Liar (Madison Kate #2)(11)

"You already owe me," I reminded him, "for scaring off Drew at Bree's party."

He moved back a couple of inches, wrinkling his nose at the reminder. "I'll double owe you?"

I rolled my eyes. "What's the favor? The last one wasn't all so terrible." I dragged my tongue across my lower lip, remembering the way he'd used me to get rid of his ex-girlfriend. His gaze was glued on my mouth, but he wrenched it away and back to my eyes.

"I need you to go and talk with Steele," he said with a hopeful tilt to his brows. "He's... he needs you."

My eyes narrowed. "He didn't exactly seem overcome with joy to see me back just now." Yeah, I was bitter.

Kody's intuitive green eyes held me captive, peering way too deeply into my soul and stripping back the layers of my tough exterior. "Babe, come on. Steele just deals with his shit a bit differently. You know that." The pointed look he gave me reminded me of the night I'd fallen asleep to Steele's piano music. Was that how he dealt with his baggage? "Please?"

Ugh. Puppy dog eyes. How was such a pathetic facial expression so fucking effective on a gorgeous guy like Kody?

"Fine," I groaned. "So eager to throw your fake girlfriend into another man's arms already? This relationship is doomed."

A wide grin spread across Kody's lips, and he ducked down to kiss me again. "Or is it just about to get all kinds of interesting? It's just a matter of perspective, baby."

I'd be lying if I tried to tell anyone my internal voice didn't scream "reverse harem" at the top of its lungs. Except there were two problems there. One, my mental voice sounded a whole lot like Bree. And two, reverse harems required three or more love interests.

Archer was not an option.





5





I checked the time on my phone as I headed up to Steele's room. If I wanted to make it to my first lecture of the day, I needed to leave the house in about half an hour. There was no way in hell I could drive myself—not after crashing so recently—but maybe Kody would drive me.

Or Steele, if he didn't hate me like it'd sort of seemed in that brief interaction in the kitchen. Worse, if he was indifferent.

But Kody was right; I did need to talk to Steele. Even if it was just to gain some closure about where the fuck we stood with each other. It'd been a month since we fucked, and we'd barely spoken. That shit wasn't healthy, especially when we literally lived under the same roof.

I pulled up my metaphorical big girl panties and knocked on his bedroom door.

There was only a moment's pause before he answered and stared at me with a small frown pulling his brow.

"Madison Kate," he said, his pretty lips turning down slightly, "what's up?"

I blinked at him a couple of times. "Uh, wow. Okay." I ruffled my fingers through my loose, dusky rose waves and shoved aside the sharp knife of hurt at his nonchalance. "Last time I saw you, I'd just been stabbed and thought I was dying... Guess I expected more than 'what’s up' when I reappeared." I frowned, but he just stared back at me, his face impassive. "You know what? This was a dumb idea. I guess Archer was right for once; you really did get me out of your system."

I turned to leave, not even remotely interested in putting myself out there for Steele to trample all over. Kody could keep his fucking favor.

Steele's hand shot out, though, grabbing my wrist and hauling me into his room. The door slammed behind me, and my stomach fluttered with nerves.

"What did you just say?" he demanded, his beautiful gray eyes narrowed in fury.

I glared back at him, my own anger freshened up. "You heard me, Max." I don't know why I insisted on using his first name like that. Probably because he clearly hated it more than I hated being called by my full name. What were we, if not antagonistic assholes, really? "Archer bragged that all it took was one night with me and you were over your infatuation. I thought he was just being a prick, but I guess not."

Steele's jaw unhinged slightly, and I couldn't stop my attention from wavering to his tongue piercing for a millisecond.

"Are you kidding me right now?" he asked with a bitter laugh. "You must be. You're smarter than that, Madison Kate."

I ground my teeth together at the way he said my name. Tit for tat, I supposed.

"What else am I supposed to think when all I get from you is 'what's up?' like that?"

His fingers still circled my wrist, his grip tight enough to hurt. I wasn't pulling away, though. Hell, I was lost in a hailstorm of emotions that his touch had ignited. I was fast coming to the realization that I not only wanted Archer to be wrong because he was an insufferable asshole, I wanted him to be wrong because I still wanted Steele. Badly. Way more than I'd thought. Denial and I were way too well acquainted with one another these days.

"You're unbelievable," he muttered, dropping my wrist and turning away from me.

I rubbed at the spot his hand had touched, feeling the ghost imprint of his grip as disappointment flooded through me.

"Me?" I replied, shoring up my crumbling defences once more. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, Max."

He swung around once more, his eyes blazing. "Madison Kate, you're the one who ran away. Not me. You ran from me a month ago after we slept together—"