Liar (Madison Kate #2)(64)

Kody nodded, finishing his mouthful before speaking. "Also, we're snowed in for another day, so you may as well just relax tonight. I'll help you study tomorrow, if you want."

"Really?" I gaped at him. I didn't even know where I'd left my phone earlier in the day so couldn't check for myself. But Kody passed me his, which showed the official message from SGU administration. "Well, that's lucky. I should probably start tonight, though..." But I didn't want to. I wanted to stay on the cozy couch and play stupid video games with the boys. I wanted a moment of normalcy after such a crappy, fear-filled day.

"Just play the damn game, Princess," Archer growled. "You can't possibly get any worse, but maybe driving into a few walls will chill you out a bit."

I seethed. "I'm not that bad."

But I was. I really was.

"Prove it," Archer replied, turning his challenging gaze on me, "or are you scared?"

Kody snorted a laugh. "Weak effort, bro. It's a video game, not a real race car. MK isn't gonna—"

"Fine," I snapped, holding Archer's gaze with my own brimming full of defiance. "Let's play, then."

Yes, I was a giant sucker. Yes, I was well aware I'd played beautifully into his hands. But also? I didn't care. It suited my own desire to stay in the den with the three of them, so I let him think he'd won.

For the rest of the night, we sat around playing racing games—all of us getting our asses kicked by Steele—and indulging in playful banter. Like we were friends. It was... strangely nice. Of course, I lost every damn game, driving so badly that at some point Kody took pity on me and pulled me onto the floor with him so he could show me how to correctly use the controller.

His strong arms wrapped around me, his hands on my hands as he showed me which buttons did what I needed them to do and in what order to do shit. After a couple of races under his tutelage, I was driving a hell of a lot better. Still losing, but at least I was going the right direction.

"Somehow, I don't think I have any future as a professional gamer," I muttered as my race car hit the barrier and started rolling. On the upside, it hit Archer's car—lapping me again—and took him out in a ball of computer-generated flames.

"Hey!" he protested, "I was winning that one!"

Steele snorted. "No, you weren't, dickhead." His and Kody's cars both sailed across the finish line, confetti and streamers displaying on their quarters of the screen while mine and Archer's flashed with LOSER.

"I'm grabbing more drinks," Kody announced, getting up from his seat on the carpet. Without him sitting beside me, I climbed back up onto the couch and stretched out my back. As much as I loved having Kody's arms around me, the couch was a hell of a lot more comfortable.

Steele was eagerly queuing up a new game, and I noticed him flick the difficulty setting up to expert. I groaned. "Come on, like I wasn't failing hard enough on beginner level?"

He just flashed me a wicked grin, the metal of his tongue stud catching the light between his teeth. "Yeah, so what difference does it make? Come on, let me thrash Arch on the hardest setting."

I laughed and tossed my controller onto the coffee table. "I'll sit this round out and just watch, then. Kick his ass, Max."

Archer just narrowed his eyes at me, but it lacked the heat our glares usually held. Steele whooped with excitement and switched the game to two-player, starting it before Kody even got back with their fresh beers.

Their race this time was all serious intensity, and I got the distinct impression they'd just been playing around while I was in the game with them. This time, though, it was an actual race.

"Fucking hell," I muttered when Steele won—of course—by a hair. "I guess I should be glad you don't drive like that in real life." Then I paused. "Do you?"

Steele grinned. "Nah, babe. I just like to fix cars and play video games. It's Arch that drives like a reckless fuckwit. He just can't beat me on consoles, and it drives him nuts."

I shot a look to the brooding bastard beside me on the couch. Had he gotten closer during that game? There was hardly an inch between our shoulders, and a long section of my rose-colored hair rested on his sleeve. When had that happened?

Archer just scowled at the TV screen, seeming not to notice our close proximity. So maybe I was reading too much into it.

"Rematch?" he suggested. He acknowledged then dismissed my searching look with a quick flick of his blue eyes. "Best of three?"

Steele snorted. "Your funeral, bro."

Kody dropped cold beers down in front of everyone, then instead of sitting back on the floor, he pulled me up from the couch and took my seat. Before I could protest, though, he tugged me back down into his lap and closed his arms around me in a warm embrace. It was... perfect.

I tucked my feet up on the couch and settled into his chest, getting comfortable to watch the boys battle it out with their CGI cars for bragging rights.

It was exactly what I needed to let go of all the fear and paranoia my stalker had sparked with his package. That feeling wasn't totally gone, but it had eased enough that I could relax, and for that I would be eternally grateful to the boys and their video games.





24





The next day I forced myself to study all day. Kody was a shitty study buddy and proved to be way more distraction than help, so I ended up shutting myself in my bedroom to study with Bree on a Zoom call. Not that she was a lot of help, seeing as she was taking totally different classes, but it helped to have her company. Even if it was only on my computer screen.