"Yeah, can you let me in? My dad forgot to give me the gate code." I peered up at the camera, folding my arms and tapping my foot in irritation.
There was another long pause, then: "You're an independent woman, Madison Kate. You got yourself here from the airport all on your own, after all. I'm sure you can work it out."
He—whoever he was—sounded like he was laughing at me.
Fucker.
After flipping off the security camera, it took me all of two minutes to throw my suitcase over the gate, then climb the damn thing using my father's ostentatious wrought iron monogram for purchase. I dropped to the other side with a puff of breath, then dusted my hands off on my pants. I'd long since ditched my "Danvers" look of designer dresses and high heels all the time and had never been more comfortable. Certainly made shit like breaking into your own family estate easier.
It took me a solid five minutes to drag my suitcase up the paved driveway to the main house. Five minutes that I could feel someone watching me and laughing.
Whoever this prick was, he'd chosen the wrong day to mess with me. The wrong fucking year.
"You made it back." Steele appeared from the side of the house, giving me a lopsided grin. He was wiping something black off his hands with a dirty rag, and peering past him, I could see a half-open garage door. Inside, his shiny, silver-gray muscle car had its hood propped open.
"That I did," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "Why are you here?"
His grin spread wider and he tucked the greasy rag into the back pocket of his ripped black jeans. "Oh, you didn't know? I live here."
4
The sound of the front door slamming open echoed through the enormous foyer like a gunshot, and I smothered a grimace. Not quite what I'd been aiming for when I'd shoved it open, but there I was letting my anger get the better of me. Again.
"Madison Kate, wait up," Steele called from behind me, but I was in no mood. I whirled around to face him, my waist-length pink hair flying out around me like some kind of superhero cape.
"Just show me where my room is," I half-demanded, half-pleaded. "I'll call my dad after I've showered. I'm sure he has a really great explanation why you, of all people, live here."
He ran a hand over his short brown hair, leaving a smudge of grease in its wake. "Or you could just chill the fuck out for two seconds and let me explain it? We really thought you already knew."
"We?" I repeated, then remembered my father's use of the plural boys. "Great. There's more of you." I pinched the bridge of my nose, screwing my eyes shut in a pointless effort to hold off my mounting migraine.
"About time you showed up, Princess. We were starting to think you were too scared to return to Shadow Grove after all." The voice was familiar. So fucking familiar. It was a voice that had replayed over and over in my mind for eleven long months while I dreamed of all the violent and painful ways I'd make him pay for what he'd done to me.
My eyes snapped open and locked onto a pair of unforgettable baby blues. "You," I snarled, snapping out my curled fist and punching that gorgeous man right in the fucking nose.
Or, it would have landed on his nose if he hadn't dodged with some scary fast reflexes. As it was, my knuckles glanced off his cheekbone, and I stumbled off balance.
"Fuck!" the stunning, blue-eyed man shouted, clapping a hand to his cheek.
For my part, the only reason I didn't face plant into the ugly Persian rug we stood on was the fact that a pair of hands had circled my waist and caught me in mid-fall.
"What's your fucking problem?" Blue-eyes roared, even while I was spun around in my savior’s grip and kissed swiftly, right on the lips, by the third stooge. Green-eyes.
"Hey, girl." He grinned, his emerald eyes twinkling with mischief. "I thought I'd never see you again. Love the hair." He flipped one of my long, dusky rose tresses and winked. My lips tingled where he’d just kissed me, and a barrage of conflicting emotions zapped through me.
What. The. Fuck?
I wrenched myself free of his grip and slapped him for the stolen kiss, then took some seriously long steps away from the three of them.
"This isn't happening," I muttered aloud. "One of you had better explain what the fuck you're doing in my father’s house, or so help me..."
"So help you what?" Blue-eyes taunted me. His cheek and right eye were already coming up with a red mark, and I was smugly proud of that. It wasn't what I'd aimed for, but I hoped it hurt nonetheless.
I shook my head slowly, letting all my year-long anger and hate well up in my eyes. "Trust me, you don't want to find out. I already owe you for framing me for B&E and nearly sinking me for manslaughter." My voice was scathing, sharp enough to strip paint.
"What?" Green-eyes asked, wrinkling his brow. It only fueled the fire of my anger.
I sneered at him. At them. All of them. "Oh, you're going to pretend you didn't hand deliver me to the Shadow Grove police to take a fall for shit I had nothing to do with?"
Green-eyes at least had the decency to look ashamed. Steele just frowned, and Blue-eyes? He looked ready to fight. Bring it on, pretty boy. I had a year of hatred stored up inside me, just begging to be let out.
"Well then," Blue-eyes said, and I got the distinct impression he was the leader of this little crew. He wasn't the tallest—Green-eyes had maybe a half inch on him, but he was the most imposing. He had presence, like he was used to people ducking and cowering when he walked into a room. "I sure hope you learned to forgive and forget while you were on that meditation retreat because we're not only attending SGU together when classes start on Monday... we're practically family."
I blinked about sixteen times. "Excuse me?" I spluttered.
A cruel, menacing smile twisted his lips. "You didn't know? My mom is dating your dad. He was kind enough to offer the three of us a place to live while we're attending the shiny new Shadow Grove University."
I shook my head, disbelieving. How could my father not have mentioned this? I'd think three strange men living in his house should have been pretty high up the list of things to mention to his only child. Then again, he hadn't even bothered to hang around and meet me.
"This must be a fucking joke," I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face. "This isn't fucking happening. I'm not this unlucky."
"Not the reaction we usually get," someone muttered. Green-eyes, maybe.
"Shut up, Kody," Steele muttered, and my eyes snapped back open, spearing him with my laser gaze,
"Show me where my room is?" Steele stirred the least amount of fury and disgust from me, and I had no desire to wander the mansion aimlessly for hours. "I need to sleep for about six days, then I'll call my dad and sort this all out. I'm sure he can find the three of you a nice hotel elsewhere."
Blue-eyes snorted a sarcastic laugh and shook his head. "Good luck with that, Princess." He turned to leave, giving Green-eyes—Kody?—a pointed look.
"Run along, pup," I sneered at him when he frowned after his beautiful, angry friend. "Your master has summoned you."