shower, conscious of the time and how horribly I was falling behind in some of my classes. But when I turned the water off and stepped out of the steamy cubical, I froze.
"Guys!" I shouted, hearing the note of panic in my own voice.
Both of them appeared in the bathroom door in an instant, looking confused and worried. I pointed to the mirror.
The steam from my shower had fogged the glass over and revealed a message.
You'll always be mine.
It was written in that familiar, jagged script, and there was no doubt in my mind who'd left it there.
"Shit," Kody breathed. "I guess we were wrong after all. Last night was the stalker, not the killer." I nodded, having just come to the same conclusion.
"Unless they were both here," Steele mused, snapping a picture of the message, then grabbing one of my hand towels to wipe it off the mirror.
Kody gave him a thoughtful look as he grabbed a towel as well and handed it to me. "Killer tries to lure MK out with the power outage, and the stalker scares him off. Then... comes in here while the perimeter alarms are down and leaves a love note?"
Steele shrugged. "Maybe. It does seem to be his MO, doesn't it? Protecting Madison Kate while also doing everything possible to freak her out?"
Wrapping myself up in my towel, I shuddered. Moving past the boys, I headed to my closet to grab some fresh clothes.
"I don't get it," I grumbled as I hunted for my black skinny jeans. "I wish whoever was trying to kill me would just..." I trailed off with a frustrated growl as I found my jeans, then headed to my dresser for underwear.
"Just fuck off and leave you alone?" Kody finished for me, and I nodded with a weak smile.
"Pretty much," I agreed, sighing. Then I groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
All of my underwear was gone. All of it. On the bottom of the empty drawer, one word was written in a dark substance that looked way too much like blood for my liking.
Mine.
Rage and frustration filled me, and I slammed the drawer shut again, despite the fact that Kody was still staring at the message.
"I don't have time for this shit," I muttered. I quickly dressed sans underwear and caught Steele's eye. "Maybe my stalker is doing you a favor today, Max."
He quirked a grin in response, but the lines of his face were tight with worry. Still, they didn't protest when I hurried them out of the apartment.
Steele drove, dropped Kody and I off at SGU, and said he'd call later. He didn't have any classes on a Friday, and I strongly suspected he was heading back to my apartment to do a more thorough search—a suspicion that was confirmed when I realized he had my keys.
"Come on, babe," Kody said, slinging his arm around my shoulders then kissing my head. "Let's go learn some shit. Then maybe I can talk you into a lunchtime quickie." His grin was pure sex when I glanced up at him, but I just laughed and shook my head.
Don't get me wrong, I was crazy tempted. Hell, I almost wanted to blow off class altogether. But I knew I needed to catch up with Bree and Scott at lunch and make sure Scott's face was still in one piece.
"Okay fine," Kody sighed. "How about I just talk you into moving home?"
We'd just reached the main building, and he let me go long enough to open the door for us. I leveled a glare at him as I passed through.
"Not fucking happening, Kodiak Jones." I was standing firm on that one.
He frowned, but still tucked me back under his arm again. "I understand your reluctance, babe. But look what happened last night. You're a sitting duck there on your own, and what if—"
"Kody," I snapped. "No. I'm not moving back into Archer's house. Let it go."
He didn't want to. Not by a long shot. But he very wisely did as I asked and let the subject drop... for now.
Something had shifted with him, though, and throughout the whole of our sociological foundations lecture, he kept his hand on my leg. Whether he was tracing patterns on my jeans or just casually resting it there, it was like he just couldn't not touch me. Come to think of it, he'd been like that all morning.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked when our lecture ended and we packed up our things. "You seem... I