5. Hercules #2
Another of those shrugs that means everything and nothing at all. “I suppose we’ll find out.”
“I want to see Meg.”
He takes a sip of his drink and raises his eyebrows. Reluctantly, I pick up mine and do the same. It’s scotch. Very, very expensive scotch. I lick my lips, going still at the predatory way he watches the movement. “I want to see Meg,” I repeat.
“Yes, yes. All in good time.” He leans back against the bar. “Let’s be honest between the two of us, shall we? You don’t want to see Meg. You want a whole lot more than that.”
How can he know that when even I don’t know what I want? I take another drink to cover up my mixed responses. “Why do you think that?”
“I have many talents. Reading people is one of them. You, my dear boy, had your head spun around by Meg’s pussy. I can’t blame you. She’s divine, isn’t she?”
“Don’t talk about her that way.” Even if I dream about her pussy. Even if I wish I hadn’t dicked around the first fifteen minutes of our acquaintance so I got more time with her taste on my tongue. It’s more than that. He’s making it sound cheap and dirty.
He’s making it sound like what happened that night is exactly what I’m afraid of.
He leans close, and I realize that he’s actually an inch shorter than me.
He seems so much larger-than-life, it’s strange to look down into those dark eyes.
Hades smiles slowly. “For such a smart boy, you’re awfully dense.
I can talk about Meg however I damn please.
She’s mine, Hercules. I own her. I told her to fuck you that night, so she did.
If I stripped her naked and set her on this bar and lined up every member of the Underworld and let them fuck her one right after the other, she’d thank me for it just like she did after she fucked you.
” He lowers his voice, still so close that our chests damn near brush.
“I can do every single dark and twisted thing I want to our Meg, and she has no choice but to comply.”
Anger finally derails my attraction to him.
If what he’s saying is true, and what little evidence I have supports it, then she truly didn’t have a choice that night.
My stomach lurches and I clench my fists.
“I won’t let you hurt her again.” I can’t go back in time and take back what happened between us, but I will do whatever it takes to ensure she’s not put in that position again.
Something flashes in his eyes, there and gone too quickly for me to identify. “I won’t let her go. I suppose we find ourselves at an impasse.” He finishes his drink, and I try my best not to watch the way his throat moves when he swallows. “What a shame.” He starts to turn away.
“Wait.”
“Yes?” Is he holding his breath? I can’t be sure.
I down the remainder of my drink, letting the alcohol buzz through my veins, though it doesn’t give me nearly as much courage as I’d like. “I heard you make deals.” It was one of the rumors I picked up in my exhaustive search about any information related to this man.
Hades turns fully back to face me and steeples his fingers. “You heard correctly.”
“I’ll make a deal with you to free Meg.”
He taps his fingers against his lips. “Meg is very dear to me, Hercules. I’m not sure what you could possibly offer that would make me give her up.”
I don’t possess anything of worth. Not anymore. If I were still in Olympus, I’d have access to resources and more money than even Hades could bring to the fore, but that doesn’t mean he’d accept something so mundane for Meg… “Hades.” Again, I wonder why he has that name.
He seems to sense the change in me and raises his brows. “That is my name.”
“Do you have some connection to Olympus?” I force myself to sneer. “Or are you just a fan?”
Just like that, he goes as icy as he was the first moment we met. Cold. So fucking cold. “If you’re afraid of making a deal, then stop wasting my time. I have more important things to be doing at the moment.”
I have nothing to offer him. Not really. My trust fund is long gone, and even if it weren’t, Hades doesn’t seem the type to be swayed by a series of commas and zeroes. No, he’ll want something more. Which is a damn problem. I have nothing except… I take a deep breath. “You can have me.”
“I can have…you.” He studies me. “The devil is in the details, my boy. I’m going to need you to be significantly more specific.”
I clear my suddenly dry throat. “I mean you can have me. However you want to take that.” It’s only right.
A way to balance the scales of the wrong I’ve done.
The mistakes I’ve made. Penance. There’s a sweet relief in that, in giving up control so completely.
I don’t really understand it, but in the end, my feelings don’t matter. Helping Meg does.
“You mean, I can fuck you.” He circles me slowly, a predator going in for the kill.
“I can shove my cock between those pretty lips of yours. I can do whatever I please to your cock. I can take your ass whenever and however I like.” He stops in front of me again, seemingly unaffected by the words he just launched at me like daggers.
“Is that what you mean when you say I can have you?”
“Yes.” It takes me two tries to keep speaking. “If that’s what it takes.”
“A better man would turn you away. Forced consent is hardly consent.” He smiles suddenly, a full smile that rocks me back on my heels. “You’re a terrible negotiator. Truly awful. I accept your terms—you’re mine, and I no longer force Meg to follow my commands against her will.”
I swallow hard, trying to think. “That’s a very specific sentence.”
“Yes, well, I am not terrible at negotiating.”? 3 He raises his voice. “Tis, another round. We’re sealing a deal with a drink.”
The woman appears again, this time with the bottle.
She pours a healthy splash into his glass and then mine, gives me a sharp look, and disappears around the curve of the bar again.
I reach for my drink and pause. His words seem fine on the surface.
I do this, and he can’t force Meg anymore.
She won’t have to fuck strangers unless she wants to.
She won’t have to follow Hades’s orders anymore. Surely she’ll be happy to be free?
I can’t think straight. Not with the scotch in my system, though Hades’s presence is more to blame for the muddled way my thoughts run together than the alcohol. I frown at him. “Do you want to fuck me?”
He gives me that blinding smile again, as if I’ve done something to amuse him greatly. Hades sets down his drink and reclaims the final step between us. He grips my neck, the strength in his fingers surprising. So is my reaction. My cock goes hard, and I have to fight back a moan.
What the fuck?
“Poor baby sub. You don’t even know what you are, do you?” He tsks. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”
“Teach me what?”
“Everything.”
I don’t even know what that means. Not really. I just know that I suddenly want it. “Okay.”
“We’ll seal it with a kiss then, instead of a drink,” he murmurs against my mouth. But he doesn’t follow through like I expect.
I belatedly realize he’s waiting for confirmation. I nod as much as I’m able to with the way he grips my neck. “Yes. Seal it with a kiss.”
“Good boy.” There is no teasing touch of his tongue.
He simply takes my mouth as if it has been his all long.
He forces me wide open for him and plunders me with his tongue.
I lift my shaking hands and fist them in his perfect black shirt, though I can’t say for certain whether I’m clinging to him to steady myself or trying to get him closer. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
He releases me and steps back, leaving me swaying on my feet. Hades smooths down his shirt and then fixes his glasses where they’ve been knocked off-center by our kiss. “Tis will get you set up in your new room. One of my other people will give you the tour.”
That snaps me out of my haze. “What?”
Hercules gives me a pitying look. “Come now, Hercules. You didn’t think you’d bargain away yourself to me and then go back to your sad little life, did you? Call in and quit your job. My people will gather your belongings and see to your apartment. The Underworld is your home now.”
1 ? If there’s one thing Hercules has in abundance, it’s the audacity.
2 ? Hades is so damn mean. I think he’s one of the meanest heroes I’ve ever written, which is why he’s one of my favorites.
3 ? Reading this scene years after writing it cracks me up. Hades really offered absolutely nothing in exchange for Hercules giving everything. Silly golden boy.