22. Calliope
Calliope
I’m not really sure what I expected from a mansion. If this is even a mansion. Or a McMansion. And I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I said all of them.
Nothing aside from temporary insanity. Which has to be what this is. Insanity.
Three men?
Just like the brides all those years ago.
Which is probably why I brought it up. I don’t know, translating all day gave me that adrenaline rush from archaeology I’ve craved over the last few years, and it feels like all the pieces of my life are finally falling together.
One at a time.
And maybe learning about that bride planted the thought that hey, if they’re a package deal, then maybe I can be a part of that.
And there is this piece inside of me that screams it’s all I want. All I’ve ever dreamed of.
That’s why I’m here, sitting at a dining room table that I’m pretty sure they’ve never used in the past, scarfing down a cheeseburger like I’ve never eaten one in my entire life.
Which I have.
A lot.
And I only find it marginally weird that the guys aren’t eating at all.
Well not entirely. Vex is sipping a red wine, along with the rest of us. I opted for a sweet red. They opted for something spicier that I can smell from here.
Lazarus got cheesesteak. Soren ordered half the menu. I’ve only seen him take a few bites and Vex just sips his wine while staring at me.
The weirdest part is I’ve never seen men eat so little. But I can’t be bothered because I translated something that will eventually have my name on it. My studies. And…
“Oh.” I swallow the huge bite I just took just remembering something important. “I almost forgot.” I finish swallowing. “I caught something else. You translated wrong.”
That gets Lazarus’s attention and I’m not going to lie. The surprised look on his face pleases me greatly.
“You got bride right.” I lick mayo off my lips and sip my wine to clear my throat. “But you had something in your notes I think you translated wrong.”
Oh I’ve got his attention now. Lazarus is looking at me like I’ve mostly lost my mind. I can tell no one ever challenges him.
I’m going to love this.
“What did you say?” he asks and grabs a napkin wiping off his clean mouth.
“You had it translated as, bound by human blood,” I say excitedly because history rarely makes sense.
Most ancients sacrificed women by tossing them in a volcano. None of this surprises me.
“That’s exactly what it says.” He leans on the table, his cockiness oozing from him. Though he has a small smudge of cheese on his shirt. “It took me ages to translate that.”
“And you translated it wrong.” I wipe my hands off then grab a clean napkin. “You have a pen?”
“Here.” Soren pulls one from his shirt and hands it over.
Excited I grab the napkin and the pen and lean over Lazarus. Ignoring his scent is only easy because I’m about to prove why he should have hired me for this position in the first place.
“See here is the glyph.” I draw the glyph for human.
Which doesn’t look like a little man but more like a star with legs.
“You got this right.” I show him the one for sun which is also similar.
“But this.” I draw the actual glyph. A little star.
With half-moons instead of straight lines. “It’s easy to miss.”
“That’s what you were doing all afternoon.” He twists it at least a dozen times. “You’re sure?”
“Don’t insult me. I’m never wrong.” I snort and tap my finger down. “Took me all afternoon to figure it out.”
“What’s it say?” Soren leans in closer.
“Fractal.”
“That was anticlimactic.” Vex drinks the rest of his thick-ass wine. But somehow, he looks more like himself after drinking it.
“Not at all.” I nearly dance on my feet. “Human. Sun. Fractal. They’re close. Oh so close.” Now I draw the one for bride. It looks like a star, the very one I just mentioned. “Bride is fractal. You just weren’t looking close enough.”
“I’m never wrong,” Lazarus whispers. But he’s not convinced. “This means…”
“Fractal. Bound by fractal blood.” I look at them all. “Don’t you get it.”
“No.” Lazarus is not happy about it.
“The goddess. It’s a fractal of Sophia.” I laugh. “Bound by a fractal of the goddess.” I’m nearly hysterical. “They believed that they could bind this group together by a piece of a goddess.” I grab my wine tossing it back. “It’s incredible.”
“I need to leave.” Lazarus stands so quickly his chair topples over, he’s out of the room in the next moment.
My heart sinks. I was so excited to share that with him. I’ve been mulling it over and over in my head. I swear I thought he’d understand. And yet all I can do is watch him walk away from me and it… well it doesn’t fucking feel good.
“Hey.” Soren reaches for my hand. “From where I’m sitting it looks to me like Lazarus found a thread he needs to pull.”
“He didn’t have to be a dick.” Vex tosses his napkin on the table and leans back on his chair. “But now that he has and we’ve got our girl here we should make our time worth it.”
“By the gods, Vex.” Soren curses at him.
I feel a hot blush working up my neck. “What is that supposed to mean?” I clear my throat when Vex glances at me with a very specific look.
Listen I’m not a scholar on body language but Vex is throwing some very specific vibes my way and I’m not gonna lie. I’m into it.
“Vex is an ass,” Soren says, his hand still covering mine on the table. “Don’t mind him.”
Vex’s lips curve into a smirk that does dangerous things to my stomach. “I’m not an ass. I’m efficient. We have a beautiful woman, three willing men, well two now.” He leans forward, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m just suggesting we... multitask.”
My face is on fire. There’s no other explanation for the heat rushing through me. I should be offended. I should walk away. Instead, I find myself saying, “And what exactly does multitasking look like to you?”
Soren squeezes my hand. “Vex, don’t—”
“It looks like us getting to know each other,” Vex interrupts. His voice drops to that sexy register that does me in every time. Which sends my body into flight. I swear I can feel him touching me everywhere his eyes graze. “Properly.”
I swallow hard. My heart is hammering so loudly I’m certain they can hear it. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” Vex suggests, standing up and circling the table. “That’s your problem, Callie. You think too much.”
Soren releases my hand and stands, positioning himself between me and Vex. “She’s not some conquest, Vex.”
“Never said she was.” Vex’s gaze never wavers from mine, even as Soren tries to block his path. “How about a game?”
“Like a… a board game?” And just like that Vex pops the tension.
Soren visibly exhales like he’s constantly waiting for Vex to pull some kind of bullshit. Which honestly, same.
“We do have a closet full of games.” Soren begins to gather all the trash. “Why don’t you two go pick something out.”
“Say less.” Vex is behind me before I can blink, pulling out my chair.
“You move too fast,” I grumble as I stand.
Vex and Soren freeze, their bodies just stopping like I put a remote to them and pressed pause. It’s disturbing, uncanny and I honestly have no idea how I feel about it.
“Apologies.” Soren turns abruptly and leaves the dining room.
“That’s two men I suddenly made disappear.” I turn to Vex who seems completely unconcerned.
“More for me.” He snatches me up and tosses me over his shoulder but here’s the thing, he makes sure my stomach doesn’t lay on his shoulder.
You know so I don’t puke.
That is the first thing I notice. The second is that his hand rests below my ass. Not on my ass. Below it. Carefully away from my ass. Which also irritates me a little because I want him to touch my ass. I want him to go full grab hand. And he’s being careful.
“No complaints?” he teases me as he walks through the labyrinth that is this big house.
I hate big homes for that reason.
“Ah no.” I clear my throat. “I can walk, but also I don’t want to.” Oh I am a fool.
“You like when I carry you.” He pauses in a hallway deep into their home and adjusts me, to a bridal hold. My arms loop around his neck where my fingers thread through the brown strands of his hair and I’m just, content.
“I do.” I squish up my face. “Does that make me pathetic?” I whisper the question as memories of asking James to hold me, to carry me, or just toss me around build behind my eyes.
He hated it. Like he hated touching me.
And there I go again comparing the two of them.
“No.” He holds me tighter. “I like holding you.”
“Why?” I ask, my body getting closer to his because I pull myself closer. There’s this need to just get under his skin. To climb under him and live there forever.
And I need to know. I need to know why he wants to hold me, why he wants to carry me. A part of me feels as though I don’t deserve it and it’s causing me to want to hold on tighter to him.
“Holding you feels like the most natural thing in the world to me.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, my eyes close because if they stay open I might cry and now is not a crying situation.
I’ll save that for tomorrow, for the inevitable crash out over whatever happens tonight.
“You curl around me,” he whispers into my hair.
“And the world feels right. Like every bad thing that ever happened to me led me right here, to you and I don’t want to let go of that. ”
Well. Fuck.
I roll my eyes a few times to send the tears away.
When he begins to walk again I rest my head on his shoulder.
“I know what game to play.” His tone changes and he’s opening a closet.
Ride’s over, I wiggle down. “What game?”
“Twister.” He yanks it out and begins to walk backward.
“Twister?” I laugh. “Twister?”
“While watching Twister.” He wags his brows.
“You are a chaos agent, aren’t you?”
“Only when you’re around.”
“Tease.”
“Who is a tease?” Soren joins us by walking out of an open doorway.
“Vex,” I tell him, following Vex into the room Soren came out of.
“And what is he teasing you about?” Soren asks while glaring at Vex still walking backward.
Vex holds up the game then tosses it on the floor.
We’re in what I’m pretty sure is a common room. To the right is a huge television sitting over a fireplace, and a wraparound couch. Ahead is a foosball table and a pool table. Vex tossed the game in front of the couch where he begins to assemble it.
“Twister?” Soren questions.
“While watching Twister,” I add.
“I’ll put the movie on.” Soren rounds the couch.
“Seriously you’re just going to let it happen?”
“Yes,” Soren states confidently. “You agreed?”
“I mean I haven’t said yes or no.” But I’m definitely going to say yes.
“Then it’s settled.” Soren browses the apps finding the movie.
Vex spins the dial. “Left hand green.” He slaps his hand on the middle circle on a green dot.
“We’re really doing this?” I toe off my shoes and come around the couch blushing as Soren and Vex make catcalls at me joining them. Really, it’s just a lot of whooping.
I spin the little black hand, landing on, “Red. Right foot.” I choose the outer one. The opposite side of Vex.
“My turn.” Soren turns the movie on and spins. “Yellow left leg.” He steps right in front of Vex facing me, giving him a full view of his ass.
I couldn’t hide my laughter even if I wanted to.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Vex says and spins. “Right leg red.” He looks at his body, at me, at Soren. “How the fuck.”
“It was your idea, figure it out.”
He does by stretching under Soren to reach a red circle.
“Oh this is going to get messy,” I say and spin. “Right hand red.”
“You’re getting the easy spins.” Soren’s turn. “Green right hand.” He bends over Vex.
“Blue, right leg.” He just moves his right leg away.
“Blue, left leg.” Easy.
“Blue right leg.” He somehow manages.
“Right leg, yellow.” Vex moves it closer.
I’m still standing but when I spin on green right hand I have to think about it. I end up way too close to Soren and he smells like man. Not cologne, not sweat, just him.
“Getting tricky,” Vex teases.
Tricky indeed.
“Yellow, left hand,” Soren calls out, and he’s forced to reach across my body, his arm brushing against my side. The contact sends a shiver through me that I try desperately to hide.
“Red, right foot,” Vex says, his voice dropping lower as he steps further into the tangled mess we’re becoming. His foot lands right beside my hand, and I can feel the warmth radiating from his skin.
I spin again, feeling my heart race. “Blue, right hand.” I have to stretch under Soren’s arm to reach an open spot.
We’re getting closer, our bodies intertwining in ways that make my breath catch. The movie plays in the background, but I couldn’t tell you what’s happening on screen. My entire world has narrowed to this mat, these men, and the electric current running between us.
“Green, left foot,” Vex announces, and when he moves, his chest presses against my back. I freeze, hyperaware of every point of contact between us.
“Yellow, right hand,” Soren says, his voice rougher than before. He’s now practically leaning over me, his face inches from mine.
The game has transformed into something else entirely. No one says anything beyond the calls now, but the silence between them is loud with possibilities. I spin again, my hand trembling slightly.
“Red, left hand.” I have to reach past Vex this time, my body arching against his. His breath hitches, and I feel it against my neck.
“I think,” Vex says, his voice barely above a whisper, “we’ve reached the end of the mat.”
“We haven’t even used all the dots,” I whisper, suddenly very aware of how close we all are.
My body presses between Vex and Soren, creating a sandwich of tension that feels both terrifying and exhilarating.
“Doesn’t matter,” Vex murmurs, his breath hot against my ear. “The game was just an excuse.”
My heart hammers against my ribs. “An excuse for what?”
Soren lifts his right hand from the mat and settles it at my waist, keeping me steady as our precarious arrangement begins to unravel.
“For this,” he says simply.
I should move. I should step back. Maybe laugh it off, make some joke about competitive board games. Instead, I remain frozen in place as I secretly hope this ends up going where I hope it goes.
Vex’s hand slides from the mat to my hip. “Tell us to stop,” he says, his voice a low rumble that I feel in my chest. “And we will.”
The words hang in the air between us. The movie continues playing, forgotten. My mind races through a thousand thoughts. The translation, Lazarus storming out, the ancient texts about brides bound to multiple partners. About fractals and goddesses and blood bonds.
“Don’t stop,” I hear myself say.
Vex’s lips find the sensitive spot just below my ear, and I melt against him. Soren’s gaze holds mine, asking a silent question that I answer by reaching up to pull him closer.
This is madness. Beautiful, terrifying madness.
I lean in for the kiss anyway.