Liar (Madison Kate #2)(78)

Archer glowered at me, but his eyes flashed with understanding as he got my meaning—that his bullshit was turning his own friends against him.

Yeah, bitch. Suck it. They're mine now.

I smiled, smug as fuck, and sipped my espresso again.

Archer took two steps toward me, forcing me to look up to meet his gaze as his freshly painted shirt brushed my knuckles.

"Stop pushing me, Madison Kate," he demanded in a low, danger-filled tone. "I have been all kinds of lenient with you, but my patience is fast running out."

Defiance flared up in me, and I tilted my chin, letting the challenge play out in my arrogant, fearless smirk. "Do your worst, D'Ath."

His blue eyes flared, and his lips parted to retort or... something. But the peel of our doorbell interrupted whatever his snappy comeback was going to be, and his brow dropped in an irritated frown.

"Fuck," he cursed, moving away from me a step, "that's Jase. Do me a favor and don't piss him off? I need to get changed." He swiped his paint-covered shirt over his head, showing me the red swelling on his chest where the paintballs had hit him at close range, then disappeared out of the kitchen.

Moments later, a guy in maybe his mid-thirties strolled into the kitchen like he owned the place and paused when he saw me standing there.

"Hi, you must be Jase," I greeted him with a smile, holding my hand out for him to shake.

He took it, clasping with a medium pressure and eyeing me with curiosity. "And you must be Madison Kate, the girl who caused my best client to lose his first UFC title fight."

My brows shot up at the animosity in his tone. "Maybe he lost because he simply isn't as good as everyone tells him he is. Or maybe his manager pushed him into a fight he wasn't ready for? I heard there was a bit of a scandal with doping, too. Was that your influence, Jase?"

His face clouded over to something angry and dark. It was pretty clear I'd made a new enemy without even trying very hard, but something told me he'd already formed plenty of opinions about me before we met. "Listen here, you little whore—" he started to say, his voice like acid.

"Jase," Archer's voice barked across the kitchen, and his manager jerked like he'd been electrocuted. "I know you're not the brightest crayon in the box, but I'd seriously warn against insulting Madison Kate in her own home. She's got claws and isn't afraid to use them."

Now it was my turn to jerk in shock. Had he just defended me?

"Besides," Archer continued, "Kody and Steele are both hitting that on a regular basis, so if you want to keep your job, I'd probably keep the name-calling to a minimum." He shot me a nasty smile. "No matter how accurate the names are."

And there it was. Fucker couldn't help himself.

"Whores get paid to fuck, Arch," I clapped back with a sarcastic smile, "and no amount of money on Earth would make me fuck you. But hey, I bet your hand is feeling pretty used and abused today. Maybe you should chuck yourself a couple of bucks for all the wanking you must've done listening to us last night."

I downed the rest of my coffee in one sip and dropped my cup into the sink, then raised both my middle fingers to both Archer and Jase on my way out of the kitchen. Call me crazy, but I could think of about seventeen thousand better things to do with my day than stand around and be insulted by Archer and his shitty manager.

What a prick the mysterious Jase turned out to be.

I returned to my room and hunted out my phone to call Bree, except the fucker was out of battery. With a sigh, I plugged it into the wall and flopped back onto my bed. Trading verbal blows with Archer always seemed to take all the energy out of me, so I draped my arm over my eyes and decided to take a little nap while I waited for my phone to turn back on.

Five minutes, that'd do it.

Then I'd call Bree and demand to know how long this thing with Dallas had been going on and why they'd hidden it from me. Not that I'd been super forthcoming about my own love life, but hypocrisy was the spice of life, right?





29





My five-minute nap turned into an hour, then I spent another forty-five minutes on the phone with Bree, talking about her fling with Dallas. Apparently she'd had a crush on him for forever and had been acting weird with me because she was feeling guilty.

After I’d assured her that I had zero interest in rekindling my old romance with Dallas, then backed that information up by telling her about my ménage relationship with Kody and Steele, she finally seemed to get the message. I wasn't mad, and I wasn't even going to be weird about it.

I was happy for her and Dallas; they were kind of perfect for each other.

Wandering back downstairs, I crossed my fingers that Jase the epic douchecanoe would be gone. I was too tired and hungry to deal with more of his preconceived issues with me, but I'd hand him his ass if he called for it.

Voices came from the den, and I was pleased to see Kody and Steele had returned home. Jase, unfortunately, was still here. The four of them were sitting around playing video games and drinking beer, and I was a bit jealous to be left out. Or rather, three of them were playing and Steele was just watching and looking shitty as hell.

I hesitated a moment, not wanting to deal with Jase and Archer together, but Steele spotted me standing there and held out his hand, inviting me over to join them.