Back in my bedroom I found Kody sprawled out on my bed, stark naked, his hard cock in his hand and a sly grin on his face.
"Listening to you hand Archer his balls makes me so hot, babe," he confessed as he stroked himself with a sure hand. "Wanna see if we can make him break something?"
I snorted a sharp laugh, then glanced over my shoulder to where Archer stood in the middle of my living room like he had no fucking clue what to do next.
"Hell yes," I agreed. I kicked my bedroom door open wider, then climbed up on the bed without even bothering to take my underwear off. I just pushed it aside and sank down on Kody's cock with a long, loud moan.
Two seconds later the sound of breaking glass came from my living room, and I laughed into Kody's kiss.
Take that, husband. Piss me off again, I fucking dare you.
Needless to say, whatever the fuck Archer thought we were late for, Kody and I ensured we were very late.
11
Archer's guilt trip had sunk in enough that I called Bree on the drive to wherever the fuck we were going and double-checked that she was, in fact, okay. She assured me that she was. She and Dallas had still been inside the theater when it’d all happened, so they hadn’t even known about the shooting until Archer had come to get them.
After hanging up with her, I dialed Scott and ignored the two sets of ears in the car that would undoubtedly be listening to every word of our conversation. The car was too quiet for them not to inevitably hear the other end, even though it wasn't on speaker.
"Maddie, baby!" he exclaimed on answering, and I cringed. "Are you okay? Why did it take you so long to call me back? I thought that meathead had kidnapped you!"
I gritted my teeth and bit back my desire to snap at him. But seriously, it was a bit melodramatic. He knew Kody was my ex, and he clearly hadn't been the one shooting.
"Sorry," I said back, instead of what I really wanted to say. "My phone got damaged." Total lie. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You didn't get hurt or anything?"
"No," he replied, sounding confused as fuck. "What? No, of course not. I tried to tell those idiots it was just a car backfiring or something. You didn't think it was a gunshot too, did you?"
I pulled the phone away from my ear, frowning at it like Scott had just started speaking Japanese. Kody met my gaze in the mirror, and I mouthed the word "backfire" at him.
He laughed.
Scott was still talking, though, so I put the phone back to my ear and pretended like I'd been listening to him all along.
"Uh-huh," I offered when he paused for a breath. "Hey, I have to go. I'll see you Monday, okay?"
"Wait!" he exclaimed, before I could hang up. "Why Monday? What are you doing later? Maybe I could come over and watch a movie at your place, seeing as last night sort of got ruined by your exes."
Against my better judgment my gaze flicked back up to the mirror, and this time it was a pair of cold blue eyes that met mine. He gave a small shake of his head, and I breathed a sigh.
"Sorry, Scott," I found myself saying, "I'm busy. I've gotta go. Talk later."
I quickly hung up before he could push the issue any further and peered out the window. Archer had just parked outside a warehouse on the fringes of West Shadow Grove. It was familiar.
"Wait, isn't this where that Halloween party was held?" I frowned, unbuckling my seat belt and sliding out of the car as the boys both got out. "Why are we here?"
Kody wrinkled his nose, looking annoyed, but it was Archer who replied.
"You wanna talk to the guy who tried to kill you last night?" He cocked his head to the side, shoving his hands in his pockets.
I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion. There were several other cars parked near us. Considerably more than I'd expect if there was a bloody, beaten man being held inside. "Yeah..."
A small, cold smile flashed over his lips. "Then you need to do something for me first."
Annoyance burned through my belly. "That wasn't the deal, Archer."
He just shrugged and started heading inside the warehouse. "It is now, Princess."
He disappeared into the warehouse, and I was left with the options of following or standing out in the cold indefinitely. I turned to Kody, like I expected him to provide me with answers, but he looked just as confused as I was feeling.
"If he's got something weird in there, I'll personally drive you home," he offered, "but that's Jase's car over there." He pointed to the silver BMW across the parking lot. "So I have to guess this is just work shit."
I scowled but let him lead the way into the warehouse.
"What's the fucking deal with Jase, anyway?" I muttered, walking close to him as slightly haunted memories flickered through my mind. The last time we'd come to this warehouse, it had been a makeshift Halloween party. Afterward I'd been pushed off the road, hunted, chased, and stabbed. Yeah, there weren't a hell of a lot of great memories inside this warehouse.
Except for making out with Kody.
"It's complicated," he replied, grimacing. "Wow, this place has taken shape."
I blinked at the artificial lighting of the interior and nodded my agreement. What had been a totally temporary, slapped-together bar a few months ago was now a permanent structure, and expensive, decorative chandeliers hung from the soaring rafters. Some construction was still in progress toward the far end, but the immediate area had been almost totally converted into an expensive, artistic night club.
"Oh good, you convinced her!" Nicky, the photographer from the guys’ underwear shoot, called out and waved at me. She had a huge smile on her face and her camera clutched in her hand.
Suspicion quickly morphed into understanding when I took in the photoshoot set up, and I shifted my accusing glare to Archer.
"Convinced me of what exactly?" I demanded, folding my arms.
"The, uh," Nicky started to say, then gave Archer a quick look of confusion. "The photoshoot," she finished in an uncertain voice as she walked over to me. "Archer didn't discuss this with you?"
I shot the dickhead in question a sharp glare, and he just shrugged and gave me the kind of smirk that made me want to kill him.
"No, he didn't," I replied with a deep frown as I folded my arms over my chest. I shot a glare at Kody, but he looked just as surprised as me and shook his head.
"News to me too, babe," he added to clear up any possible accusations of a set up. "But I think I can guess." He ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room.
Whatever his guess was, he didn't say it before heading across the room to speak with Jase. He didn't need to.
"I'm so sorry," Nicky apologized, cringing. "I just assumed..." She indicated to Archer and back to me, and I sighed. It wasn't her fault that he was an overbearing son of a bitch with no concept of personal rights, liberties, or free will.
Gritting my teeth, I shifted my attention back to Nicky. "It's fine," I said, even though it really, really wasn't. "Why don't you explain super quickly whatever Archer was supposed to convince me about?"
She gave me an apologetic smile, then launched into a hurried explanation of how her client—the new owner of the bar we were standing in—had seen the images she'd posted before Christmas of Archer and me during the underwear shoot. The owner had gotten in touch and asked if Archer and I would do the advertising campaign for her new bar.