Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
OPHELIA
After dinner, I followed my dad to his office on the first floor. He closes the French doors behind us and draws the shades to cover the glass.
“I don’t understand,” I say the second he turns around to look at me. “Why are you doing this? You don’t have to marry Mom’s best friend.”
Dad runs his fingers through his black hair, which doesn’t have a single strand of gray. He’s only forty-five and had me at twenty-two. My parents got pregnant with me after they had dated for three months, but he married Mom because he loved her.
At least, I thought he did.
The man who provided round-the-clock care, catering to my mom’s every need in her final days, was a man in love—a man who was terrified of losing her.
I remember walking into her room one morning. He sat beside her bed, his head down and holding her hand. Dad begged her not to go and pleaded for her to stay.
Not like she had a choice.
She wasn’t awake when he said any of those things.
“I don’t expect you to understand, Phe.” He turns his back to me, crossing the room to stand before the bar. Uncorking a bottle of scotch, he sighs. “Losing your mother was the worst pain imaginable. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
“I understand you’re hurting because I am, too.” My voice trembles with the wave of emotion sweeping over me. “I miss her every second of every single day.”
“Ophelia, please.” He pours a scotch and sinks into the leather chair behind his desk, looking like a king. “It doesn’t hurt as much when Athena’s around. I need you to see that this is good for both of us. You’ll have a mother again.”
My teeth grit in anger, my jaw clenched so tightly I feel like it could snap. “I don’t want another mother. I already had one. You said Athena isn’t replacing Mom, but it feels like you’re trying to forget about her.”
“No, I’m not. I’m trying to move on with my life. This is what your mother wanted. You read the letter.”
“So you’re only marrying Athena because of a letter?”
He shakes his head. “Athena was here after your mother passed. I wouldn’t have gotten through the grief without her.”
“If you like fucking her, keep her around as a sidepiece. You don’t have to marry her.”
“Ophelia,” he shouts. “What has gotten into you? I don’t like how you speak to me, especially not in front of Athena and her boys.”
“Why? Afraid it will undermine your power?”
He drinks half the contents of his glass and slams it on the desk. “Enough! If you continue acting this way, I won’t leave my club in your hands.”
How dare he?
I want to yell, but I regain my composure to keep myself from saying anything I will regret. Olympus means everything to me. Since my mom’s death, knowing I have somewhere to go has gotten me out of bed.
“Dad, I’ve been running Olympus for the past five years. My anger has nothing to do with how I operate our business.”
“My business.” He points a finger at his chest. “Mine.”
“I’m your heir,” I remind him. “The clubs will be mine someday.”
“Only if you show your loyalty to this family.”
Furious, I shoot up from the chair, ready to explode. “I’m tired.” An excuse to get away from him and decompress. “Can I go?”
He flings his hand out at the door. “Go!”
He doesn’t need to tell me twice, so I bolt out of the room and race upstairs. There are empty boxes folded and propped against the wall in the hallway on the second floor.
I bet Apollo took the time to do that. He seems like the organized brother. While Ares is pure chaos, Atlas is oblivious. He’s always got his head in his sketchbook.
Thankfully, they have disappeared into their new bedrooms, conveniently on the same floor as mine.
Thanks, Dad.
He could have split these assholes between the three floors of this massive house. Instead, he left them on the second floor with me. Athena and my dad have the entire third floor.
We have ten bedrooms and fifteen bathrooms. I guess he wanted privacy to have a fuckfest with his new bride. Lord knows I don’t want to hear Athena moaning my dad’s name in the middle of the night. I would rather slit my wrists.
I shower and change into pajamas. A pair of shorts and a matching spaghetti strap top with no bra.
When I’m home, I like to be comfortable.
Tonight is my first night off in months.
And those assholes ruined it. After Mom died, I forced myself to work, so I didn’t have to be here with the reminder she was gone.
I hear doors open and shut in the hallway. My new roomies are talking so loudly that I catch hints of their conversation through my door, but it is not enough to get the full context.
I poke my head into the hallway, drying my hair with a towel while keeping myself out of view.
They can’t see me from the den.
I was planning to watch a movie to relax, and they were in my spot.
On my couch.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“I wanna nut all over her big tits and fat ass,” Ares tells his brothers. “Welcome her to the family the proper way.”
That motherfucker!
My mouth opens in horror, the same shame I usually feel heating my cheeks. I’m so self-conscious about my weight that it’s all I can think about some days. I lost ten pounds before my mom died. But I haven’t dieted since.
I creep down the hallway past their bedrooms to peek into the den.
Atlas sits beside Ares, shoving his hand through his dark hair that looks windblown but not messy. “She’s wound so tight.”
“I bet her pussy’s even tighter,” Ares comments with one of his sexy smirks. “I can’t wait to be balls deep in her.”
“Both of you are fucking idiots,” Apollo interrupts. “She won’t touch either of you.”
“Please,” Ares groans. “When has any woman ever told me no?”
Arrogant prick.
“Wanna bet?” Atlas says, challenging his older brother. “I’ve got money on Ophelia that says she’ll shoot your dick off before she lets you put it inside her.”
He’s been quiet most of the night, busy with his drawings, and surprisingly coming to my rescue. So maybe the shy ones aren’t so sneaky after all.
“I second that.” Apollo laughs. “She hates you, bro. You don't have a chance in Hades.”
“There’s nothing better than a hate fuck.” Ares spreads his long legs, grabbing himself over his gray sweatpants. “She can hate me all she wants. I’m going to fuck the hate right from her wet cunt.”
Oh, my God.
He’s so vulgar, yet I’m turned on listening to him talk about me. I shouldn't be into this, but no man has ever spoken about me like a sexual being. Not that I want to be objectified. But shit, I want to be desired.
And Ares wants me.
Me.
Their conversation about me ends with the brothers fighting over what to watch on TV. I take this as my cue to interrupt their argument over the latest shows on Netflix.
I stroll into the den.
Their heads turn to me.
One at a time.
First, Ares. Then Apollo. Even Atlas looks up from his sketchbook.
Ares spreads his legs wider when his eyes land on me. With him wearing tight gray sweatpants, I can see the outline of his dick through them.
Holy fucking hell.
He’s not even hard and could hurt someone with that thing. As my eyes sweep over the group, I wonder if his brothers are equally endowed.
What is my problem?
My mind keeps drifting back to dark, dirty places whenever I’m around them.
Ares’s eyes appraise every inch of my body. He licks his lips when he gets to my breasts for the third time. “Come chill with us, little sis.”
I scan the couch, wondering if I should drop onto the cushion beside him or return to my room.
“Need somewhere to sit?” Ares notices my silent deliberation, never missing a beat.
“You can sit on my face.” He sticks out his tongue and acts like he’s eating my pussy.
He taps his fingers on his thigh beside his massive dick when I don’t respond.
“Or you can sit on my lap and let me give you a ride.”
“Hard pass.” I move in front of him, holding out my palm. “Give me the remote.”
He leans back, so I’m even more aware of the ridges of his chiseled abdomen and the fact that he’s not wearing underwear. Shirtless and completely covered in tattoos, I can’t see many places for Ares to add more ink.
Ares raises his arms above his head, keeping the remote out of my reach. “You want it, Little Dragon? Come and get it.”
I bend forward, and Ares grabs my breast with his free hand. I’m suddenly aware that I forgot to wear a bra.
Fuck.
It’s not like I should have to wear a bra at home when I’m trying to relax before bed. But now I have three men living with me and staring at me like a mouse caught in the lion’s den.
“Pig.” I smack his hand. “This is my house. Hand over the remote before I kick your ass.”
He gains pleasure from pissing me off. If there’s any truth to his hate-sex comment, this is foreplay to Ares. So I play along, hoping to give him the worst blue balls of his life.
I climb onto his lap and straddle him, reaching for the remote.
“If you want to fuck, baby,” Ares says, rocking his hips, “you only have to ask. I’m game.”
“I’m not your baby.” I fall forward to grab the remote, missing by a few inches. “Asshole.”
I crash into his face, and my top inches down, nearly exposing my hard nipple to the cold air. This isn’t Ares’s doing. My nipples are hard from the air conditioning blasting through the house.
Liar.
Before I can fix my shirt back into place, Ares shoves my top down the rest of the way and sucks my nipple into his mouth. It feels so good that a moan slips past my lips. Our eyes connect for a split second, and my lips part slightly for him before I realize what’s happening.
This is so bad.
Why does it feel so good?
Atlas looks like he wants to take my other nipple into his mouth, but he watches with his twin.
When I finally come to my senses, I grip Ares by the hair and yank his mouth off my nipple, moving the fabric over the swollen bud wet with his saliva. “What the fuck was that?”
He cups my ass in his hands and pushes me into his hard dick. “I’m claiming what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.” I peel his hands off my ass and slide off his lap. “Give me the remote. No more games.”
“I bet your panties are soaked for me,” he guesses, and the fucker is right. I’m drenched because of him. “I’ll give you the remote if you let me check for myself.”
I bend down so our faces are only inches apart. “This is my house. If you don’t let me watch what I want, I’ll get my Glock and follow through on what we started earlier.”
“You got a thing for guns, don’t you?” He nods at the gun on the table and says, “Pick it up. You can shoot me with it. Anywhere but my face or dick. But first, I want you to take off these shorts.” He tugs at the hem, and I slap his hand.
“Get on the table and spread your legs for me, so I can watch your pussy swallow the barrel.”
My eyes grow wider at his proposal. “You’re legitimately insane.”
He tips his head back and laughs. “I’m not any crazier than you.”
I glance at Apollo and Atlas, who stare at me with interest. Their cocks are hard, tenting their sweatpants. We must have put on more of a show than I realized. It felt like Ares only sucked on my nipple for a second before it was all over.
I’ve never felt wanted by one man, let alone three. This is oddly satisfying and terrifying. Dressed in shorts and a thin top, I usually feel self-conscious about other people looking at me. Home is the only place I dress like this. But around them, I feel desired.
“You wanna get freaky, baby?” Ares waggles his black eyebrows at me, grabbing his crotch. “I’m into some sick and twisted shit. There’s nothing I won’t do to bury my dick in your forbidden pussy.”
I’m curious about his definition of sick and twisted, but I hold my tongue. If I show interest in Ares, he’ll never leave me alone. Besides, he’s going to be family.
All three of them.
Fuck me.
“You know what,” I tell him, “on second thought, I think I’ll skip watching TV tonight and just go to bed.”
“Good choice,” Apollo says, speaking for the first time since I entered the room. “You’ll need more than a safe word with Ares. I don’t think you’re ready for him yet, sweetheart.”
A safe word?
I hear those a lot at the club.
Ares smirks in response. “Night, Little Dragon. Don’t forget to stretch out your pussy while you’re having dirty dreams about me.” He strokes his big, hard dick over the top of his sweatpants. “You need to make room for me.”
I open my mouth to say something witty but ignore him and walk away.
“Told you she wouldn’t fuck you,” Atlas says as I enter my bedroom and shut the door without waiting to hear Ares’s response.