“I’m good.” He rakes one hand through his already tousled hair. It’s still damp from his shower with Elliot.
My brow raises subtly. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“Depends. What did you ask?” His jaw tenses and his gray gaze meets mine.
I clear my throat, now studying him more carefully. “I asked if you were sure Elliot was okay.”
“Yeah. Physically, she’s good.”
I squint at him and exchange a look with Cannon. Archer is totally acting off all of a sudden, and we both recognize it. He’s almost always on task. Always aware of what’s going on around him. He fuckin’ watches.Everything.
Only now… he’s not.
Archer finally zeroes in on the two of us looking at him oddly, his brow furrowing as he blows out a hard breath. “I’m fuckin’ sorry. My mind is elsewhere.”
I give him a look that I hope he reads as something likeYou can say that againright before I follow up with a question. There’s only one other thing that I can think of that can take a man’s brain from where it should be. And that’d be if he’s thinking with his dick. “And where would that be? With Elliot in the shower?”
Archer stares at me for several seconds, then flicks his eyes to Cannon, who is also looking on curiously. He shrugs, holding up his hands. “I had to help her shave her legs earlier.”
I glance at Cannon out of the corner of my eye and find we’re both frowning hard at him, not understanding, but then a light bulb goes on. I tilt my head to the side and drag my teeth over my lower lip. “Ah, shit.” I grit my teeth. “Fuck. I should have recognized that might be a problem.”
Cannon’s head bows for a moment, and I can feel the way he’s about to place blame on himself for not thinking of it himself.
Archer eyes both of us. “It didn’t occur to me either, so don’t feel bad.” He drags in a breath. “She has her head on straight enough that she came to me when she was concerned for her own safety. I agreed to help her and that went as well as it could.” He stops, shaking his head. “But I was too chicken shit to tell her that I’d already removed anything I thought she could hurt herself with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I did, but that still doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better that I’ve kept it from her. I’ve got to go to her. That’s where my mind has been. I need to tell her what I did. I don’t want to keep it from her.”
Cannon holds up his hand, palm out, like we should hold for a moment. A frown deepens on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Archer lets out a cautious breath as he waits for Cannon to answer, uncharacteristically not reading our friend at all. Probably too fuckin’ worked up.
“He’s trying to tell you that you’ll do no such thing. We’ll go with you.” I grip the back of my neck with a firm hand, yanking on it because I feel the stress of the situation building. “We’re on the same team. Always.”
Cannon holds his phone up and quickly sends a few messages.
We’re brothers.
She’s our girl.
We go to her together.
Everything you did was for her safety.
Archer works his jaw back and forth, and his chest visibly clenches. I’m sure he’s considering what her potential response might be, the same way I am. He wets his lips and draws in a deep, steadying breath. Blinks. “Elliot trusts me. I didn’t exactly lie to her, but I let her believe I’d gone and gotten her razor from her shower, when in reality, I’d gotten it from my chest of drawers, where I’d hidden it along with all the other things I removed from her room two days ago.” He drags in a ragged breath. “Bottom line, we aren’t far enough out from this incident that I won’t worry about her, so I’ll continue to monitor her as much as I can, which I know she both likes and hates in equal measure. She’s independent as fuck but also vulnerable in certain situations.” His eyes flick between the two of us and words scrape out of his throat, rough and unsure. “Will she understand?”
“Only one way to find out.” I pick myself up off the floor and gesture to the door. “Let’s go.” I put a reassuring hand on Archer’s shoulder as he stands to join me. I draw in a deep breath, nervous thoughts clanging mercilessly in my head.
FIFTEEN
ARCHER
Across the hall,Cannon gives his customary pattern of taps with his hand on the door.
From inside, we hear Elliot’s voice. “If it’s Alec, you can fuck right off. If it’s Cannon, come on in. It’s open.”
I push open the door and one by one, we file in. “It’s all of us. But that was cute, Peaches.”
Elliot sits cross-legged on her bed—in my T-shirt and boxer briefs—looking at something on her phone. At our approach, she carefully sets it facedown on her pillow. She shrugs at my comment, smoothing her hand over her leg. “What can I say? Can you blame me for not wanting to allow Alec anywhere near my room again?”
Cannon lets out a low rumble of a groan, his jaw tense, but points at the bed beside her.
