Watch Me (Phoenix 1)

“You’re here, so yes.” Happiness spread across her like a warm bath as she leaned up and pulled his face down for a kiss. Everything was perfect. Sure, moving out of the loft came with a little sadness, but at least, she was only a subway ride away, instead of states away. Besides, the truth was they were all so happy Zoey came back it didn’t matter where she lived. And Zoey was absolutely certain about marrying Rhys and sharing her life with him. She was even happy to be living in Manhattan, something she never thought she’d be able to feel here.

“You two are so stinkin’ cute,” sa

id Hazel, opening up one of the boxes to help Zoey settle in. Hunt was helping her. “Your entire love story is just so wild and perfect and just all the wonderful things.”

“Thanks, Hazel,” Zoey said, releasing Rhys to give her a tight squeeze. “But you’re still going to come over for cuddles, right?”

“Yes, to cuddles.” Hazel gave a knowing look and pointed at the pool outside. “But I also see poolside margaritas in our future.”

“Oh, I’m so here for that,” Elise said from the kitchen, where she began unwrapping Zoey’s favorite mug.

“Yes—”

The front door slamming open cut Zoey off. Archer stormed in, ready to kill someone. The vein in the middle of his forehead looked like it pulsed. “Where is she?” he growled.

Rhys’ brows shot up. “Where is who?”

“I suspect he’s looking for me,” Elise said, raising her hand.

Archer took a few steps farther into the condominium and slammed the door shut behind him. His knuckles were white, his body trembling slightly. His eyes narrowed into slits at Elise. “You…”

Elise grinned, batting her lashes at him. “Hello, Archer.”

Thick silence filtered into the room. No one dared break it. Not with Archer looking a second away from smashing something or punching a wall. His nostrils flared. “You think you’re funny?”

“Most days, I’m utterly hilarious,” Elise said, leaning her hip against the countertop, still grinning. All teeth.

Zoey glanced between them, barely able to breathe against the tension in the room. “Do you know what happened?” she asked Rhys.

He shrugged, eyes set firmly on Archer.

“What happened?” Archer snapped, his eyes bulging out. “What happened is that woman,” he pointed at Elise like he held a dagger in his hand, “signed me up for every woman’s magazine subscription on the fucking planet. I have spent the last three hours trying to get out of the yearly subscriptions.”

Silence descended until Hunt roared with laughter, and everyone followed suit.

Elise grinned from ear to ear, her eyes dancing. “Sucks, right? Having someone invade your life and make choices for you.”

“Nothing about this is funny, Elise,” Archer growled. “I didn’t do anything like this to you.”

Elise hesitated, scrunching her nose, then shrugged. “Well, it is kind of funny, and yes, you did do the exact same thing. Do I need to remind you that you got your dirty hackers to hack into my personal computer?”

“My hackers aren’t dirty.”

Elise gave him a bored look, reaching for another newspaper-covered mug in the box. “They are as dirty as they come. They do bad shit. And they were inside my personal computer!” She looked back up at Archer, her gaze flipping him off. “You don’t like me going into your personal life, stay out of mine.”

Zoey watched the stare down. She turned to Rhys next to her. “They’re going to kill each other.”

“It’s likely.” He watched them a moment more and shook his head, laughing. “Or fuck the living shit out of each other. One of the two.”

Kieran walked through the door, carrying pizzas on top of a big box, a deep frown marring his face. “Yeah, thanks for the help there, Archer.”

Archer still glared at Elise.

Always wanting everyone to be happy, Hazel laughed awkwardly. She rushed to Kieran’s side and took the pizza boxes. “Thanks for picking up the pizza,” she said to him.

“Not a problem.” He winked at her.

She blushed.