Chapter 290

At once, Archer gives me what I desire. Pressing harder against my clit, he rubs it in small circles. I buck and sway my hips, following his fingers in a tantric dance.

I forget about my sudsy hands and reach back, clawing at Archer’s wide shoulder with a wet soapy hand. He lifts his head from my neck and I turn enough so that I can press my lips to his in a sloppy kiss. He laps at my tongue, mouths open wide.

Nothing about what is happening here is pretty, but it’s all so damn hot nonetheless. Archer knows just how to touch me to make me lose my mind in the fastest, most delectable way possible.

I want to be naked. I want him to rip my clothes off, bend me over this counter, and fuck me until I can’t even see straight.

In the corners of my mind, I remind myself that I am in my mother’s kitchen. The door is not locked or barred in any way. Anyone could just walk in at any moment.

Sex really isn’t in the cards for me right now. Plus all these damn dirty dishes aren’t going to scrape and clean themselves.

But, oh, how delightful is the distraction of Archer’s mouth and hands and hard body… And, oh, Gods, that’s his dick pressing against my backside.

My eyelids flutter closed. Maybe, just maybe, if I whimper enough, Archer will take pity and –

Suddenly, Archer growls low and angry. It makes my pussy weep, but his hand has stilled on my. No! Now he’s pulling away.

“Archer?” I don’t want to admit that I whine, but I totally whine. He ramped me up to eleven, but now he’s calling it quits? Hurt cuts through me.

He notices, and takes my earlobe between his teeth. He bites slightly, not enough to hurt, but enough for me to know this isn’t really over.

“Someone’s coming,” he says.

Oh!

He pulls away then. He grabs a towel and joins me at the counter. I reach into the soapy water and pass him the plate I’d been cleaning before his distraction. Just as I do so, Neil comes through the door.

“You’ll want to see this,” he says. “Father is holding a press conference.”

All my sexy thoughts and desires vanish in an instant. Looking at Archer, I can tell he feels the same.

We leave the dirty dishes and our dirty thoughts behind for now, and follow Neil out into the living room where everyone is standing around the television.

Well, everyone except Mom, who is playing with Mia on a mat on the other side of the room. They have blocks out. Mom’s spelling words, but Mia is making a tower just to knock it over.

It’s good that they are both distracted. Whatever evil the Alpha King is about to spew, I’d rather protect both of them from it.

Isaac has his arms crossed. Beside him, Wyatt glares at the Alpha King’s image. The brothers’ faces are carefully blank. Even Beau seems to be withholding his true expression this time.

One of the reports asks the Alpha King about his sons.

The Alpha King’s face grows dark. He feigns a sad sort of smile. If I didn’t know it was phony, I might have believed it.

“I’m afraid it is a rather tragic tale,” the Alpha King said. “A sure sign of the potential corruption of power for those not constantly on guard for it. My sons have betrayed me. They’ve turned their backs not just on me, but on the good of the nation, and for what? They want more power than I can give them.”

“Bullshit,” Beau says, breaking his silence at last. His face is twisted in anger, almost as much as Wyatt’s is. I can see why the two would have gotten along, when the object of their ire aligned.

“In a bid for petty revenge, they’ve chosen to sow the seeds of chaos,” the Alpha King continued. “They are spreading lies about my health. They are supporting my political opponents. I have reason to believe they have even conspired against me in other ways, which I will not go into here for the sake of my poor, heartbroken wife.”

“He’s so full of shit,” Beau growls.

“Shh,” Steven says.

Beau grumbles something incoherent under his breath.

“Because I am a kind and caring father, and I love my sons still, despite their many affronts against me, I am willing to extend an olive branch. I can only hope they are listening.”

The Alpha King is standing at a wooden podium, a bouquet of speakers before him. He brings his hands up onto the podium and laces his fingers together. Staring straight at the camera, he softens his features.

To someone who doesn’t know him, he likely looks like a doting, wronged father who is reaching out to his wayward children.

To the rest of us, this is all clearly an act, purposefully executed to cast the brothers in the darkest of lights.

“Neil. Archer. Beau. Steven,” the Alpha King says.

They each grimace in turn.

“Tomorrow, I am arranging a meeting for us to speak at city hall, one on one, so that we may come to an understanding. I would like you to bring along Isaac, who you have so disingenuously misguided, and Chloe, your servant, who has so poisoned your mind.”

I did what?! “Bullshit,” I growl. Beau nods at me. The rest ignore me for now.

“Only when we are all together, can we clear the air,” the Alpha King says. “And, I hope… become a family again.” He glances down at the reporters who now clamor over each other to ask another question. “That’s all for today. Thank you very much.”

The reporters continue to bombard questions toward the Alpha King even as he walks away. He ignores all of them, keeping his face reserved, as he disappears off the stage and somewhere behind a curtain.

The broadcast cuts away then, returning to the newscasters in the newsroom.

Isaac mutes the television.

“It’s a set up,” Wyatt says. No one disagrees. We all know that’s the truth.

“We can’t go,” I say. “He just wants to get you all into a room so he can finally do whatever he wants to you.”

“You can’t go,” Archer says, giving me a flat look.

I blink. Oh hell no. “If you guys are going, I’m going.”

“We have to go,” Neil explains. “If we refuse this olive branch, we will look like we are in the wrong. We have to find a way to beat him at his own game.”

“It will be on his turf,” Archer says, a warning.

It’s true. Even though I never cared for politics before I met the Hayes brothers, I still knew that the current Alpha King returned a lot of money into the ‘restoration’ of city hall, which added a skyscraper to the back of the marble façade of the building. It has become homes and offices for the wealthy.

The Alpha King excused the construction by saying the return in investment would go straight into the treasury. He claimed the rebuilding would pay for itself in a few years. People were outraged at first, but most everyone seemed to believe him eventually. I have no idea what the truth is.

“We’ll make a plan,” I say. “We’ll be as safe as we can be.”

“Again,” Archer says, voice low. “You are not going.”

“He wants me there.”

“Chloe. No.”

Gods, I’m not some dog to be reprimanded like that. Nor am I a child. “I’m going! And that’s final!”

Archer narrows his eyes.