Our accommodations for the night were booked in the same hotel where the fight had been held, so there was no real discussion around whether to stay for the party or not.
Not.
Archer didn't even bother showering or changing in the rooms they'd set up for him and Alexi to use. He just removed his gloves, threw his hoodie and shoes on, then all but carried me to the central elevators.
Kody and Steele followed, both joking and laughing, riding the high of Archer's win. I couldn't focus on anything for long, though. I was too keyed up with anticipation, waiting to see what he wanted to do with that win. With me.
“Hey, guys,” Jase called out as we stepped into the elevators, darting forward and stopping the doors from closing with his hand. “We partying upstairs, or…” He trailed off, and it became awkward as fuck when no one immediately responded.
Archer cleared his throat, his arm tight around me. “Sorry man. Private celebration tonight.”
Jase’s smile slipped, and his face flashed with anger. “But I’m your manager.” The glare he shot me said the rest. I’m your manager, but she is invited over me?
“Yep,” Archer responded, clearly not giving a fuck. “Enjoy the party.” He reached out and peeled Jase’s fingers from the elevator door. Their manager stood in stunned disbelief long enough for the doors to slide closed, and I let out a small sigh of relief. Jase creeped me out. Big time.
Steele had taken care of the booking, so when we reached our floor, he directed us all the way to the presidential suite and opened the doors with a magnetic key card.
"Nice," Kody commented, striding in and picking up a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket set up on the dining table. "Looks like we're celebrating tonight, huh?"
"Screw you," Archer growled, snatching the bottle from his hand and sinking down onto one of the white leather couches. His hand was still clasping mine, and he gave me a tug, pulling me into his lap as he popped the cork one-handed. Seriously, that was an impressive skill.
Kody wasn't deterred, grabbing a second bottle and taking the sofa opposite us while Steele made his way over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, which were covered by a thin blind.
"Don't be a hater, Arch. We all knew you'd steal MK away if you won; I was just being resourceful." Kody grinned, smug as fuck, and I needed to bite my lip to stop from grinning back.
Archer's arm around my waist tightened, and he took a sip of champagne straight from the bottle.
"True," he conceded. "But later. First..." He trailed off, pressing his cool, wet lips to the back of my neck and making me shiver. "We have something to show you, Princess."
My brows shot up, and I took the bottle of champagne from Archer's fingers when he offered it to me. "You do?"
Kody nodded his agreement, opening his bottle and pouring glasses for all of us. I still sipped from Archer's bottle anyway, though.
Steele pressed a little button on the side of the windows, and the blind slowly rose up to reveal an impressive view of the city below.
"This would have been more dramatic if the blinds weren't so slow," Steele commented, tapping his foot impatiently.
I glanced between Archer and Kody, seeking some kind of hint, but neither of them were giving anything away. They were both focused on me, not on the window, though.
"Finally," Steele muttered as the blind rose past the halfway mark.
He stepped aside, and I instantly spotted what they wanted to show me. My jaw dropped, and I rose out of Archer's lap in stunned disbelief.
"Are you kidding me?" I halfway shrieked. "That's..."
"So freaking sexy," Kody finished for me when my voice dried up into nothing.
I crossed over to the window, staring out at the electronic billboard on the building directly across the intersection. It was me. Giant me. In nothing but a skimpy black corset, thong, and heels, leaning on a bar and looking every inch the sex kitten. Beside me was a bottle of vodka that I didn't remember being there in the photoshoot.
The image pixelated out, only to be replaced by an even sexier one of both Archer and I. I was in his lap, our eyes locked and our lips just a fraction away from a kiss. On the table in front of us was that same vodka and a martini.
"Guys..." I shook my head, unable to look away from the billboard as it changed again. This time it was a shot of me lying on the bartop, my back arched and every curve of my body accentuated, and Archer's hungry, desperate eyes on my face. "Someone please explain?"
"Remember I told you the photoshoot was a favor to a friend?" Archer asked, still reclining on the couch like a king on his throne. The bottle of champagne was back in his hand, and he held it loosely. "Well, she shifted the concept of the bar away from sexy burlesque and more to sinful strippers. But she loved our images so much she decided to use them on a launch campaign for her own line of vodka." He paused, seeming uncertain for the first time. "Do you like them?"
I blinked at him several times, at a loss for words. Turning back around to the window, I watched the rotation of images again. There were five, in total. One had Archer more prominent and me in the background, then there was the one of me alone and three of us together. In every one, we looked like the living embodiment of sex and desire. It was a goddamn mystery how we'd held out five months before giving in to that insane chemistry between us.
"I love them," I whispered, letting my truth come out. "But this seems like a really risky move, all things considered. Where else has this ad been shown?" I turned back around to face my guys, a worried frown creasing my brow.
"It's a global campaign," Archer replied, not sounding even a fraction as concerned as I was.
My eyes widened. Global. Fucking hell.
"Babe, you can't put your life on hold because of some mentally unstable, serial-killing fucker. He thrives off your fear, and by hiding away you'd be letting him win." Kody was practical, his tone calm, but he had to know I was a bit pissed off.
"You should have asked me first," I replied, catching all three of them with my accusing glare. "You said it was advertising for a new bar in Shadow Grove, not… this. You should have consulted me.”
"Why?" Archer demanded, his own jaw flexing with annoyance. "So you could let your fear rule the decision and hand your stalker another win?"
My temper flared. Guess who wasn't getting his dick wet after all?
"Fuck you, D'Ath," I snapped back. "This was a huge step to take without giving me a heads up!" I indicated to the huge rolling billboard of us. “Don’t act like this was out of your control, either. We both know they would have checked with you first.”
Steele shifted into my line of sight, his expression apologetic. "Hellcat, we never wanted to take the control away from you. This was a last-minute thing, and we thought it would be an awesome surprise for you. Something special, you know? It wasn't supposed to start fights."
I squeezed my eyes shut, mentally counting to five to try and get a lid on my anger. It was a hard pill to swallow that this was a simple misjudgment, not a targeted attempt to raise my blood pressure.
Then again, that'd be really fucking stupid if they had been trying to piss me off. Even as dick-drunk as the three of them had me, I was more than capable of servicing myself and icing them out indefinitely.