7 - ARACHNE
“Karma has to be fucking with me,” I murmured under my breath as the last being I wished to see rose from her table. Beelining for us immediately. Of course.
She had yet to clock that I was on a date. No, her attention was laser-focused on my cleavage. The male clinging to my arm was all but invisible as Athena finally approached the hostess stand, grinning from ear-to-ear. “It’s been awhile, Arachne.”
Such a damned brat.
“Yes,” I replied, clinging to my nonplus expression. Hoping she didn’t fucking look at my skin, which had erupted in goose bumps. The only tangible explanation behind my attraction was from imagining her remade. That wasn’t real… Couldn’t be. Right?
Keith, none the wiser, extended a palm. “Pleasure to meet you, general. I’m Keith Yates. Thank you for your service. How do you know Arachne?”
“Work,” she replied smoothly. All business. In her oversized suit jacket and trousers without a speck of clothing underneath. Flaunting the sharp lines of her buttery smooth abs. That look was several seasons old. I hated it when it was popular, too. However, even yet…
He looks like a potato next to her.
I didn’t want to think it. Truly. It was torture, like a million barbs causing my skin to pepper.
It was Keith’s khaki button up, dull matching hair, and the way she towered over him. Her striped feathered wings helped deflect from her basic outfit enough to make the male look like a turd.
I loathed it. Gritting my teeth as she finally picked up on the awkward circumstances— that we were on a date —and her expression fell. Only momentarily. Athena was a pro at keeping appearances, after all.
“A pleasure to meet you as well, Keith .” The general made sure to catch my eye when she dragged out his grating name condescendingly. Like she was reading my damn mind.
Karma, help me.
“I’ll leave you to it then. Call me, Arachne.” She began turning before finishing her command, leaving me fuming.
The gall!
“Is that an order?” The words were out before I could hope to stifle them. Keith gaped at me. Athena stilled her departure. The hostess, who was waiting for our conversation to wrap up, averted her attention to fiddle with menus.
It was my nightmare.
I just craved to have an itch scratched tonight.
That was it! Just a quick clit flit and bye; to never see this idiot thereafter.
Instead, my heart was speeding as my palms slickened.
And it had everything to do with the glittery pair of eyes searing into mine.
This was the exact reason I had been avoiding her.
She was unnerving!
Whatshisname cleared his throat in an attempt to cut through the tension.
It did nothing. Athena and I were locked in.
Both too stubborn to back down. When she closed the distance between us, I held my ground, tilting my chin.
Unblinking. Unflinching. And uncaring, too, because fuck her and that horrible mullet .
When she leaned in, I caught a whiff of her bergamot scent and held my breath to stifle more from seeping in. When her lips whispered against the shell of my ear, I nearly melted.
“It’s a fucking order, Arachne.” The eyebrow raise Athena had the nerve to pair that too-husky sentence with threw my fury into overdrive.
Especially when her amber eyes zeroed in on my mouth. We were still close enough for her to do it. To close the inches between our lips…
With this audience!
A paparazzi flash yanked me back to reality.
And I slapped her.