Chapter 10

DAISY

I swirled my whiskey around my glass but didn't take a drink. There was a temptation to drown my sorrows about being knocked out of the competition, but I wasn't in my early twenties any more, if I drank too much, I'd pay for it in the morning, and it seemed as if I was going to have to work extra hard now I'd lost the potential exposure that winning the competition was going to give me.

I sighed and took a sip.

"You need a pick me up," Danny said from beside me, not seeming nearly as bothered by my failure as I was.

"I'm fine. I just need to have a drink, then go home to sleep so I can go back to the studio tomorrow."

"Back? Oh no, you're not going back there."

"I have to. I have my exit interview where they cut me together talking about everything that went wrong with my last piece." I grimaced, even thinking about it was rough.

"You could just blow them off."

"No, I can't. I don't want rumours getting around that I'm a bad loser, that'll risk more clients than being knocked out."

"Ah, yeah, I can see that." A contemplative expression crossed his face. "So getting wasted is out."

"Yep. I'm going to nurse this drink and completely ignore all of the feelings inside."

"Or you could blow off steam another way," he suggested.

"I don't even want to know what you're thinking about," I murmured.

"Well, when I need to blow off steam, I find someone to blow..."

"Okaaaaaay. I've heard enough of that already. You're not exactly quiet when you have your overnight guests." It was almost enough to make me want to move out of our shared flat above the workshop, but being so close to work, and having such cheap rent, were too appealing for me to pass up on.

He chuckled. "So, we should find someone to get you off."

I leaned back in my seat. "I can't believe I'm actually considering this," I muttered. It would make me feel better if I picked the right guy. Though that in itself was a bit of a challenge, especially when I already had someone in mind.

One that Danny seemed to have already taken under advisement. He scanned the bar, his face lighting up as he spotted someone he thought might have potential. He nudged me in the side. "The guy in the corner's your type," he said. "He could be my type too. I love a man who looks like he could pick me up with one hand."

I rolled my eyes and looked in the direction he was suggesting, shock going through me as I recognised the broad man nursing a drink alone. "He probably could as well," I said.

"Hmm, he seems familiar, have you slept with him before?" Danny asked.

"What? No. That's Thor."

"Ohhhhh. Your crush and biggest competition. Got it."

"Not any more," I muttered. "I thought his name would count against him with the judges before realising he was Thor."

"I thought they were judging all the sculptures blind?"

"Well, yeah, but we're five rounds in, they should be able to recognise each person's style by now."

Danny shrugged and took a sip of his drink. "Not your problem, and it doesn't stop you from using him to get you off."

"You make it sound so clinical."

"Well, you're not looking for something serious. And he looks as if he'd be good with his hands."

Memories of watching him use his hands while sculpting sprang to mind. As crudely as Danny was talking about the situation, I could see his point. Thor probably was good with his hands.

"I don't even know if he'd go for it," the words fell out of me before I had time to think of if they were sensible for me to say. It was fine. Danny had known me for long enough that he wouldn't care if I was just thinking out loud.

"One way to find out," he said.

"What..."

Before I could even finish my question, he'd hopped off his stool and sauntered over to where Thor was sitting with all the confidence he'd always had.

Panic filled me at the thought of my best friend getting involved in this, I dreaded to think what he was going to say without my supervision. I downed my drink and hurried over.

"Ignore him," I blurted out the moment I arrived.

Thor raised an eyebrow, his muscles somehow managing to flex despite the fact he wasn't moving much. "What if I don't want to?"

"I'm not going to have sex with you," I blurted out.

Danny chuckled, his amusement clear on his face. "I hadn't gotten to that part yet."

I screwed my eyes shut. "Great." I should have considered that.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Thor suggested. "No sex required," he promised.

"How disappointing," Danny murmured.

I groaned. "Don't you have something to be doing?" I muttered to my friend.

He just grinned at me, but didn't say anything.

Despite my better judgement, I pulled out a chair and took a seat. I supposed there wasn't really any harm in having a drink with Thor, especially when I was never going to have to see him again after this.

Thor gestured to one of the serving staff. "What are you drinking?"

"Whiskey."

"Make that two. Do you want anything?" he asked Danny.

My best friend let out an exaggerated yawn. "Nope, I'm going to head home for the night."

I glared at him, hardly believing what was happening. Was he seriously just going to abandon me now that he'd done whatever this was?

"I'll see you when you get in," he said to me. "Or maybe not." His wink made me die a little inside.

I glared at him as he left, only to be distracted by the arrival of the whiskey.

"So, he came over here to seduce me for you?" Thor asked.

I groaned. "I'm never going to live that down."

"I'm not going to tell anyone," he assured me.

"Oh, I meant with Danny."

"Ah, well unfortunately I'm not able to control what he says."

"So that's not a power you have as a god?"

He chuckled. "Certainly not of this god. Though actually, I don't think anyone has the ability to do that."

Our drinks arrived, stopping the conversation in its tracks. Which was probably a good thing.

I picked up my drink and stared down into the amber-coloured liquid. Perhaps this was a terrible idea. Though I was safe with Thor. I wasn't entirely sure how I knew that, but something about his steady presence made me certain of it. Maybe it was because over the past few weeks of the competition, he'd never once made me feel like he was objectifying me, which couldn't be said for some of the other competitors.

"I'm sorry you were eliminated," Thor said.

"Yeah, me too." I gave him a weak smile.

"I don't think it was fair, your sculpture was so much better than the other one."

"The judges didn't think so," I murmured without meaning to.

"Well, I think they were wrong," he said. "I'd have picked you."

"Even over yourself?"

He chuckled. "Maybe not this week, I did a good job with the heron, you said so yourself."

"Wow, humility isn't one of your strong suits, is it?"

"I know what I'm good at," he responded, his tone low and full of some kind of promise. "But your sculpture last week was so much better than mine. I liked what you did with the toadstool."

"I used your technique on that one."

"I noticed," he responded. "I used yours for the leaves, but it didn't work nearly as well."

"Probably because your hands are bigger than mine." Without thinking, I reached over to touch his hand.

He caught mine, and stroked his thumb across my fingers. My breathing hitched and there was a longing inside me that was nothing to do with Danny's suggestion.

I cleared my throat. "Next time, you should try using it on bigger flowers."

"Mmm, I can try that."

"And I liked the runes you did the other week," I said, barely able to think straight because of his touch.

"Ah, yes," he responded, nodding his head as if he was thinking about it. "I love working with them, it feels like I can write whatever I want and nobody will understand it."

I scoffed. "You think nobody knows how to read runes?"

"Do you?"

"Well, no. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who know how. Scholars, really old vampires, sculptors claiming they're Norse gods."

"Then I'll let you in on a secret," he said. "It didn't make any sense, I was just writing nonsense that looked good."

"I don't know whether to believe you or not."

"Why would I lie?"

I opened my mouth to say something in response, but realised I had none. There was absolutely no reason why he'd lie to me. And that included about his name, though I still wasn't entirely convinced that he was the god he was claiming to be.

"So, I do have a question for you," he said.

"Let's guess, you want to know why Danny was trying to seduce you for me?"

"I'd probably have worded it a little differently, but that's the jist of it."

"He knows I'm feeling bad about being knocked out of the competition, and suggested that I should have some fun to take my mind off it."

"Ah, would that work?"

I shrugged. "Depends on who I'm in bed with. If it's bad, then it's not going to take my mind off anything."

"That's not true. If it's really bad, you'll probably thinking about when it's going to end."

I snorted. "All right, that's fair. So no lying back and thinking of Scandinavia?"

"If you were in bed with me, you wouldn't be thinking of anything."

"That's quite a promise." I leaned back in my chair and took a sip of whiskey, eyeing him up and wondering whether this was going where Danny intended it to after all.

He chuckled. "One I can assure you I'd fulfil, but I also promised that sex was off the table if you sat down."

"So you did." And I was starting to think that was a mistake to agree to that on my part, but I wasn't about to start unpicking that now. It was also nice to sit and talk, especially when I was still hurting a little from being eliminated.