“You should always wear your seatbelt, Mrs. Martin.” David glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “It’s the law.”
“I know that,” Claire said. “But Isis’s eyes—”
“What about them?” David glanced at me. “I don’t see anything wrong with her eyes.”
“You probably imagined it,” I said. “Maybe your blood sugar is low. You know—with all the commotion you’ve been through today: your conniption, my near-death experience…”
“Are you being snarky with me?”
“Me? No.”
I heard her humph. After a moment she said, “Would you humor me and turn around so I can see your eyes?”
I hesitated to turn my head. David gave me a slight nod, letting me know it was okay.
“I guess I did imagine it,” Claire said, looking at me. But she didn’t sound convinced.
***
It was almost time to have “the talk” with David’s parents. From the living room window, I saw David’s car drive up. I didn’t want to think about what his parents would say about the pregnancy. In the culture of immortals, we were married. In the culture of mortals, my mom was waiting for a wedding date to be set. She asked us about plans for a wedding the night before. We told her we hadn’t discussed anything as of yet.
“Mom, he’s here.” My stomach ached from nerves. “I don’t know what time I’ll be back.”
“Text me if you’re going to be late.” Claire flipped a page of the book she was reading. She’d taken the day off from work to fill out paperwork at the car insurance office. “Oh, and tell Nyx to call me later. We haven’t spoken in over a week, and I’m sure this is something she’s going to want to discuss.”
I froze as I walked to the door. “What?”
CHAPTER 11
“What, what?” Claire asked, without looking up from her book.
“You’ve been talking to Nyx? Since when?”
“Since always. I thought you knew.”
“How could I have possibly known?”
“Well, you kept rolling your eyes at me every time I mentioned how miserable you were over your breakup when I was on the phone with her. Wasn’t it obvious it was Nyx?”
“No. I thought you were talking to Grandma Eva or Galilea.”
“Galilea?” Claire hissed. “Why would I talk to her on the phone when she’s always here?”
True. Galilea had spent the entire morning at my house today and left an hour earlier, after Claire got home with the rental car the insurance company arranged for her.
“But I tried Nyx’s number; it’s disconnected,” I said. The doorbell rang. I ignored it. “How did you get her new number?”
“She called me to let me know she’d changed it.”
Had Nyx been keeping tabs on me all this time?
“What do you two talk about?” I asked.
“What is this?” Claire put her book down. “Twenty questions? Just the usual: work, TV shows, news. She asks about you a lot—wondering if you’re okay. That’s sweet of her, I think. I didn’t care to ask about David, which was rude, now that I think of it.” The doorbell rang again. “Speaking of David, you better get going.”
I wavered before walking to the door and opening it.
“I was about to call you.” David had his phone in his hand. “You took a while. I was getting worried.”
“Sorry.”
I closed the door behind me, and David kissed my cheeks.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Are you?”
“For now,” he said. “But ask me again in about an hour if my father hasn’t killed me.”
David was quiet for the first five minutes we drove to his house, which gave me time to think about Nyx keeping contact with Claire. Was Nyx really worried about me, or did she feel guilty for leaving me in Bucharest with Galilea, who I hardly knew at the time? Or was hers and my mom’s a genuine friendship? If that was the case, then I was oblivious of how close the two had become.
“They’ll be arriving in about forty-five minutes—my parents,” David said, cutting into my thoughts. “They won’t be anticipating seeing you at the estate.”
“Your mom might,” I said.
“I doubt it. She may be empathic, but she can’t see the future.”
“Well, she hasn’t had trouble keeping up with what’s going on in my life in the present. That’s for sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“The phone calls,” I said. David gave me a questionable look. “She didn’t tell you?”
“What—phone calls? You’ve been speaking to my mother?”
“No. My mom has,” I said. “I could be wrong, but I think your mom’s been checking up on me.”
“Hmm…” David looked at the road and said nothing more.
When we were pulling up to the estate, David’s phone rang. He answered the call on the car’s Bluetooth.
“Dahveed.” Alezzander’s deep voice came from the car speakers.
The short conversation that followed was in Latin, so I didn’t understand what it was about.
“They’re running late and won’t arrive until this evening,” David said. He parked the car, but kept the engine on. “Do you want to go somewhere to take your mind off things—the movies, the mall?”
“Being out in a crowd,” I shook my head, “isn’t the best plan right now. It’d be like standing starved in front of a buffet and not being allowed to eat.”
“Right. Sorry,” he said. “Well, five hours is a long wait, and I don’t have a television anymore, so we’re limited on entertainment. We could go back to your house.”
“Or we could watch a movie on your computer.”
“Lucky for you, I haven’t disconnected the Internet service. Don’t expect any popcorn, however.”
***
David and I sat on the mattress in his room and perused movie options on an online streaming service on his laptop. We settled for a foreign film with subtitles. David set the laptop on his lap, and I rested my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me as the film title rolled on the screen. Fifteen minutes into the movie, I was bored. I looked up at David to tell him the movie sucked. He was already looking at me. He closed the laptop and moved it aside.
“You don’t like the movie?” I asked.
“I wasn’t watching it.” He kissed my lips. “I tried to focus…” I felt his hand slide under my shirt, and I gasped. “But I’m here alone with you—my wife.” He nibbled on the curve of my neck. “My wife, who I haven’t seen in a long time,” he said, planting tiny kisses from my neck up to my earlobe. I shivered. “And then I remembered bits and pieces of what you look like,” he tugged on my jeans, “under here. That’s when I realized I didn’t want to watch a movie.”
“No?” I breathed unsteady breaths.
“No.” He grabbed both sides of my waist and pulled me down on the mattress, straddling me. I let out a surprised squeal.
“Do you want to know what I do want?”
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea.” I undid the top buttons of his shirt.
“No, I don’t think you do.” He grinned. He perched over me, his hands on either side of my head. “Stand up and take your clothes off.”
My eyes widened. “But…David, it’s broad daylight.”
“That’s the point. I want to see you—every single part of you. Every curve and line that belongs to me.” He pecked my lips. “Stand up.” He pecked my lips again. “Show me.”
“David…” I shook my head. “I…I—”
“Are you embarrassed?” he asked. I made a face at him. “Come here.” He pulled me to my feet. He raised his shirt over his head and flung it across the room. “Your turn.”
Swallowing, I looked up at him through my eyelashes. I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and pulled it up to my waist. I paused. David held my stare. After a second, I slipped off my top and hugged my waist. David pulled my arms apart and placed them at my side. He ran his finger ov
er the lacey top edge of my bra.
“Wait,” I said, touching his hand. I stepped off the mattress.
“Isis,” he said, following me, “if you don’t want—”
“Don’t move.” I raised my hand. “Stay right there. Okay?”
He nodded.
Every time David asked me for something, I’d found an excuse to say no. All I’d gained from my fears and self-doubt was misery. I didn’t want to be a scared little girl who hid away from the world anymore. I didn’t want to have any secrets from the person who gave his immortality to be with me because he loved me that much.
I faced away from David and focused on the wall in front of me. I unzipped my jeans and let them fall to the floor. I tossed them aside with my foot, glancing at David over my shoulder. His eyes were busy skimming my back. I looked away from him as he raised his eyes to mine. I lowered the bright pink straps of my bra to my shoulders. I unhooked the back and let the piece of lace fabric fall to the floor. My heart raced and my face felt like it was on fire when I hooked my fingers in the elastic of my underwear. I slipped it down over my hips. The silky material swept against my legs as my underwear fell and landed at my feet. Covering my bare chest with my hands, I closed my eyes, and I turned to face David. I took a deep breath and opened my eyelids one at a time. I counted to three in my head, and I dropped my arms. I was wholly exposed. For him.
David’s eyes glided over every inch of my body. I felt more naked and more self-conscious than I ever had in my life.
“You’re perfect,” he said.
He reached for the front of his jeans and undid the button and zipper. I saw a peek of his flesh and no other fabric underneath. He held my stare as he slipped out of his pants, one leg at a time. He stood up baring his Greek god glory.
Oh. My…
“You’re…um…not wearing underwear,” I said, looking away.
“Neither are you.”
Though it hadn’t been the first time I’d been nude in his presence, I felt awkward and embarrassed. I bent down and picked up my shirt. I covered as much as I could of my front side. I was nowhere near as beautiful as he was. What could he possibly see in me?
“Don’t.” David stepped toward me and took the shirt from my hands. He dropped it on the pile of clothes next to my feet. “Don’t hide yourself from me.” He cupped my face. “You’re beautiful.” His other hand traveled down the small of my back. He lifted me off the floor and carried me to the mattress.
“Do you know what I want now?” he asked.
“What?”
“You,” he said. “Without reservation.”
David slid his body down, leaving a trail of kisses over my stomach and pelvis. I felt hot. So hot. My body was bursting into flames, crackling embers running through each cell. David’s tongue licked the insides of my thighs, and I quivered. My chest was frozen, while wild firestorms consumed the rest of me. Although it was daylight, my head was full of stars and clouds and heavenly bodies that made up the galaxy and David was the sun. I felt his teeth sink into my inner thigh, and my breath quickened. I was melting like a block of ice on a blistering hot summer day, seeping through the cracks of dehydrated earth, nourishing the roots of my neglected planet. The dampness of David’s mouth between my legs caught me by surprise. I whimpered. He planted kisses on my stomach in a straight line up to my chest. Our gazes met. His breathless chest rose and fell against mine, a musky sandalwood essence evaporating off his skin. He kissed my lips hard and furious as his hands rediscovered the areas he’d surveyed a month or two before—then in the dark of night, now in the light of day. I felt my heart thawing in warm and cool waves. I dug my fingers into his arms, fearing I’d slip away as the world quaked inside me. My surroundings faded, replaced by bright sparks of color. And in that moment, I wasn’t scared of anything. I had no doubt. I felt no confusion. I knew I was David’s, and he was mine.
***
Time passed much quicker than I anticipated. The hour on my phone read 6:52 PM—less than ten minutes until Alezzander and Nyx arrived. David and I walked downstairs to the kitchen. I found one bottle of water in the fridge and nothing else. We took the bottled water to share in the study. I sat on one of the two chairs in front of the fireplace. David walked to the window and peeked through the curtains.
“I see a pair of headlights pulling up.”
“They’re here?” I shrank into the chair.
“They’re here.”
CHAPTER 12
The front door opened. My heart pounded. Nyx was the first one in, carrying a large shoulder bag. She was halfway to the stairs when she noticed David and me standing at the entrance to the study. She stopped dead in her tracks.
“Hello, Isis,” she said, glaring at David. “This will escalate quickly.”
Alezzander stepped in the door next, carrying two small suitcases and looking at his cell phone. He stopped at Nyx’s side and looked up. His jaw tensed. A deep tone of red flourished from his neck and up to his face. He dropped the suitcases at his sides.
“Hello.” I cleared my throat. “Alezzander.”
Alezzander didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to David, and said, “You couldn’t have told me this over the phone?”
“I thought it would be better to tell you in person,” David said.
I heard the click of footsteps and turned my attention to the door. A platinum blonde with wide copper eyes raised her brow at me. The short skintight dress she had on left nothing for the imagination to wonder.
“You,” she said.
“You,” I said.
“Olympia…” Nyx said. “This is—”
“I know who she is. I met her in Bucharest.” Olympia blinked at David. “What I don’t know is what she’s doing here, Dahveed.”
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“I’m paying a surprise visit to David,” she said with one hand on her hip. “My fiancée.”
“Her?” I looked at David. “You got engaged to her?”
“No. I mean, well, yes, technically, but…” David turned to Olympia. “I’m calling off the engagement.”
“What?” Olympia shrieked.
“The hell you are,” Alezzander said to David. “You have a commitment to Olympia. You gave her your word.”
“Alezzander, dear,” Nyx put her hand on her husband’s arm, “perhaps we should discuss this matter more calmly and in private.”
“Yes, we should,” Olympia said.
“I meant Alezzander, Dahveed, and me,” Nyx clarified. Olympia scoffed. “Son, close the door behind you,” Nyx said, and then walked into the study. Alezzander followed her.
“I’ll be back,” David told me. “I’ll take care of this.”
The door to the study closed. Olympia made a disgruntled noise and crossed her arms. She glowered at me. I mocked her glare.
Olympia raised her index finger at me. “If you think, even for one second, Dahveed is—”
“Do we have to do this—the catfight thing? Because I’ve always thought that sort of thing was petty and childish.”
Angry screams came from the study, and Olympia turned away from me. She walked to the door and placed her ear against it.
“I don’t care!” I heard David’s voice.
Olympia opened the door to the study.
“I have a right to know what’s happening,” Olympia said to them.
“What are you still doing here?” David said, his tone cross.
“I need to speak to you, and I’m not leaving until I do,” Olympia said.
“Olympia,” Alezzander said, “I believe it’d be better if you left. David will be in touch.”
“No, I won’t.” David walked out of the study, past Olympia. “I told you the engagement is off. I was mistaken to think I could marry you, Olympia. And I’m sorry. But I can’t go through with this farce.”
“David, you’re confused.” Olympia reached for his face, but David stepped back. “David…”
“Please leave,?
?? David said to her. “There’s nothing more to discuss.”
“So…this is goodbye, then?” Olympia sounded doubtful. She took a step closer to him. “You’re choosing her—” she jerked her head in my direction “—over me? Don’t I mean anything to you?”
David shrugged a shoulder. “In all truth, you never did.”
Olympia’s eyes raged. Her open hand impacted the side of David’s face with a loud smack that ricocheted off the empty house walls.
Oh no, she didn’t!
I wound up my arm.
“Isis, no!” Nyx screamed, but her warning came too late.
My fist hit Olympia’s face. Her body hit the floor. I pressed my foot deep into her neck. She clawed at my leg, gasping. I buried the tip of my shoe harder into her skin. Her face turned a brilliant shade of red, and tears rolled down the side of her cheek. I could hear the beating of her alarmed pulse, smell the warmth of her skin as her temperature rose. If I pressed a little harder, dug my foot in a little deeper, her neck would snap under the pressure. The thought was awfully becoming.
David grabbed my arms and pulled me back, making me lose my balance, along with my purchase on Olympia’s neck. I toppled into his chest.
“Why did you do that?” David said, panicked.
“I don’t like her,” I said.
He examined my hand.
“Oh…” Realization washed over me.
I understood the reason behind David’s question. In my moment of anger, I’d forgotten about the rule where I couldn’t hit a deity or I’d be eaten alive from the inside out by worms as punishment. It happened once before; the experience wasn’t one I wanted to relive. I stared at my hand, waiting for the decay to begin, but…
“It’s not happening,” I said.
I looked at Olympia, coughing and gasping for air on the floor. There was no way she could’ve forgiven me so fast. Or at all. When I’d met her in Bucharest, her hatred for me was instantaneous the moment she’d found out David and I were in a relationship.
Olympia’s chest rose high as she took a tattered breath and sat up. She rubbed her cheekbone. Nyx tried to help her stand, but she swatted her away.