Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
ADONIS
Lulu
We need to talk.
Adonis
No, we don’t.
Lulu
Donnie don’t be like that.
Adonis
I’m not the one that cheated. With multiple partners.
Lulu
I didn’t message you to talk about the past.
We need to talk about the future.
Adonis
We have no future. Stop messaging me.
Lulu
Okay, consider yourself warned.
I turn off my phone and toss it on my bed behind me. I need to get section written before I go to bed tonight. The last thing I need is a distraction. Especially an annoying one that I regret ever dating.
There isn’t anything Lulu has to say that I could possibly want to hear. Unless it’s that she’s moving far away and there will never be a risk of running into her again. I wouldn’t mind hearing her say that.
Relationships and my career are challenging, to say the least. For one, it’s hard to meet people outside the academic circle I work in. My job is demanding and the only place I meet people is at work. Women included.
It also sucks that our circle is small. Even when including faculty, staff, and students from other universities, there aren’t very many people to choose from. Once you’re entangled with a person in my field, you’re stuck with them for life. A failed relationship with one of them just makes it worse.
And my relationship with Lulu failed on epic proportions.
Lulu and I were thrown together in grad school when we were both asked to organize a social event for the department’s incoming students. I’d seen her around, but we’d never had a chance to really talk. Since she was a year behind me, our classes never overlapped. Plus, we had different academic advisors.
She was so pretty and sweet. She charmed me instantly. Three days later, we went on our first date. Within two weeks, we were inseparable. She helped me with my research, and I help her with hers. We seemed like a perfect fit.
I’d envisioned us becoming an academic power couple. Our interests complemented each other but were different enough that there would always be room for both if us in our field, and possibly at the same university. She’s more of a history buff, whereas my passion aligns with mythology and how it influences modern day culture.
With parents like mine, how could I not fall in love with Greek mythology? Five kids and we’re all named after Greek gods and goddesses. I grew up listening to my dad read the tales of Icarus and Hercules and countless others.
I was hooked and couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life other than studying Greek literature and mythology.
I thought I met someone with the same ideals, dreams, and aspirations as mine.
But I was wrong.
Just a few short months after Lulu and I moved into together, she changed. She no longer wanted to stay in and discuss work topics. She wanted to go out to fancy dinners and cocktail bars. Two things that I had very little interest in doing.
We also didn’t align well in bed. She called my desire to watch her pleasure herself weird. Being watched wasn’t something she enjoyed and watching her was the one thing that excited me most.
Ultimately, it drove her way and into the arms of several different men.
All men in the same department we were getting our PhDs in. I felt like such a fool.
None of that matters now. She’s out of my life, and I’ve sworn off dating. I’ve got too much work to do to allow myself to get tangled up with another woman.
Shaking my mouse, I wake up my laptop and reread the last paragraph I wrote.
I’m working on a retelling of sorts of The Heracleidae by Euripides. Hercules and the tales if his children have always fascinated me. But this work is by far my favorite. It’s a fantastical tragedy where Hercules’s children are forced to seek protection from King Eurystheus. My favorite line, which was the central theme of my dissertation, is:
“ Should I, whom am hated by these children, and aware of their inherited hatred for me, have left no stone unturned, in machinations to kill or exile ?”
My dissertation work is what landed me this job without having to do a post-doc first. If I can turn it into a full book, then I’ll secure my place and career in this field.
I get lost to the words and ideas swimming around in my head. The words are flowing out of me, and I’ve got a great groove going. Then my brothers come barreling into my room and disrupt it all.
“Come on, bro,” Demetrius says as he playfully swats me on the head. He’s a couple of years younger than me and by far the most irresponsible. He just turned twenty-six and tries to act responsibly, but mostly fails. Despite that, he’s became a very successful and well-respected firefighter. “We’re going out.”
“Not tonight,” I insist. “I want to finish this chapter.”
“Yes, tonight,” Eros demands. He’s my youngest brother and the least career driven. But he’s only twenty-four, so he’s still got time to grow up. “We’re going to Triple Bs. Remember?”
“Remember what?” I furrow my brow as Demetrius tosses clothes at me from my closet. “Stop it!”
“Donnie!” Atticus scolds. He’s my oldest brother and approaching thirty. He was recently taken off the market when he fell for his assistant at work. I advised him against it. Workplace romances are never a good idea. But he jumped headfirst anyway. So far, they’re still going strong. “Sebastian is in town.”
“Shit,” I mumble and rub my hands down my face. “I forgot.”
“That’s why you’ve got us.” Demetrius’s grin grows as he keeps flipping through clothes in my closest. “Dude! You’ve got nothing to wear.”
“What’s wrong with what I’ve got on?” I look down at my attire. I’m wearing a pair of navy slacks and a white button-down shirt. It’s simple, but still stylish.
“Everything,” Eros says. “Put a jacket on and you look like you’re ready for a funeral.”
“Hey!” I frown. “I like my clothes.”
“Don!” Demetrius sounds exhausted with me. “They’re fine for work, but we’re hitting the bar. You’ll chase away the women.”
“Good,” I say with conviction. Determined to ignore my brothers and bail on going out tonight, I turn back to my laptop and start typing. I don’t even care what I’m writing. I just want to look busy.
But my fake distraction is short-lived. Demetrius reaches over my shoulder and shuts my laptop. “Don’t think I didn’t see the string of letters. You’re not faking yourself out of this one. Seb is excited to see us.”
Sebastian, or Seb as he likes to be called, is our cousin. He’s been in Europe studying pastry and chocolate making or some shit like that, and recently moved back to New York City to open his own shop.
He’s the same age as our older sister, Persephone, and the only son of our dad’s sister. He’s also something of a player, and when he and Demetrius get together, they attract women like flies.
It’s annoying.
“Come on, Donnie,” Atticus says from the doorway. “You can hang back with me tonight. If these nuts get too crazy, we’ll come home.”
I meet his determined stare and nod. It’s the best I’m gonna get tonight. Besides, I can always count on my older brother to have my back. Even more so now that he’s off the market.
I hate this bar.
To be fair, I hate all bars.
I’m still surprised I went out on Thursday. And to a nightclub with loud music. It’s easier when I’m alone. My brothers get rowdy and attract a lot of attention. Female attention.
I don’t like attention. It unnerves me.
Most guys would love that, I guess. But not me. I like to quietly lure my conquests. Take my time and go slow. Though there was nothing slow about my hook up with my sexy minx Thursday night. She was just as ready and eager as me. There was very little talk before or after. We came together, met our carnal needs, and parted ways like it was the most normal thing in the world to do.
It was the kind of hook up I could get used to.
It made the entire experience hotter than if we’d taken the time to talk and have a few drinks before fucking in a dark corner.
I’ve no interest in seeing anyone more than once. Dating is not an option for me at this stage of my life. I rather enjoyed that my minx didn’t mince words before letting me get under her skirt. It was perfection.
Everything about her was perfection.
No names. No small talk. No exchange of phone numbers. And no risk of being forced to see her gain.
The way she teased me from the dance floor with the sway of her curvy body and seductive glances.
How she fingered herself and let me watch her bring herself to climax.
Her openness to fuck in public where someone could easily find us.
I’ll never forget how she spread her legs wide and let me slam into her like I owned her pussy so close to the massive stage where hundreds of people danced to the music.
Perfection .
I glance around the crowded bar my brothers dragged me to and frown.
There’s no way I’ll get lucky enough to find a woman that adventurous here. Triple Bs isn’t that kind of bar. These women are more interested in talking and finding boyfriends or husbands, not a one-night fuck.
Thanks to Lulu’s betrayal, that’s all I’m good for anymore.
“Donnie!” The sound of my name being called has me looking around. I smile when I see my sister Persephone wave me over to a table in the back.
“I didn’t know you were coming out tonight,” I say when I reach the table. She hops up from her seat and gives me a tight hug. “If they’d told me you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have resisted so hard.”
I love my brothers, but Persephone and I have a bond that I don’t have with them. It’s always been that way with us, even when we were young.
“Of course, they didn’t tell you.” She laughs. “They’d prefer to give you a hard time about not wanting to come out instead of giving you a good reason to say yes.”
“Typical.” I look over my shoulder and glower at my brothers. They’re all huddled together, laughing.
Shaking my head, I turn back to the table and hold my hand out to shake my brother-in-law’s hand. “Hey, Trent. How’s it going?”
He gives me a forced smile, which is unusual for him. He always smiles, and before my sister stole his heart, I hear he was quite the charmer. “Looking forward to the day I get to sleep again.”
This drags a genuine smile out of me. “How is my niece?”
“Absolutely perfect,” Persephone says at the time Trent says, “A sleep hating little goddess.”
The table erupts in laughter. Demetrius’s best friend and coworker, Dylan, and his wife, Sydney, are also here. They’re good people. Dylan is quieter than Demetrius and much more reserved. It’s probably why they’re such good friends. They balance each other out.
“She’ll let you sleep again one day,” Dylan says, but there’s no conviction behind his words. He and Sydney have a little girl at home who still keeps them up at night.
“Hey, Donnie.” Sydney gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She’s a sweet woman most of the time. Just don’t get on her bad side. She’s studying to be a lawyer and can argue her way into being right almost every single time.
“That’s what you get for naming my niece Athena. This one,” I point my thumb at Persephone, “should have known the goddess Athena’s spirit animal is the owl.”
“I didn’t know that,” Trent groans. “No wonder she’s nocturnal.”
Persephone rolls her eyes. “All babies wake up a lot during the first several months of life. Her name has nothing to do with it.”
“Whatever you say, a ghrá .” Trent pulls Persephone close and presses his lips to her forehead, making her smile like she just won a prize. As much as I hate public displays of affection, I don’t mind it when it makes my sister smile like that.
I also don’t mind his terms of endearment for her. He’s part Irish and is always using some new lovesick name for her.
I glance around at the remaining empty seats at the table. “I thought Seb was supposed to be here?”
Persephone rolls her eyes again and points behind me. “He’s already at it.”
I look in the direction she pointed and snort. “Also typical.”
Demetrius and Eros have already attracted a larger crowd of women. If I know my cousin, he’ll fit right in with them.
“I’m going to go say hi before they get lost in a sea of women,” I say. “If the server comes by, will you order me a whiskey?”
“You got it,” Trent says. He and I have similar tastes in liquor. I trust he’ll order something I like.
By the time I make my way through the crowd to my brothers, I swear the number of girls surrounding them has multiplied.
“And this is my other brother, Adonis. He completes our family of half-Greek gods.” Demetrius laughs. To my surprise, all the women around them laugh as well. I don’t know why. Nothing he said is funny.
“Let me get this straight,” a tall blonde who looks like she just stepped off the runway of a fashion show says. She goes around the group, pointing at my brothers. “It’s Atticus, Demetrius, Eros, and now Adonis.” She turns to Sebastian, who currently has his arm around a sexy little brunette whispering in her ear. “And what’s this one’s name?”
Sebastian’s head immediately pops up. He smiles and reaches for her hand. He brings it to his lips and says, “I’m Sebastian. But those close to me call me Seb.”
“Hi Seb,” the blonde says in a sexy, seductive tone. “I’m Kacie. How come you’re not named after a Greek god?”
“My parents liked me.” He jokes. “There’s wanted them to get picked on their entire lives.”
“No one ever picked on us.” Demetrius defends us all. “We are Greek gods among men. You’re nothing more than a candy maker.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong.” His sly smile grows. The one that women always melt over when they see it. Just like my brothers, Sebastian is a flirt who knows no bounds. “I’m an artist.”
“You call that shit you make art?” Eros looks confused. “It’s fancy food at best.”
“You have no vision, Eros.”
“Then explain it to me.”
“Some artists paint their nude models,” Sebastian says. “But I prefer edible sculptures made of pasties and chocolate. It’s sexy.”
“Sexy?” Demetrius shakes his head and chuckles. “It’s just candy.”
“Nah, man.” Sebastian shakes his head. “It’s the gentle curves of a woman’s body. Plump breasts and perk nipples. Full lips and high cheekbones. Thick thighs and long legs. And it’s some of the best pasties and chocolate you’ll ever eat.”
“That takes eating a girl to a whole new level.” Eros says, and everyone bursts out laughing. Even Sebastian.
“Yes, it does.” Sebastian winks at the brunette on his arm. “And I always eat my girls.”
I shake my head. If this is how they’re going to act all night, I won’t survive. I say a quick goodbye and make my way back to the table.
To my delight, my drink is waiting for me. I take a heavy sip and relax a bit. I have a feeling I’m going to need several of these before this night is over.