find somewhere less intense." He took my hand, linking our fingers together and leading the way as we wove through the costumed party-goers once more. He glanced back at me a couple of times as we crossed the room, the flashing strobes catching on his devil mask and sending spikes of irrational fear shooting through me.
It was like I was seeing his real face. Like all the time I'd known him—all six weeks—he was really a demon in disguise. I'd believe it, silver-tongued devil that he was.
Kody shoved a rusty old door open with his shoulder, then released my hand so he could hold it open for me. He kicked an old brick into the opening so it wouldn't shut and lock us out, then reclaimed my hand again.
I kinda loved that.
"Oh, I know where we are," I commented, peering into the moonlit darkness. I'd known we were in the abandoned industrial area, but that was a huge area. "Isn't the old East-West boundary just past that tree line?" I pointed to the hill in the near distance, and Kody nodded.
What I really meant was that the East-West boundary was just past that tree line where the Laughing Clown amusement park was located. Not that the boundary line was a thing anymore, not in the new, "gang-free" Shadow Grove. Yeah, right.
Kody and I sat on the hood of an old car—all its tires long gone and the interior totally gutted. Still, it made a good enough seat, even if the metal was freezing against my bare legs.
"I know you won't tell me anything important," I started to say, and Kody shot me a suspicious look. I think. It was hard to read facial expressions when someone wore a mask that covered half their face. "But can you tell me anything?"
He didn't immediately deny my request, which was a step in the right direction. "I shouldn't," he said slowly, "but..."
When he didn't immediately complete his statement, I took a sip of my drink. The alcohol warmed my stomach, but I had no intention of getting drunk. So, I'd take it slow.
"But what?"
"I could play you for answers," he suggested, sipping his own drink, then setting it down on the hood beside him. "Truth or Dare? Seems like the perfect night for it." He leaned back on the rusty car, looking up at the full moon.
I snickered a short laugh. "Truth or Dare? What are we, thirteen? No."
He tucked his arms behind his head, drawing way too much attention to those impressive biceps of his. He'd put on a black long sleeved T-shirt, but it was tight enough around the arms that it wasn't hiding shit.
"You scared, MK?"
"Not even close," I replied, lying my ass off. "I've just read enough romance novels to know how this scenario goes. You give me some half-assed, cryptic answers to my questions, then dare me to do something sexual in return. Talk about predictable."
He pouted, and I laughed.
"Well shit, babe, give me a better idea. Arch could be a while yet, and you don't really look like you want to go dance with the creepy clowns in there." He nodded back to the party, and I cringed.
"Can you at least tell me why we're here tonight?" I'd run a bunch of possibilities through my head, but it was like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle with only a quarter of the pieces. And no fucking corners.
Kody seemed to consider this for a moment before replying, probably vetting his response to remove any real information.
"How much do you know about Archer's old man?" he asked me eventually. It wasn't at all the change of subject I'd expected, and I blinked in confusion.
"Um, not much. Just that he was the founder of the Shadow Grove Reapers and must have been one hell of a scary bastard to create such a brutal gang." And really, a huge amount of what I knew of the Reapers was just what rumors had told me. The Reapers and the Wraiths were the boogeymen that privileged children of Shadow Grove were terrified of, but most never actually crossed paths with.
Kody ruffled a hand through his hair, then rested his arm across his stomach. His fingers were close enough that I could have shifted an inch and touched him. "Right, so now what do you know about Ferryman?"
I frowned behind my oppressive mask. "The leader of the Wraiths? Nothing, really. I only know what I do about Damien D'Ath because of Zane." Because when Zane D'Ath killed my mother, I’d developed a small obsession… until he was released from charges a few weeks later, that was. And then I was too scared to pursue my vendetta against him. I didn't want to become his next victim when he so clearly had the cops on his payroll.
Kody sighed, looking back up at the sky. "This is going to take too long to explain, I think. So, to answer your question, we're here to meet with a business contact."
"What? No way. That's not... you can't just backtrack like that." I parked my drink on the car hood so I could shift around and glare down at him. Hopefully my devil mask intensified that glare and didn't make me look ridiculous as fuck.
"Your turn," he said, ignoring my protest at his shitty answer. "Are you and Steele a thing now?"
My mouth went dry. "A thing?" I repeated, like some kind of pink parrot. "Why would you think that?"
Kody gave a dry laugh. "Maybe because you guys fucked after Bree's party and you've been totally ignoring all of my attempts to flirt with you ever since."