The words had barely left his mouth before my hand cracked across his face in a slap hard enough to leave an almost instant palm print.
"Spare me the alpha-male bullshit lines, Archer. I don't kneel for anyone." Then I let a mocking smile play out over my lips and arched my back so that my bra-covered breasts brushed the front of his shirt. "Unless I'm sucking cock. But you wouldn't know that... You never followed through." My lips were so close to his ear that I could have sucked on his lobe. But I didn't. I pushed off his chest and sashayed away, then tossed one last remark over my shoulder. "Maybe you could ask Steele? His dick is well acquainted with my mouth, after all."
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