Chapter 105

The night of the event, I change Mia and myself into the golden dresses that Neil selected and delivered to us. Mine is glittery, sparkling under the light. I can’t help but feel beautiful, though I also can’t help but wonder how much this single dress cost.

Mia’s dress isn’t quite as glittery, though it does still shine under the lights. Hers comes with headband and a bow.

“You look precious,” I tell her. “Like a shiny coin.”

She giggles and I hug her.

A knock sounds on my door.

“Come in!” I call.

The door opens and Archer steps inside. When he sees me, he stops short. His gaze drops to my feet and then slowly drags all the way up the length of my body. I can feel the weight of his eyes as if he was touching me with his hands.

I stand still, accepting the praise of his lingering gaze. He licks his lips and I swallow hard.

“I’m to escort you both to the car,” he says.

As Mia and I approach, he reaches out and accepts Mia from my hands and brings her to his chest. She coos as she snuggles close. She might be drooling on his suit jacket a little. He doesn’t seem to care.

Neil would care.

Not that I’m thinking about Neil.

Archer watches me again but it’s different this time. He’s no longer appreciating, instead he is looking for something. He must find it. Or maybe not. Really, it’s hard to tell with him.

“Neil’s soon to be engaged,” he says.

I stand straighter, pretending that the words don’t stab through me like a dagger.

“Yes,” I say carefully. It feels like he’s digging for some kind of reaction. I’d rather not give him one.

“You’ll have to stop your… whatever you are doing.”

“We’ve already stopped,” I say. Well, we stopped as of the night we watched each other get off. But that still happened in the past, so I’m not lying.

Archer narrows his eyes. He doesn’t believe me.

Honestly, I wouldn’t believe me either.

“You don’t have to worry,” I say. He opens his mouth, likely to tell me he doesn’t actually give a shit. Because I don’t want to hear it, I barrel forward. “I understand I never had a chance with any of you.”

“You are beneath us,” Archer says. Asshole.

“Yeah, you guys have your heads too far up your own asses for me to want to follow you,” I say.

Archer’s mouth twitches, an almost smile. It doesn’t last.

“I swear that I never intended to be intimate with either of you.” I shrug a little. I really have no good excuse. “Things just… happened.”

“I remember,” Archer says, voice low all of the sudden.

I look up at him and he’s staring down the front of my dress. With me beside him, he must have a pretty good view of the swell of my breasts, what with the low cut of the front of my gown.

I don’t mention that Neil picked out this dress for me. Archer seems to appreciate it.

For a moment, something shifts in his gaze. If I didn’t know better, I might think that I see a flash of regret in his eyes, but that can’t be right.

The Hayes brothers don’t feel things like regret.

Together, we walk down to the garage. We don’t say anything, but it’s a comfortable kind of silence. I haven’t spent much time with Archer lately. I’ve missed him more than I want to admit. I’ve even missed arguing with him.

It’s nice now, to have him so close, even if only in presence. I don’t know if Archer feels it to, but after a while, he does slip one arm around me, holding me close.

I don’t say anything, afraid that acknowledging it might make it stop.

Down in the garage, the brothers are splitting into different cars to get to the event.

Neil looks over, sees me, Archer, and Mia, and walks over.

He glares at Archer’s arm on my waist. Archer pulls me a little closer. I blush.

“Chloe,” Neil says. “Why don’t you ride with me tonight instead of Archer?”

“You were the one who told me to escort her,” Archer says.

“A mistake, I realize now,” Neil says.

“A mistake for who?” Archer snaps back.

Neil frowns at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Maybe you should remember Angela tonight,” Archer says. “You know. Angela? Your girlfriend. Your soon-to-be fiancé.”

Neil’s features tighten. His hands form fists. He looks like he wants to argue, and I wait for it. I kind of want him to argue too.

In the end, he just sighs.

The disappointment surges out of me from where my heart lies breaking.

“I rescind my invitation then,” Neil says. Through grit teeth, he adds, “Chloe, you stay with Archer.”

“Okay.”

Neil turns on his heel and returns toward his own car. He keeps looking back, however.

“Fucking hypocrite,” Archer grumbles.

He releases his hold on me to open the backdoor of the car to access the car seat. Once he has Mia secure, he rights himself and turns back to me.

“Would you like to really get under Neil’s skin?” he asks me.

“How would we do that?” I ask.

Suddenly, Archer wraps his arms around my waist, drags me closer to him, then leans down and covers my mouth with his.

I’m so startled, I don’t fully understand what’s happening at first. But Archer is insistent. When he kisses, he demands participation.

His lips move against mine, coaxing mine open, and then his mouth swipes into my mouth, colliding with my own. I cling to his shoulders, fingers clawing for purchase against his slick suit coat as he continues to devour my mouth so deeply and thoroughly, I’m not entirely sure he isn’t trying to eat me whole.

“What the actual fuck?” says Beau, from not all that far off.

From slightly farther away, in Neil’s direction, I hear a deep and threatening growl.

Archer breaks the kiss so that I can catch my breath. I’m lightheaded.

“Kiss me back like you mean it,” Archer says. “We have to make this convincing.”

“Everyone else is watching too,” I whisper. I’m embarrassed I think, or… I know I should be, even if I’m not.

“Fuck them,” Archer says. “I’m the only one here that fucking matters.”

“And Neil?” I ask.

Archer’s brow lowers. “Give him a show, or don’t. I don’t give a damn.”

His mouth fell back to mine.

His argument seemed sound, I think. It was difficult to think much when Archer’s insistent lips were melding with mine and his tongue was probing mine like he meant to lay claim and build a summer house there.

With the last of my dwindling thoughts, I lifted my hands from his shoulders to comb through his hair instead, hopefully showcasing my enthusiasm for this moment to our watching audience.

Archer growled against my mouth. Then he lowered one hand and gripped my ass through my pants.

I broke the kiss this time to gasp. He swallowed the sound, giving me no recovery time before delving back in.

With Archer around me, fully encompassing me, I lost all track of space and time.

It wasn’t until Steven coughed politely from beside us, that I remembered where we were and what we were supposed to be doing.

“Neil’s gone,” Steven said.

I looked over and my heart dropped. Neil’s car was gone.

I had been so caught up in Archer’s kiss that I hadn’t heard him go.

“Good riddance,” Archer grumbled, though he released me too.

I stood there in the garage, suddenly very cold.