the stained blade he’d dropped on my vanity. I don’t know why those three simple words from him had suddenly triggered my concern, but they had.
Of course, as the silence stretched between us, I realized I must have imagined that moment of humanity. His eyes were still on me, but they’d turned heated. Instead of answering my question, his pale blue eyes dragged all down the length of me like a caress, and he scrubbed a hand over his dark stubble.
I snorted a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, sunshine. You’re not interested in sloppy seconds at all. Makes me wonder why you can’t stop eye fucking me.”
His gaze snapped back to my face faster than a broken elastic band, then without a word he stomped out of my bathroom again. He slammed my bedroom door so hard it made a picture fall off the wall, and I just laughed to myself.
I was getting to him. Maybe torturing Archer with his own conflicted feelings would be more fun than supergluing his nuts to his leg after all. It was certainly a plan that deserved consideration, that was for sure.
After I dried off, I dressed in comfy sweats and parked up on the middle of my bed with all my study notes scattered around me. My lingering feelings about all the attempts on my life would need to wait a week before I could curl up in a ball and sob. My intro to psychology exam was first thing Monday morning, and there was no way in hell I planned on failing any class at the university my own father had built and funded.
Kody came to check on me, bringing me a plate of freshly baked cookies. But he didn't hang around when I made it clear that I was actually studying, not pretending to study so I didn't need to deal with Archer downstairs.
It was well into the evening when I packed up my notes and closed my laptop, mentally declaring my brain as full as it could possibly get with study notes. I was confident that I had a good handle on the material for the exam in the morning; I'd always tested pretty well, even if I barely retained any information a week later. But still, there was a gnawing anxiety building inside me that seemed totally separate from my usual stress of stalkers and murderers.
Then it occurred to me. I hadn't seen Steele since he’d blown out of the diner with Archer.
I could be jumping to conclusions, but worry churned my stomach and I hurried down the hallway to his room. I knocked softly, but when he didn't answer, I tried the handle. Sure, he could be downstairs with Kody and Archer, but it was worth checking his room first... right?
Right.
I tentatively pushed his door open and frowned at the gloomy darkness inside. Was he already asleep? I guessed it was possible...
"Steele?" I whispered, feeling like a total creeper and already second-guessing myself. "Are you asleep?"
Obviously, the second I said that I did a mental facepalm. If he were asleep... he couldn't exactly reply "yes," now, could he?
I was about to creep out again and go look for him downstairs, but a movement in his bed startled me.
"Steele," I hissed, leaving his door open for light as I padded across his plush gray carpet to the bed. I didn't want to wake him up, but my gut told me something was wrong. I reached out a hand to touch his shoulder, then hissed a gasp when my fingers touched bandages.
He shifted in his sleep, and I bit my lip to keep from waking him up. But what the fuck had happened?
Covering my own mouth so as not to make a sound, I hurried back out of his room and along to Kody's. It was empty. So was Archer's. But I had a fair idea where I might find them both.
I ran so fast down to the gym I almost tripped on the stairs, but somehow I made it there without breaking my neck. Sure enough, they were in the gym wearing nothing but small shorts and fingerless MMA gloves and... wow. The mental image of Kody and Archer grappling on the padded gym floor while sweaty and panting was definitely getting filed in my spank bank. I didn't care how much of an asshole Archer was to me, he and Kody were goddamn walking orgasms.
"Hey," I said sharply, grabbing their attention and—hopefully—dragging mine away from the way they were all