After eating, resting, and ultimately taking a nap, I woke up to an empty house. I felt good, though. Not too sore, and not too cloudy-headed from my medication. So, I decided to get up and meander around. I started with the upstairs, slowly going from room to room and seeing what all they had to offer. Hell, I even took a sneak peek into Archer’s room.
And my jaw about fell open onto the floor when I saw it.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
His room was one massive square, with the house-side walls being made of nothing but tinted glass. His four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room, with bedside tables hovering on either side of the bed since they were strung up from the fucking ceiling. His ensuite bathroom wasn’t separated from his bedroom, either. There was a tub that sat at the far corner of the bedroom, placed near the glass so the bather could overlook the beautiful view of the ocean.
And the beautiful walk-in shower wrapped up in tinted glass had a waterfall shower head that seemed to come from out of nowhere directly into the ceiling.
“Wow,” I murmured.
I could have set up camp in his room and never once left. But I decided not to creep on his personal space for very long. I slipped out and closed the door behind me, then gingerly made my way downstairs.
Where I almost got lost in the maze of hallways trying to find the rooms.
“Good God, who needs this much house?” I asked.
There was a library with books that looked like they had never been touched. There was a kitchen with beautiful, updated stainless steel appliances that looked like they were hardly utilized. The living room and dining area sort of bled into each other, and the refinished marble flooring alone boasted of how much this house probably cost him.
He makes this kind of money running with a crew?
I ran my fingertips along the kitchen granite countertop before making my way toward the back doors. I threw open the set of French doors and let the curtains flutter where they wished to go as I stepped out onto the finished wooden deck. The hot tub bubbled softly to my left while there seemed to be a patio set-up to my right around what looked like an open fire pit built directly into the floor of the deck itself.
And in front of me were a set of steps that led straight into the white, sandy beach.
“This is too much house to sit and do nothing with,” I murmured.
I made my way back inside and—as quickly as I could move— raced to get to my phone. I needed to call Astrid. I needed to tell her how stellar this place was.
And even though Archer would be pissed off, I wanted her to come over and hang out.
“Josie! How are you feeling?” she quickly asked.
I walked back down the stairs with Astrid on speakerphone. “You know, I’m not feeling too bad.”
“That’s good, that’s good. Have you eaten at all today?”
I nodded as I hit the bottom of the staircase. “Yeah, I had breakfast. But I slept through lunch.”
“Oh, no, no, no. That won’t do. Where are you? Isn’t Archer there to cook or something?”
I snickered. “Uuuuuh… I may or may not have pissed him off.”
She paused. “Wait, what? How? Archer’s the most even-keel person I know.”
I grinned. “Does Porter know that?”
“I mean, he’s right behind me, so yeah.”
I barked with laughter. “Well, I kind of… maybe… sort of… poked at him to tell me about his past when I realized he didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Aaaaand this is why you’re single.”
I snorted. “Will you just shut up and come over with food? I’m starving. And you’re going to DIE when you see his place.”
“Wait, is it really as nice as he said it is?”
I shook my head slowly. “Nicer, if you can believe it.”
After feeding her my order and finding a piece of mail in the kitchen that had Archer’s address on it, I hung up the phone. I figured he couldn’t get any more upset with me than he currently was, and besides! I didn’t know what the issue was, anyway! He ran with these people. They were his family. So, why didn’t they know where he lived?
Seemed fishy, if anyone asked me about it.
And forty-five minutes later, Astrid’s rapid knocking came at the door.
“Girl,” I said as I whipped it open, “I am so beyond glad you’re here.”
Her mouth was gaped open. “Holy fuck, this place is huge.”
I held my arms out. “Right!? Wait until I give you a tour. No, no, no, no. Wait until you see this back deck. Did you bring your bathing suit like I told you?”
She stepped inside. “Are these marble floors?”
I closed the door and locked it. “Did you bring it, though?”
She nodded mindlessly. “Wearing it under my clothes.”
“Great. Did you bring me one?”
She pointed to her purse as she looked up at the ceiling. “Holy fuck, he’s got a chandelier.”
I scooped the pizza and breadsticks out of her hand. “Here. I’ll lead you into the kitchen and you can gawk while I find us some drinks.”
Astrid took her time walking down the hallways as we weaved our way into the kitchen. She gasped with every turn and pointed at things she found absolutely unbelievable, and I couldn’t blame her. But Astrid’s phone soon buzzed and her nose was stuck in it.
“Porter?” I asked as I led her out onto the back deck.”
She typed back to him quickly. “Yeah. He’s at the clubhouse. Apparently, they’re waiting for Archer to show up before they have some sort of meeting.”
I rolled my eyes. “I hate it when men are dramatic.”
She giggled. “Because you like pushing their buttons.”
I gasped. “No, I don’t.”
Astrid eyed me carefully before I spoke again. “I love it.”
We fell apart laughing as I sat the pizza and breadsticks onto the edge of the hot tub. Astrid pulled her dress over her head and slipped out of her shoes while I headed back inside to get changed. I was stiff, but I had my full range of motion, so sliding into the bikini didn’t seem like such a terrible challenge.
And after grabbing our drinks that Astrid whipped up for us, I went back out to the hot tub.
Before walking down into it and handing Josie her drink.
“Wow, what a view,” she murmured.
I turned to face the ocean. “It’s even better when you wake up to the sounds of it.”
“Where the hell did Archer get this kind of money? Porter sure as hell doesn’t have this kind of money.”
I shrugged. “Maybe he does, but he just doesn’t tell you about it.”
She giggled. “Because he knows I’d end up convincing him to get a home for us just like this one.”
I sipped on my drink. “Say, you up for a little road trip?”
She slowly looked over at me. “Whyyyy?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Might be nice to go meet the guys at the clubhouse.”
She nudged me. “You want to eavesdrop, don’t you?”
I played with the drink straw with my tongue. “Don’t you dare try to convince me that you don’t want to do the same damn thing.”
She looked around. “Eat while we drive there?”
I set my drink down. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
We scrambled out of the hot tub and threw back our drinks before we clamored our wet bodies into our clothes. The hot tub could wait until later, but I wanted to know what those boys of ours were up to. Astrid scooped up our food and we locked the back doors behind us before blazing a trail toward her car. And after locking up the house to the best of my ability, we climbed into her car and headed for the clubhouse.
While stuffing our faces with a three-meat, veggie-filled pizza.
“Ugh, this is so good,” I groaned.
Astrid pointed. “Don’t forget about the breadsticks. You know they’re always better when they’re hot.”
I picked up the box from the floor. “Want some sauce on yours?”
She nodded. “Yes, please. Both ends.”
The idea of further pushing Archer’s buttons made me grin as we cruised down the road. With our windows rolled down and our stomachs full of good food, we eased up on the gas pedal as we got toward the clubhouse. We tried to silence our tires, but we could only do so much as they rolled over gravel. And by the time we got up to the front door, yelling drifted out from behind it.
“Oh, boy,” Astrid murmured.
I put my finger to my lips. “Shh! I’m trying to listen.”
“Enough!” Porter roared.
Astrid’s eyes widened as I stilled myself as much as possible to hear what was going on.
“You two good?” Porter asked.
“What are they talking about?” I whispered.
“Shh,” Astrid said curtly.
Brooks chuckled before he spoke. “I didn’t say we’d throw her in there tomorrow. We have to wait until the heat dies down a bit. At least, until she’s healed enough to cover up healing bruises with makeup.”
Wait, are they talking about me?
Then, Archer spoke in a voice that almost didn’t sound like his at all. “Fuck you all for even insinuating this shit.”
“It’s not like any of us can go undercover and strip. And even if Astrid was available—”
“Which she’s not,” Porter and Brooks said in unison.
I looked over at Astrid and watched her face pale. And I knew then and there that this conversation wasn’t a good one. But I focused because someone spoke again and I didn’t want to miss anything.
“As much as it sucks to admit, Josie’s our best shot at this. And we all know she wants to get back to work sooner rather than later. It was practically written all over her face.”
Archer’s voice became gruff. “Not gonna happen.”
Then, Brooks fired off again. “Well, it isn’t your decision to make.”
Nope. It’s mine.
Archer’s voice sounded heated. “What ever happened to protecting women and respecting them? Huh?”
Brooks’ voice grew low in its tone, and I had to strain in order to hear him. “We aren’t forcing her to do shit. We’re going to present it to her in an orderly fashion, and if she wants to take the risk, she can agree.”
Then, Porter spoke. “And she can turn it down just as easily and we won’t get her any grief about it.”
Then, Archer spoke again. “If we’re going to do that, then we find another woman to ask as well. We let Josie know that she isn’t the only one we’re asking, because I know that if we make her feel like she’s our only resort, she’ll do it whether she wants to or not.”
Brooks sighed. “She kind of is our last resort.”
Last resort? Are the guys in trouble?
Archer growled, and the sound filled my chest with, well, something. “Well, make it look like she’s not, big shot.”
My heart fluttered with the idea that Archer was defending me from… whatever the hell this was. The idea that someone in my life other than Astrid actually stuck up for me made me smile. But I still didn’t know what they were fighting about.
However, from the sounds of it, it seemed like they wanted me to do something for the crew.
What the hell could I possibly do for them?
I felt a responsibility to them, though. I mean, Porter had taken care of me and protected me at the hospital by keeping an eye out. Then, Cole patched me the rest of the way up and Archer had been so selfless with his home that he demanded I come stay with him until I could run my own life again. I owed these men a great deal, and if there was something I could do to help them, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
“Someone’s coming,” Astrid hissed.
And just as I stood up straight and rolled my shoulders back, the door ripped open. Leaving me standing toe-to-toe with an angry, red-faced Archer who looked more perturbed than anything that we were both standing there.
“Hey, Porter?” he asked.
I heard Porter stand to his feet. “Yeah?”
He eyed Astrid and me hotly. “I think we got company. You’re gonna wanna see who’s here.”
Nah. I’ll show them who I am myself.
And I slipped right past him as if he didn’t mean anything.
If I was going to be part of this meeting’s conversation, then the least they could do was fill me in while I sat among them.
Instead of being talked about like I was some pawn in a game they were playing without me.
