Chapter 4
She’d yelled out the name of the club again through the bathroom door when Plutus, the fucking god, asked her for it.
She ignored the sounds of him moving about and talking with no one she could hear, as she got ready.
The dress was perfection. It fit her like molten metal poured over skin, clinging to the curves of her breasts and hips and falling so it hid the small but persistent layer of pudge around her midriff.
The material shimmered, making her skin glow, the slight pinkish hue shining against the pink in her hair.
E loved makeup, but owned little of it. Only the basics in pharmacy brands, but she’d learned to put it on masterfully over the years.
Swiping, brushing, and buffing, she applied a delicate layer of foundation, concealer, blush, highlighter, mascara, and brow gel.
An angle brush fluttered over her eye, dusting a thin line of golden shadow there.
Last but not least, she added a gloss with a hint of pink the color of her hair to bring it all together.
She didn’t have the accessories to meet the level of the dress, but looking over herself in the mirror, she thought she looked damn good.
Nerves wiggled down her arms, making her shake out her hands before she turned the doorknob to exit out of the bathroom, out of the apartment, into the night with some god to a glitzy nightclub.
Her mouth was half open, ready to call out, when she came face to face with him, leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom.
E snapped it closed to stifle the soft scream she almost let loose.
A devilish grin lit Plutus’s face before a dark light shaded his brilliant green eyes as they moved from her mouth, over her face, down, down, down her body.
His look touched every visible inch of her, and since he was being so damn blatant about it, she did the same.
Big mistake. Her eyes flitted over his monochromatic clothing, all black from his suit to his shirt to his tie to his high shine shoes.
The only hints of color, in fact, were a gold and diamond tie clip and cufflinks at his wrists before he adjusted his jacket sleeves.
When her attention went to those hands, she noticed it for the first time: no claws.
When she double-checked, his horns were gone as well.
All that remained on his head was his black hair, lush and shining and begging for her to run her hands through it.
“What happened to you?” Rude, she knew, but with so much newness coming at her she didn’t have it in her to be polite at the moment.
He waved at the empty space where his tall, spiraling gold horns should be and she nodded. “A charm. Can’t go out in all my godly glory, now can I?”
More questions bubbled, but he looked down at what appeared to be a very expensive watch on his left wrist and asked his own. “Are you ready?”
She didn’t know how to honestly answer that one in general, but if he meant to go out right that second, she shrugged and she surveyed herself mentally: hair and makeup were all good.
She needed to grab her wristlet and transfer things over because she wasn’t taking her big ass shoulder bag in this dress.
And shoes. Damnit, she’d forgotten all about shoes for the nightclub and this dress to be specific.
The issue turned into a non-issue quickly enough.
As if by magic, a pair of shiny pink shoes dangled from one of Pluto’s hands when she knew for a fact he’d held nothing a moment before.
Of course it was magic, not just like magic.
Because he was a damn god. The shoes swung up, and her face came up with them to meet his gaze.
Softly, like a caress across her skin, he said, “For you,” extending the shoes to her.
They were mules, not too high, and the same color as her hair.
Exquisite crystals studded the crisscrossed straps at the toes and she took a moment to be thankful she’d taken the time to give herself a mani-pedi the other night while she watched a rom-com on Netflix. Then she noticed the soles. Blood red.
“Where’d you get these?” Dubious, E eyed them, not taking the shoes from him.
The dress was one thing. She figured it was expensive, but she’d checked the label and had no idea who the designer was.
Likely meant it was far too rich for her to know, but it gave a certain level of detached deniability.
These, however, were distinctive. And distinctly expensive.
An exasperated sigh left the god as he knelt before her.
Frozen at the move, at the images it conjured in her heated mind, she stood there like a statue as he raised her left foot first, slipping one of the shoes snugly in place.
As he did the same to the other, he looked up, his eyes hitting hers.
“I told you, E. Nothing of wealth is hidden from me.”
“Meaning you can produce any luxury item out of thin air?” She said this as she shifted her weight back and forth, foot to foot, marveling at the feel of the shoes on her feet.
Lisa had a pair of classic black LV heels, had even offered to let E borrow them on occasion, but she’d never dared.
She was afraid she’d mess them up, and she didn’t have the money to replace something like that.
She also feared she’d step into them then miss them when she had to take them off, give them back.
“Yes,” he said, all blasé, like being able to produce thousand-dollar shoes at will was no big deal. It made her hackles rise.
“I didn’t ask you for any of this.”
“Oh, but you did. When you asked to be comfortable. These are as comfortable as women’s dress shoes get while still being stylish, I’m afraid.”
Once again, too quick for her eye to catch, he moved into her.
When he gripped her neck, it was loose, dominant and assertive but not painful or intimidating.
Comforting. She found a man’s strong, controlling hands on her grounding, depending on the man of course, and Plutus plucked that kinky string in her perfectly.
His head cocked to the left and right, the movement of a predator studying.
She felt a weight hit her neck, added to his hand, and one of his now human-looking fingers glided over something at the back of her neck, clicking a clasp into place. She looked down to see a rose gold and diamond necklace resting where his hand had just been.
E closed her eyes, fighting off the dizziness she felt at the absurdity of the entire situation. None of it was believable. For a second she wondered if she’d fallen asleep and dreamed all this. If she did, she could just accept it. Take it all without question. Because it wasn’t real.
Plutus leaned in, the whiskey notes of his scent intoxicating, and said, “Come, E. Let’s try out this brave new world.”
Eyes still closed, she whispered, “With such people in it,” and maybe felt a little too much like naive Miranda, given she agreed to follow.
She blinked her eyes opened and really stared for a long minute, searching the fine-tuned bullshit meter she’d gained as a kid in the trailer park.
He set off no blaring alarm bells beyond the general warning to not get too close to anyone.
She felt at ease with the god, even if she just discovered gods existed.
Though, obviously, all of it–the new knowledge of supernaturals, her calling one to her, the way his body made hers sizzle–disoriented her.
To steady herself, she fell back on what she knew best: research and learning.
“Only if you answer a few of my questions.”
A smirk met her demand. “Question for question, then. But first, we leave.”
“I need to grab a bag.”
“No need.”
“Uh, yeah. I have to have my ID, my debit card, my metro card, just in case, and the little bit of cash I have.” She’d ticked each thing off on an upraised hand in Pluto’s face.
“You only need your ID, and I will carry it for you.”
“But…” Damn, she felt like a petulant teenager, ready to stomp a foot, slam the bathroom door in his face, and pout in there for at least an hour.
She’d never even done that as a teenager because you couldn’t slam trailer doors reliably.
Probably wouldn’t help her now, either. She doubted Plutus was the type to put up with a snit.
There’d be no begging or coddling from him, of that she was certain.
“No. You need nothing else when you are with me, and I have multiple pockets.” He turned her, his hands scalding on the bare skin of her back, and gently pushed her down the hall. “ID, then we leave and you get your questions.”
All of this was insane, but her body moved her forward, tingling under his touch, and she told herself she could go along for a time, to get answers and hopefully a more comfortable life in the future.
She’d done the spell, after all. She’d just gotten far more than she bargained for in the process.
Of course there was a dark, expensive car with a huge hood ornament and an attentive driver waiting for them outside her front stoop.
The god’s hand smoothed down E’s back, causing a shiver in its wake, as he guided her into the back seat.
She had to maneuver around a middle console, but she managed without hurting herself or the car.
The inside, all plush leather and wood grain accents and clean lines, distracted her until they started gliding down the street.
“So…” She didn’t finish, and Plutus looked at her with a sly smile.
“Come on, E. You were the one with questions.”
At that, a soft buzzing sounded and a screen came up between them and the driver in front.
“I thought only limos could do that?” Granted, she didn’t know much about luxury of any type, but maybe especially luxury cars.
Lisa and her parents were the richest people she personally knew, and they were New Yorkers, which meant her friend didn’t own a car and usually just used an app, cab, or a discreet car service.
“Is this one of your questions?”