where he sweet-talked the waitress into showing him the security footage from when I'd entered the restrooms.
When he returned to me, he didn't look pleased.
"No luck?" I asked, wrinkling my nose. Somehow, I’d figured that would be the case.
Kody shook his head. "No, he somehow avoided looking at the cameras. Come on; Uber will be here in two minutes."
He tossed a stack of bills down on the table and held his hand out to me, which I took without hesitation. It was an unfamiliar thing for me to know someone cared so much for my well-being.
Unfamiliar, but incredibly welcome.
Warm feelings heated my stomach as we stepped out into the snow-covered parking lot and Kody tucked me under his arm protectively. I smiled up at him as we waited for our car to arrive, and he gave me a curious frown.
"What's that face for, MK?"
Reaching up, I pulled his face down to me and kissed him. It wasn't a frenzied, passionate, let's-fuck-right-here kind of kiss, but it was definitely one to bank in my mental memory box as one of the most meaningful kisses ever.
"You're kind of amazing, Kodiak Jones," I told him softly when we parted.
His lush lips curled in a grin as a black Escalade glided into the parking lot. "I thought you would never notice."
Laughing, I climbed into our hired car with him and snuggled under his strong arm the whole way home.
17
No one was home when we got back to my father's house, and after some convincing, Kody left me alone long enough to take a shower. I'd washed my attacker's blood off my hands back at the diner, but I needed to wash the memory of his touch from my skin.
Under the hot spray, I used my loofah to scrub the ever-loving shit out of my skin until I was tender and pink all over. As I reached for my towel, my bathroom door swung open and Archer stomped into the steam-filled room.
He froze, his eyes raking down my naked, wet body and pausing briefly at my midsection—staring at the vivid red scar of my healing stab wound.
"Can I help you, sunshine?" I drawled. I made no attempts to cover up because fuck it. He wanted to be a ballsack and pretend he wasn't attracted to me? I'd make it as hard as humanly possible for him. I slowly unhooked my towel from the drying rack and grinned when Archer wrenched his gaze away from my tits.
"Here," he said, his voice gruff but husky. He slammed my purple butterfly knife—still covered in blood—down on the edge of the basin and glared at me accusingly. "Try not to lose it again." Despite the sneering reprimand, there was a noticeable thread of arousal in his voice, and his eyes drifted down my body again like they had a mind of their own.
"See something you like, big man?" I taunted him, popping a hip as I dabbed my chest dry. I had no reason to be ashamed of my nakedness. Not when he'd barged into my bathroom unannounced and I wasn't in the habit of showering fully clothed.
His brow furrowed, and his lips twisted in a sneer. "I don't do sloppy seconds, Madison Kate. Or thirds for that matter."
“Okay, sure, and denial is totally just a river in Egypt,” I scoffed. “What happened with the guy? Did you kill him? Where’s Steele?”
“He’s busy,” Archer replied with a deep scowl, his eyes tight with anger and frustration. “Cleaning up your mess.”
I glared at him hard, tossing aside my towel and propping my hands on my naked hips. “Oh, of course, because I asked to be attacked and choked in some random fucking diner in the middle of nowhere. I guess I forgot placing an order for that.”
His eyes narrowed and the vein over his temple throbbed, but he couldn’t seem to help the way his gaze dipped to my breasts… then lower. I thought he was just being a perv, but the flash of guilt that passed over his face when his eyes found my scar made me reconsider.
“Are you okay?” he asked me in a quiet voice, his gaze shifting from my scar only enough to inspect my neck. He—as a pro-MMA fighter—already knew a rear naked chokehold didn’t leave bruising.
Still, the genuine question threw me for a loop.
I bit my lip, feeling my pulse race. “I’m fine,” I replied, dropping the snarky bullshit for a second. “Are you and Steele okay? Whose blood is that?” I nodded to