guy leaned on the windowsill with an ice pack to his face.
I wrinkled my nose in confusion, staring at the boys’ manager, but Jase just glared daggers back at me like he totally loathed my mere presence in the room.
"Why is she here again?" he sneered, confirming my gut feeling. "Why is she always around? I thought she moved out weeks ago?"
"She moved back in," I snapped, not waiting for the guys to answer first. I fucking despised when people spoke about me as though I weren't in the room. "And while we're asking questions, Jase, she would really love to know why you have no shirt on right now."
His venomous glare darkened as his lip curled in disgust at me, then he turned his attention back to the guys. My guys. Or, specifically, to Archer.
"You let her do all the talking now, Archer? I thought you were the leader here." His words fell flat when Archer said nothing in response.
Steinwick cleared his throat, drawing our attention. "Sir, your manager stopped by this evening with some business he wanted to discuss with you," he told us, the dry tone betraying what bullshit he thought that to be.
Jase huffed. "We need to discuss this Copper Wolf ad campaign, Arch. None of that was signed off by me, and you know all paperwork needs to come across my desk before you sign it. What if they slipped some kind of non-compete clause in the contract? That could ruin any prospective beverage sponsorships in the future."
It took me a moment to understand what he was talking about. Copper Wolf must be the brand of vodka Archer's friend owned.
Archer said nothing still, folding his arms over his chest and letting his silence make Jase sweat.
"None of that explains why you're sitting at our dining table with no shirt," Kody commented, also folding his arms and spearing Jase with a hard glare.
"No pants either," one of the black-clad security guys offered. "He's totally naked."
I squinted harder. What the fuck?
"We left him waiting in the den," Steinwick explained. "But when I came back a few minutes later to check if he'd like a beverage, he was gone."
"I found him upstairs," the guy leaning on the window ledge added. He pulled the ice pack away from his face as he spoke, showing off the start of a black eye. "He landed a lucky punch while I was detaining him."
I blinked a couple of times, trying to place this guy. His face seemed vaguely familiar...
"Getting slow in your old age, James?" Kody teased, and the man's familiarity clicked for me. James. Our groundskeeper.
The guy was probably only in his forties, but he flipped Kody off anyway. It was odd, but then again, just because I paid no attention, didn't mean Kody hadn't become friendly with the staff.
Steinwick cleared his throat again. "Mr. Jase was found in your bedroom, sir," he said this to Archer, and Jase's face and neck darkened with a deep flush.
Archer's brows twitched. "My bedroom? Doing what?"
The elderly, proper butler looked like he'd smelled something bad and seemed to really not want to explain further.
James the groundskeeper snorted a laugh. "Jerking off on your pillow, boss."
What... the...?
I couldn't help it. I really couldn't. I started laughing. Then I tried to stop laughing, and it only made me laugh harder.
Archer turned to me with an incredulous expression, and I laughed hard enough that tears leaked from my eyes. I shook my head, trying to draw calming breaths.
It wasn't working, though. The dam had broken, and in my defense, both Kody and Steele looked like they were on the verge of laughter too.
"Sorry," I gasped out, my shoulders still shaking with chuckles. "Sorry, it's not funny." Snicker. "It's just... I'm not the only one with a creepy, obsessed sexual stalker."
I dissolved into more totally inappropriate giggles and decided I needed to remove myself from the room. The security guys, James, and Steinwick were all staring at me like I'd grown tentacles, and I knew part of my amusement was due to the heavy painkillers. I'd just taken another dose in the car, and they were making me all floaty.
"I'm just gonna... go..." I waved my hand in the direction of anywhere else. I started to leave the room, then jerked to a halt and turned around to give Archer a stern look. A stern look that was only slightly ruined by the waves of giggles still bubbling out of me. "You're burning that bed, Archer D'Ath. And