Chapter 16

Chapter

Sixteen

HEPH

Walking downstairs, I am psyching myself up for another day of giving the intruder hell. I’m thinking of all the things I can do when I find her sitting at the table staring at a piece of French toast. She isn’t touching it. Her juice is also untouched. I’m kind of surprised to see her here at all.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask.

“I live here. It’s my house.” Her words are right, but her tone is way off. There is no bite, no fight at all. She doesn’t even lift her head to look at me.

“I have more right to be here than do you,” I spit. Come on… let’s rumble.

“If you say so.” Again, no actual fire in her words.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Do you actually want to know?” She glances up to meet my gaze, and she looks terrible. Her eyes are bloodshot and swollen, her hair is limp, and her skin is a little gray.

“No.”

“Then please run along and go bother someone else. I’m not up for it today.”

For a second, I’m almost worried about her. I almost miss the banter and the spirit of our normal encounters, and I have to stop myself from asking who hurt her so I can go hurt them. My goal is to hurt her . I should revel in her misery, but all I can feel in this odd pang of guilt and worry settles into my chest.

“Shouldn’t you be out running?” I try.

“Not today.” Her voice sounds different, lifeless.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Did you break a nail, and your world came crashing down around you? Did Daddy yell at you for abandoning Medusa? Or maybe you didn’t get to come this morning as you fingered yourself because no man will go near you,” I taunt her, wanting her to lash out at me and show me she is all right.

Instead, she laughs – a high-pitched manic laugh that reminds me of the Joker.

“What the fuck is so funny?”

“You think I can’t get a man?” she says between peals of crazy laughter.

“Well, you’re here alone now, aren’t you? You spend every night in bed alone. You don’t go on dates. Clearly, no one wants you.”

She laughs harder, and I am confused.

“I’m sorry, but you have no idea what your little buddies do all day, do you?”

“Of course I do.” Now she is starting to piss me off. Good. Anger is easier to deal with then whatever unease I was feeling.

She laughs harder, and I cross my arms over my chest and hover over her, trying to intimidate her.

“Poor Heph, you are so fucking clueless. I go to bed early every night because I am sexting Eros. He’s got a filthy mind and keeps me amused. He and I have also played around, and it was fucking hot. I also go on a date every morning with Paris. He and I meet for coffee and end up making out like teenagers in the back of his car.”

“You’re lying. They would never betray Perseus like that.” I bang my fists on the table, and she starts laughing again.

“Perseus, your leader, the one who is supposed to hate me? Okay, he hates me, but he wants me just as badly. After I insinuated that he was a lousy lay, he felt the need to prove me wrong in the pool by showing me just how good he could fuck.”

“You lie.”

“Ask them.” She rises from the table and pushes back her chair. “You seem to think that no man could possibly want me.” Her hand is on my chest, and I hate how my heart hammers. “But you seem to the be only one who hasn’t made a move. Tell me, Heph, is it because you’re too loyal to Perseus? Or are you just not man enough to take what you want for yourself?”

“Lying little bitch! You think you can come between me and my friends?”

“Now there is a fun thought. Coming between a few of you all at once. I bet Paris, Perseus, and Eros would work so well together. They would make me come between them a few times.” She winks at me, and I can feel my face flush with anger.

“Tell another lie and see what happens,” I say between my clenched teeth.

“I’m not lying. Go ask them if you know them so well. You should be able to tell if they’ve touched me or not, right?” She pats my chest a few times, still chuckling before turning away from me. “Thanks for that. I really needed the laugh.” She heads upstairs.

I hate how seeing a bit more life in her makes that unease unravel.

She is lying. She has to be lying.

I send a text to the others, demanding a meeting now, and it takes about fifteen minutes for each of them to reach the billiards room.

“What?” Eros whines. “Some of us need our fucking beauty sleep, man. Not all of us get up with the sun like you and Perseus.”

“Why did I have to rush over here? I have plans in like an hour,” Paris says as he enters into the room.

“Plans?” I can’t believe the audacity of this man right now. “Plans, like your little date with the woman we are trying to destroy? And you…” I turn to Eros who is lying on the couch half asleep. “What’s wrong? Tired from spending all night sending dirty dick pics to that whore?”

“She isn’t a whore,” he yawns out. “She’s a virgin, and I wish I could get her to send nudes. Trust me, I am trying.”

“So, fucking what? How am I the only one not trying to tap that?” I ask.

“Because you know she won’t want you?” Paris offers.

“Nah, it’s because he just can’t get the stones to try something,” Eros says.

“You two know she has been messing around with all of you, and you don’t care?” I can’t believe what I am hearing.

“Well, she told me about sexting Eros,” Paris says, taking a seat on the couch.

“And I knew she had coffee dates with Paris,” Eros confirms. “I also know what she tastes like,” he adds as he licks his fingertips with a devilish grin.

“Calm down, Heph.” Perseus puts his hand on my shoulder.

“No.” I knock away his hand. “Fuck those two disloyal bastards, but you, too? I’m trying to take this woman apart for you, and you are fucking her in the goddamn pool?”

“What?” Paris and Eros say together, finally both taking this seriously.

“Calm down. Nothing has changed,” Perseus says calmly.

“How the fuck has nothing changed?” I snap. “You popped the girl’s cherry, and act like it’s no big deal?”

Perseus rolls his eyes, and I clench my fist. I would never hit him, however. Paris I might hit, Eros I will probably hit, but never Perseus. But that doesn’t stop the anger and frustration burning through my veins.

“My plans haven’t changed.” He looks me dead in the eye. “Nothing has changed. If she thinks our little moment in the pool means something, then that will make our job easier.”

I’m still not convinced, and he knows it.

“Paris,” Perseus calls out, not looking away from me. “Has anything changed on your end?”

“No,” he answers without hesitation.

“Is your plan still on track?”

“Yes.”

“Eros,” Perseus says.

“Yo,” Eros replies.

“Are you still on board?”

“Yup.”

“Has anything changed?”

“I’m jacking off a lot more and not sleeping around as much, but that’s it,” Eros answers. “Virgins aren’t my cup of tea, but now that I know she’s not one…”

I narrow my eyes at Eros. He has this goofy smile he gets whenever we talk about Athena. And now that I know he is texting her every night with jiz on his hands, I can’t shake the feeling Eros can no longer be trusted.

“Fuck you guys. Seriously. Can we all stick to the damn plan? We aren’t supposed to fall for the girl.”

“Heph…” Perseus begins.

“She’s a viper, and she needs to be forbidden,” I say before storming out of the room.