Liar (Madison Kate #2)(79)

"Hey Jase, this is MK," he said as I reluctantly came over and let him pull me into his lap. He was in his usual seat on the recliner, so I carefully avoided his left arm when he tucked me onto his lap.

Their manager flicked me a sneering look before focusing his gaze back on the TV. "We met earlier," he replied, and I made a scoffing sound in my throat.

Steele's fingers flexed on my waist, his brow twitching in silent question, and I just shook my head. Their manager was a total cunt-wanker, but he was their manager, not mine. So he could think whatever he wanted about me; I didn't have to work with him.

"Hey MK," Kody said as his onscreen race car crashed and burst into flames, "Jase booked us in for a photo shoot tomorrow over in Rainybanks. You didn't have any other plans, did you?"

If it'd been a few months ago, I would have taken that as Kody being a fucker and demanding I change my plans to suit their schedule at the drop of a hat. But shit was different. We were different. I could appreciate the fact that he simply wasn't comfortable leaving me at the house alone and was genuinely asking if I had other plans that they needed to work around.

"Nope, I'm free," I replied, enjoying the warmth of Steele's body beneath me. "What's the shoot for?"

Jase grunted a sound, shooting me a venomous look. "It's a closed set. No groupies, sorry. I'm sure you can entertain yourself for a day."

Archer won the race and tossed his controller onto the table with a loud sound. "Princess Danvers is coming, or we cancel the shoot. Nonnegotiable." He leveled a flat glare at Jase, who balked a bit, clearly having thought Archer would back him up.

Obviously, the boys’ manager had no idea how contradictory and unpredictable Archer D'Ath could be where I was concerned.

Jase cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable, but gave Archer a short nod. "Fine, you want to go breaking closed-set rules, that's on you."

Archer just grunted. "Yeah. It is."

That was an end-of-conversation if I'd ever heard one, but Jase must have really gotten his panties in a twist about me for some reason because he just couldn't let it go.

"Damn, Arch, you got a hard-on for her too, huh? Been forever since I've had a slut up for a gang bang, but I'm game." The sneering disgust on his face as he leered at me sort of painted a different picture, though.

I was ready for him, but I didn't get a chance to put him in his place. Archer shot out of his seat and grabbed Jase by the collar of his shirt, dragging him out of the den with Kody tight on his heels.

I arched a brow at Steele, but he placed a finger against his lips. He tilted his head as if to indicate we listen, so I pinched my lips closed and strained my ears.

"Get the fuck out, Jase," Archer told him in a voice like ice and death. "Sort out that fucking attitude before the shoot tomorrow or don't come." He stomped back into the den and flopped his ass back down on the couch without even glancing at me.

Kody wasn't done with their manager yet, though.

"Talk about our girl—or any girl—like that again and you'll find yourself right back where we found you, a penniless con artist working the streets for scraps and charity. Now fuck off."

The sound of the front door slamming echoed through the house, and Kody returned to us in the den with a deep scowl marring his handsome face. He didn't immediately sit back down, though, first coming over to me where I sat on Steele's lap and grabbing my face for a bruising kiss.

"Sorry about him, babe," he told me, brushing his thumb over my lower lip and staring into my eyes with sincerity. "He's always been a socially awkward son of a bitch, but that was way over the line."

I snorted a dry laugh. "Don't sweat it, Kodiak. I put up with bigger assholes on a daily basis. I've got a pretty good handle on not taking shit personally." I shot a pointed look past him to Archer, who just glared back at me with an unreadable expression.

"We know you're capable of handling yourself, gorgeous," Steele told me, stroking his fingers through my hair, "but you shouldn't have to. Not if we can take care of it."

Archer made an exaggerated gagging sound and stood up from the couch. "The air in here just got sickeningly sweet. Kody, I'll meet you in the gym." He clapped his friend on the shoulder, then exited the room, taking his thundercloud of shitty attitude with him.

Kody sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. "So much for winter break. You guys coming? MK needs to keep working on her self-defense training, Steele. Maybe you can help while I train Arch?"

"You bet," Steele replied, even while I made a sound of protest. The last thing I wanted to do was share a gym with Archer. Actually... having met Jase I could think of worse things.

"But why?" I complained as Kody helped me up out of Steele's lap, "Didn't Archer spend all morning in the gym already? That boy needs a hobby."

Kody laughed, cleaning up the empty beer cans. Actually, I was wrong, only a few were beer cans and the rest were sparkling water. "Jase secured a comeback fight for him in a few weeks. The original fighter fell sick with a virus, and the other guy asked for a replacement instead of a forfeit. So now it's back into hardcore training mode again."

"Come on, Hellcat," Steele teased, looping his arm around my waist and directing me back upstairs. "Let's get changed, and you can show me these moves Kody taught you last week."