Liar (Madison Kate #2)(14)

Kody snickered but did as he was told, heading inside the university without us.

"Are you okay?" Steele asked when his friend was out of sight. He came around the car to me and hovered his hand over my waist like he wanted to grab me but didn't want to risk hurting me.

I nodded. "Totally fine," I assured him, lifting my shirt up slightly to show him the healing wound. "It was a clean cut, and the stitches came out days ago. It barely even hurts now, unless I move too quickly."

Steele's brow furrowed, and he traced his thumb gently along the raised scar, his touch feather-light. "You know we're going to find whoever did this, right?" His gaze met mine, but his fingertips still rested on the bare skin of my stomach. "We'll find him and show him the true meaning of agony for what he did to you."

The cold violence in his eyes sent a shiver of fear through me, balanced equally by arousal. A therapist would have a field day with my attraction to these three mysterious, dangerous guys, but I wasn't in the mood to psychoanalyze myself.

Instead, I just pulled him in with a handful of his shirt, crushing my lips and my body to him in a physical display of what I thought of his promise.

Steele ended our kiss way too soon, but I was mollified by his reasoning. "Dammit, Hellcat. You're going to make me suffer through my lectures with a hard-on."

I smirked but gave him a second to rearrange his dick before we headed into the building, where Kody waited for us. Not that he was lacking for company. A beautiful redheaded girl that I used to go to Shadow Prep with was flipping her hair and batting her lashes at him like she was developing a tick.

"You done pawing at my girlfriend, bro?" the gigantic, blond flirt teased, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his embrace right there in front of his admirer. Beth, I think her name was. Bree and I had kept a pretty tight circle at Shadow Prep, and it'd been over a year since I'd seen any of my old classmates.

"Your girlfriend?" she squeaked, giving me huge eyes. They lacked the spiteful jealousy women often threw around when they spotted competition. Instead, she just looked sheepish. "Sorry, MK," she told me, "I didn't realize. Good to see you back in Shadow Grove." Her smile was tight, a little cool, but not malicious.

"Thanks, Beth," I replied. She didn't correct me or look confused, so I must have gotten her name right.

Her answering smile was a bit warmer, like she hadn't expected me to recognize her.

Score.

"Well, I'll see you around," she told me, then flickered an appreciative gaze over Steele before walking away with a sway in her step.

"Friend of yours?" Steele asked me with his pierced brow raised.

I shook my head. "Some girl from Shadow Prep. And apparently a big fan of yours, Kody."

He just grinned this broad, arrogant fucking smile that made me want to hit him and kiss him at the same damn time. "Good thing she now knows I have a girlfriend, then." He tightened his arm around me, kissing my hair.

"You're insufferable," Steele muttered. "Archer isn't even here."

Kody snickered. "Like I care."

Steele flipped him off and went in the opposite direction to get to his class, but Kody walked with me all the way to the door of my lecture. Like we were dating for real.

Were we?





I was woefully behind in my classes, that much became clear before the day was even halfway over. My head was pounding and my scar aching by the time I made my way into the cafeteria, but my mood lifted dramatically when I spotted Bree at the buffet.

"Hey girl," she greeted me when I sidled up beside her. "You made it! Sorry for not texting back; you sent that message in, like, the dead of the night. I wouldn't have made it in time even if Archer hadn't told me not to worry."

I shrugged. "All good, he's ramped up the caveman routine, so I'm not even surprised. I think me checking myself out of the hospital threatened his whole control-freak thing he's got going on."

Bree snickered, giving me a wrinkled-nose look. "Uh, yeah. Something like that. Anyway, how did the meeting go?"

I blinked at her, confused. "What meeting?"

"With your 'family friend' yesterday? The one you were being super cagey about on the phone when you wouldn't tell me where you were?" She arched a brow at me, and I nodded. The meeting with Zane. Leader of the Shadow Grove Reapers. That one.

"Um, it was good," I responded with total vagueness. I loaded my tray up with all the deliciousness on offer—pizza, fries, chocolate brownies, basically anything I could see that might trigger Kody's health-and-fitness button. What could I say? I liked the conflict. And the carbs.

Bree and I made our way over to a vacant table, but she paused before we put our trays down. "Uh, MK? I think..." She indicated over my shoulder, and I turned to look.

The guys—all three of them—were at their usual table with their usual crew of adoring women crowded around them. Kody had stood up and was indicating that we join them, but... fuck that. The brunette bitch who'd dumped juice on me was literally sitting in Archer's lap, and I wasn't about to go making friends anytime soon.

Meeting Kody's eyes, I shook my head firmly and dropped my tray onto the table.

He rolled his in response and abandoned his table to saunter over to us.