he asked us with a faint scowl marking his brow. He seemed to be talking to the boys, but his eyes were on me, no matter how hard he tried to pretend they weren't.
Steele nodded his response, flipping open the leather jacket he'd put on and showing Archer his gun. I expected some kind of reaction from him, but he just gave Steele a short nod before shifting his attention to Kody.
"Ready, boss," Kody replied, turning around and flashing a gun secured in the small of his back. I just gaped at the three of them like they'd grown three heads.
"Since when did you guys start wearing concealed weapons for a night out on the town?" I asked, mostly not expecting an answer. I got one anyway. Of course.
"Since you started getting stabbed and choked and stalked every fucking time you step foot in public, Princess," Archer growled back with an edge of something raw in his tone. Resentment, I thought. "Trying to keep you alive is a full-time fucking job."
I scowled, but I didn't retort with anything dumb like telling him not to bother looking after me. I wasn't that stupid. I needed them, or I really would end up like my mom. Beaten, strangled, and shot in the head.
"Should I be armed, too?" I asked as Kody and Steele both climbed into the back of the Range Rover. Apparently they were being gentlemen and letting me take the passenger seat. Dickheads.
Archer just looked me over and rubbed a hand over his dark stubble with a small groan. "No, you're fine. We don't actually expect any trouble." He popped the passenger door open and held it for me, indicating that I get in. I was torn between thinking it was a polite, kind gesture or just a passive-aggressive way to tell me to hurry the hell up. Whatever it was, I got in and buckled my seat belt while he circled around the front of the car to his side.
Steele and Kody chatted in the backseat as we left the garage and started down the driveway, but I wasn't focusing on their words. I was too conscious of the tense way Archer gripped the steering wheel and the lightning-fast glances he kept flicking at me. Or rather at my exposed thighs, thanks to the short dress riding up when I sat down. I wore sheer stockings held up by a black garter belt, but he couldn't see that much, giving him the illusion of bare legs.
When we paused at the gate, waiting for the security guard there to open them for us, Archer reached into his pocket with a frustrated sigh.
"Here," he muttered, holding out his crimson butterfly blade to me. "Take this. It matches your dress at least."
Shocked, I just stared at the knife for a moment, then took it when the gates opened fully and Archer needed to drive through.
"What about you?" I asked, holding the folded blade in my fist. It was warm from being in his pocket, and it was almost like touching an extension of him.
Archer just cocked a brow at me with a half smile. "I'll be fine, Kate. Just don't fucking stab yourself."
My heart stuttered at the rarely used name. Dallas was the only other person who called me Kate, and a cynical part of me couldn't help wondering if Archer did it as a dig toward my old friend and first love. Then... another part of me secretly loved it.
I didn't have any pockets in my dress, so for lack of any better ideas, I pulled the hem of my dress up, unhooked one of the suspenders from my stocking, and looped it through the blade handle before reattaching it. I tucked the bulk of the knife into the lace band at the top of my stocking, then gasped as the car swerved sharply.
"Whoa, what the fuck?" Kody asked from the backseat. "First time driving, bro?"
Archer's scowl was firmly fixed on the road, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. "Sorry," he muttered from behind clenched teeth. "Thought I hit a squirrel."
Kody and Steele made jokes about Archer's shitty driving, but I just side-eyed him.
Squirrel, my ass.
26
I don't know why I was surprised—nothing about these boys should shock me anymore—but the bouncers on the door of Club Twenty-Two didn't even bat an eyelid at Steele's poorly concealed firearm. They just gave Archer and the boys a respectful nod, then waved us all through with Bree in tow. We bypassed the huge