Page 55 of Archer
With a quiet sigh, she tips her head back, giving him better access, then whimpers as his tongue invades her mouth. Their kiss captures that moment when a match sparks and catches fire. It’s all heat and longing and—holy shit—such chemistry it blows me away. As amazing as it is, I definitely see something else, too. There’s a tether between them, an emotional connection that’s different than what Cannon or I have with her. And definitely different than what I feel growing between Kingston and me. The more all these connections wind together, they’ll form an indestructible bond, linking the four of us together in ways I doubt any of us saw coming.
Kingston pulls away, breathing hard and touches his forehead to hers. “You listen to me. He had no right to be a fuckin’ dick about it. If he’d have come to the house, I would have dealt with him privately. But my guess is he planned to do most of that publicly. I embarrassed him, so he tried to do the same to me—by way of you.”
Her gaze lowers, but he doesn’t let it for long, lowering his head to force her to look at him. “No. I see what’s running through your head.” Kissing her lips lightly, he rasps, “You could never fuckin’ embarrass me, Elle. You mean so much more to me than you’ll ever understand. He underestimated you, me, andusif he thinks anything he did helped his cause.”
Her fingers clench at the fabric of the shirt at his sides, and she nods, taking in a ragged breath, her eyes closing for a moment, like she’s trying to make herself believe him.
That’s a product of her fucking asshole of an ex, right there. I don’t want to interrupt their moment, but she needs us to help her understand that just because one person says she isn’t worthy of love … that doesn’t make it so. My heart swells painfully. I wish I could take all the things that hurt her into myself and handle them for her, right along with all my own damage. I blow out a hard breath, realizing I’ve missed part of the conversation. “What did you say, Peaches?”
She grinds her teeth, meeting my eyes with a hint of nerves in hers. “I’m worried the alumni are going to make me leave. Or that Kingston’s father is going to contact mine. It could get ugly.”
Elliot is still caught up in Kingston’s embrace, but I put my arm around her back. “We won’t let go of you so easily. I’m prepared to fight to keep you here.”
“I’ve said it more than once, Elle. You’re ours. And anyone who thinks they can make you do something you don’t want to do is out of their goddamn mind.” Kingston shifts, throwing his arm around me.
A moment later, Cannon shakes his head, a fierce look on his face, and steps in on her other side, completing our circle. He clasps his hand at the back of her neck and brings her face to his. “Always ours,” he says, his voice gravelly, before he presses an urgent kiss to her lips.
We stay there, simply breathing together, for quite some time before Kingston catches each of our gazes in turn. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
* * *
It’d takenus a bit to protect the car with all four of us having come into contact with Elliot and the mud, so by the time we get back to the house and trudge up to the front door and let ourselves in, it’s late. Elliot’s wearing my button-down shirt and is wrapped around Kingston like she belongs there. He carries her up the stairs so she won’t leave muddy footprints everywhere, and as he does, Cannon nudges me and points to the kitchen with a raised brow. Dude is always hungry.
“Nah, man. I don’t need anything. Fill that tank. I’ll be hanging out in my room if you need anything.”
He nods and waves as he proceeds into the depths of the house while I turn and jog up the stairs. Kingston moved pretty fast, because he’s nowhere in sight when I reach the landing. With a shrug, I head for my room. Those two need some alone time, so I’ll try my best to not barge in too soon. Instead, I’ll change and check out the camera feeds to see what went down when the rest of the brotherhood returned to the house earlier. And maybe I’ll scope out what they’re up to right now, too, for that matter.
Standing in the hall, I listen for a few seconds. It seems like maybe they’re in Elliot’s bathroom, which makes perfect sense, considering what a mess she was.Fuuuck.Elliot and Kingston naked in the shower. Now, there’s an image I could set on fuckin’ replay in my head all day.
I peel out of my clothing on my way across the room, taking care not to leave the muddy clothes everywhere like I normally would. Instead, I set them neatly in the laundry basket inside my closet. I venture into my bathroom in my boxer briefs. Now that I’m undressed, I’m none the worse for wear—with the exception of a brown smear on my jaw. I quickly run some water and rinse it off. Patting my face dry, a notification buzzes loudly against the granite. It’s probably just Cannon from downstairs texting to ask if I want to order a pizza. But as I finish up and hang the towel to dry, the incoming notifications continue to vibrate against the counter, and that thought falls away as I worry what could necessitate this many texts before I even get a chance to respond. It makes me nervous as fuck, so I pick it up, thumbing open my text messages.
It’s definitely not Cannon. It’s my father. And even worse is what he has to say.
You’re expected home for fall break.
Your mother is off somewhere with her new boyfriend.
But Callie and I will be home.
Damien said it’ll be good to have us all together.
His break is the same weekend.
My vision tunnels. I stand there for several moments, gripping the counter with one hand for support while trying not to let my other shake as I stare down at my phone. A sick feeling steals over me, bottoming out in my gut. Fuckno.My parents divorced when I was entering middle school, and it wasn’t long after that when my father turned around and married an obnoxious woman named Callie with a teenage boy close to my age. For Damien and me, it’d been hate at first sight. I shudder at the slideshow of memories that accosts me at the mere thought of the guy. His name is fitting; he’s the devil incarnate.
When he and his mother moved into our house, my home became my purgatory. Now that I’ve escaped hell, there is no way I’m going back, so if that prick is going to be there, I’ll find somewhere else to go. Or fuckin’ stay here. But no fucking way will I subject myself to his cruelty, even if Iambetter equipped to deal with it now.
Fuck all three of them, and fuck my mother for never believing me. Without responding to him, I shove all that bullshit into a box at the back of my mind and lock it away with a mental key. It sucks that occasionally the lock pops open on its own and allows some of the bad to leak out, infiltrating areas of my life I’d prefer it didn’t.
At my computer desk, I grab the bottle of honey whiskey I’d snagged as soon as Kingston bought it and a tumbler, feeling the need to numb myself. When I’m intoxicated, it makes things less vivid. Less painful. Pouring a few fingers of the amber-colored mind eraser, I lift it carefully to my lips and take a small amount into my mouth, swirling it around and holding it in my mouth for a moment before swallowing. I release a deep sigh.Better.
With a wiggle of my mouse, I bring the bank of computer monitors to life and immediately go for the security cameras. I scan the house cameras, looking back in time on each feed to make sure I don’t miss a damn thing. It only takes me a handful of minutes to see that the other members of our brotherhood had mostly come in and yapped about Jared having shown up at the game while getting snacks and drinks in the kitchen. After that, everyone parted ways to their rooms for showers and sleep.
Flipping to the upstairs feed, I scroll back a bit, immediately finding Kingston carrying Elliot down the hall and into her room, then I show up seconds after. There’s nothing before that.
I tell myself that looking at the cameras inside Elliot’s room is unnecessary because I already know that no one was upstairs, but… I want to. Can’t even fucking help myself—though I should be able to control the urge to look. I move the cursor over to select a camera in her room, going back until I see movement. There’s Kingston with Elliot again. He hadn’t set her down until they’d reached the bathroom. I grit my teeth. That’s it for that feed. They’re in the bathroom, doing god knows what. But fuck me, the temptation to keep watching is huge. All I’d have to do is select the other video feed to take a peek at what they’re doing.
Fuck it.Kingston won’t care. I pull up the footage that spans most of the bathroom, including the sink, counter, and all the way back to the shower. There they are, exactly where I knew they would be.