More to the point, it was weirding me out that I'd only just noticed.
Had it just been because of that kiss during the photos? Or had he been acting strange this morning too?
Maybe this was just a new tactic in psychological warfare. Trying to throw me off my game. Well, tough shit. Nothing and no one would stand in my way now. I was getting my money and my name back, then running like hell.
"We're here," Archer commented a few minutes later, pulling to a stop outside a cabin in the woods on the outskirts of Shadow Grove.
I wish I was joking. A cabin in the woods. Like I hadn't lived my own slasher flicks enough lately.
"I swear to fucking god, Archer D'Ath," I said as we got out of the car, "if you've brought me here to slit my throat and bury me in a shallow grave, then think again. I'll more than happily drag you to hell along with me."
Archer just cocked a brow at me like I was fucking amusing or something, then stomped up the ancient wooden steps of the house. The whole veranda shook as he crossed it and threw the screen door open, and I frowned. Clearly, he wasn't worried about anyone knowing we were here.
"Babe," Kody commented, looping his arm around my waist and leading me in the direction Archer had disappeared. "Do you want me to accidentally kick him in the balls? It probably won't fix his weird mood, but it might make you feel warm and fuzzy inside."
I laughed, but then decided I liked that idea.
"Yeah, actually that'd be great," I replied with an evil smirk. "I would have done it myself this morning if I’d thought I could land the kick without him dodging out of the way."
Kody paused, giving me an answering grin before kissing me quickly on the lips. "Consider it done, babe."
He linked our fingers together, pulling me into the house with him. Inside it looked just as abandoned and forgotten as it had from the outside. All the furniture looked ancient and wore a thick coating of dust.
I coughed, then covered my nose and mouth with my hand.
"I take it you guys don't come here often, then?" I asked in a dry tone, casting my eyes over every surface. All signs pointed to this being the start of the next installment of my slasher-film life. I'd put money on it that the original owner of the cabin was a skeleton stashed in the walls somewhere.
Kody shrugged. "Only when we need a place where no one will hear the screams." He took the creep factor out of his statement with a teasing wink, but I was also pretty sure he was serious. Why else were we here, after all?
Archer was in the middle of the living room shifting a coffee table. Then he rolled up the dusty, old rug and revealed a seriously high-tech trapdoor.
My brows rose as he crouched over it, opened a panel, and revealed a biometric scanner. He pressed his thumb to the scanner at the same time as Kody released my hand and crossed the dusty living room.
I watched the whole thing happen, and still couldn't say for sure that Kody hadn't tripped on the rolled-up carpet. But the next thing I knew, Archer was rolling on the ground with his hands clasped between his legs and all kinds of inventive curses spewing from his mouth.
"Oh shit, sorry bro," Kody apologized, sounding anything but. He pressed his own thumb to the scanner and hoisted the steel trap door open when it unlocked. Using the toe of his boot, he rolled Archer's groaning body out of the way and indicated I come over. "You ready, babe?"
I blinked at him, biting my cheek to keep from laughing at Archer. "This is where you keep your torture victims?"
I was mostly joking, but Kody just gave a shrug. "Gotta keep them somewhere. What better place?"
He nodded to the open trap door where a ladder extended down into a fluorescent-lit space below. It was a wonder the light hadn't shown through the cracks of the floorboards... but then again, given the level of tech in the trap door, they'd probably thought of that.
"Steele's down there," Kody told me when I made no move to descend the ladder, "but I can go first if you want."
I gave the trap door a suspicious look, then—for some fucking reason—my gaze shifted to Archer, who was muttering curses and pushing himself up