a truce, and you don't need to worry about either of us accidentally shooting each other during target practice."
"Was that a concern before?" Kody asked, seeming legitimately curious.
I shrugged. "If it wasn't, it should have been. I pictured his face way more often than I probably should have while learning to shoot last week."
Steele just laughed, shaking his head.
"Brutal," Kody murmured, grinning broadly. "I love that about you, babe. Steele and I were about to go play a couple rounds of Gran Tourismo. You wanna play?"
I raised my brows, giving Steele a hard look. "Playing video games, Max Steele? What would Jase say?"
He just scowled. "Fuck Jase. I'm going to wash up; meet you guys in the den." Before leaving the kitchen, he snaked a hand around my waist, pulling me close for a hard kiss. "I'm glad you're home, Hellcat."
Kody grabbed drinks out of the fridge, handed me one, and carried an extra for Steele as we headed through to the den to get comfy.
He flicked on the massive TV, and I looked around the room with new eyes. Now that I knew, it made so much more sense that this wasn't my father's house at all. Despite the fact that it was still an ostentatious mansion, it had warmth. Personality. This was their home... Archer, Kody, and Steele's. It was all set up to suit their needs, from the massive TV with every game console imaginable to the oversized garage for all their cars and a workshop for Steele.
"Truth or dare, Kody?" I asked suddenly, drawing his attention away from the game screen where he was selecting settings.
He gave me a curious look. "Dare."
"Too bad, I want to hear a truth." I smiled so he knew I was just playing. "Who really painted my room pink before I arrived? Was it actually Cherry?"
He winced. I'd guessed correctly.
"You bastards," I muttered, sipping my drink and shaking my head at him. I could only imagine it was done purely for their own amusement, making fun of the Princess of Shadow Grove with a princess-pink room.
"I'm sorry, babe. We were unmitigated bastards when you got here. Can you forgive us?" He swept his arms around me, lifting me into his lap and burrowing his face into my hair.
I huffed, acting like I was actually mad about the sparkly pink bedroom. Which I wasn’t particularly, especially since one or all of them had fixed and repainted it after I’d been stabbed. "I'll consider it."
He grabbed the console controller again, finishing his selections for the game without moving me out of his lap. I wasn't complaining, either. Somehow, my weekend with Archer had served to solidify my feelings for Kody and Steele as well.
So I was more than happy to snuggle on Kody's lap while he and Steele played video games for the evening.
When Kody had the game screen loaded and ready, he tossed his controller aside and wrapped his arms back around me in a tight hug.
I let out a small groan at the number of aches in my body, and he gave a little growl of annoyance.
"You have no idea how jealous I was of Arch this weekend, babe," he confessed in a whisper, and I shifted in his lap so that I could see his face. "He's lucky all I did was punch him."
I bit my lip, studying his face. "Are we okay?"
His hand shifted from my waist to my thigh and he gave me a gentle squeeze. "We're perfect, babe. A little jealousy is good for our blood pressures, and it only shows how totally taken with you we all are."
I appreciated that sentiment, but an uneasy feeling still gnawed at me. "Are you sure? I don't know what the rules are with something like this thing we've got. Should I have talked to you and Steele first?" I wrinkled my nose at that thought. I hated talking about feelings at the best of times, and I definitely hadn't planned the way things had escalated with Archer.
Kody just shook his head. "There are no rules, babe. Just do whatever feels right, and we can figure the rest out as we go. But I need to make something totally clear before Steele comes back and crashes the moment."
I held my breath, nervous to hear what he wanted to say.
"I heard what Steele said to you the other day"—when he said he loved me—"and I have no doubt Arch threw out some soul-destroying truths to turn shit around with you this