Chapter 33
Yasmine
If there was any way to make a situation worse, she was on top of it. The expression on Zeus’ face was almost enough to make up for it, and she kind of wished she dared snap a picture of it.
“Um… I was engaged to Mason?” she repeated.
She was still holding onto the empty serving spoon, so it gave her a good excuse to look at the casserole dish as she scooped food from it onto her plate.
More than she meant to. With the way her stomach was twisting and flipping, she was even less hungry than before, but it gave her something to do.
Zeus still sat across from her, hands on either side of his plate, staring at her.
“It wasn’t a real engagement,” she tried to explain. “I mean, it was real in that we were going to get married, but it was arranged… You really didn’t hear about this?”
“If you know anything about the team, I assume you know that we’re not exactly close,” Zeus said slowly, as if he was carefully choosing every word that came out of his mouth.
“I know a little. If it helps, I hadn’t heard about you, either, at least not that I really realized…
I sort of recognized your name, but I didn’t know you were the same Zeus Claudia had mentioned, and I wasn’t even sure that was the right name.
” Yasmine put the serving spoon down, a little sad that he waited until it was firmly settled before he reached for it, rather than giving their hands the chance to touch again.
“But you were engaged to Mason.” The heavy suspicion in his voice was both deserved and frustrating.
“Yes, but he didn’t really share anything with me, not about work. We mostly talked about the wedding. Plans for the future. What we wanted our lives to look like.” Not about anything serious or in the present. Which, she now realized, had probably been a mistake.
As usual, she’d been so focused on what she wanted, she hadn’t been looking at what they actually had.
Because they hadn’t really had anything other than some similarities in what they wanted out of life.
But there hadn’t been the connection or the chemistry she already had with Zeus, and he was just a fuck buddy.
“Did you know who I was before or after we fucked?”
The blunt way he asked, almost an accusation, made her wince.
“Before,” she admitted. “But literally, like, the day before. I found out at game night with the girls, then that night Pete James showed up. I didn’t plan this. Any of this.”
Zeus leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and studying her.
Their dinners were both still in front of them, untouched and growing colder.
But if he wasn’t eating, then she shouldn’t have to, either, right?
Only Tiger was eating; she could hear him crunching his food under the table.
“I believe you didn’t plan it,” he said after a long moment. “But you should have told me you knew me and how.”
“Well, excuse me, but when you came over, I didn’t know anything was going to happen between us,” she sniped back, stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork.
She was starting to move past the guilt and entering frustration.
It wasn’t as if she’d had bad intentions or anything.
“And once I realized something was happening, I didn’t want to lose out on an orgasm just because you happen to work with some people I know. ”
“Including someone you were once engaged to.” The clipped way he said it made her scowl.
“Which wasn’t important. Claudia told Audrey and Cassidy not to tell Mason or David, so I didn’t tell you, either. Everyone was in the dark.” She circled the fork in the air before biting off the piece of chicken with a snap of her teeth. “That’s about as fair as I could make it.”
“Everyone except you, Claudia, Audrey, and Cassidy.”
“To be fair, none of them know that we’ve fucked. Including my girl friends. Although I’m pretty sure Claudia now suspects, or she wouldn’t have worked so hard to push you into letting me stay tonight. Which I’m starting to wish she hadn’t.” Some very real hurt leaked into her voice.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t fucked up. She had.
At the same time, she didn’t think that what she had done was that bad either. She and Zeus weren’t in a real relationship. They were just fucking. Which was a secret from everyone. So, she’d kept a secret from him, too.
And maybe, if I’m enough of a brat about it, he’ll spank me, then we can move past this.
Okay, yeah. So, she might be pushing him right now, too. Goading him. Trying to get him to react.
But they would probably both feel better if he spanked her.
She took another bite, chewing furiously, gaze focused on her plate.
The chicken and rice were really good. Well-seasoned.
Juicy. Still warm, thankfully, and filling.
It settled easily into her stomach, and she suddenly wondered if he’d already been planning on making this, or if he’d decided to because it seemed like good comfort food.
Not that she was going to ask him right now.
“All right.”
When she looked up, Zeus was now focused on his own food, a slight frown on his face.
“All right?” she asked, unsure of what he meant. At least the anger seemed to have faded from his body. That had to be a good sign, right?
“All right,” he repeated.
They ate the rest of the meal in silence, then Yasmine excused herself to the guest bedroom rather than taking Tiger for a walk with him.
She wanted to be near him, but she also didn’t want to infringe on him if he didn’t want her there…
and she didn’t think that he did. It wasn’t that he was giving her the cold shoulder exactly, but he wasn’t welcoming, either.
He was withdrawn and contemplative.
Which she needed a break from. The difference in his demeanor toward her was making her really anxious.
She figured staying back while he took Tiger out was probably better for both of them since he didn’t seem interested in spanking her.
Still, she wasn’t able to fully relax until she heard him come back inside, and she was no longer alone in the house.
She’d taken advantage of Zeus’ absence to get into her pajamas and do her nightly routine.
Knocking on the bedroom door made her jerk her head up. For a moment, she hesitated. She wasn’t wearing her makeup, but Zeus had already seen her looking far worse.
“Yes?” she asked, walking over to open it and peek out.
Zeus stood on the other side. The hallway was dark, so the only light on him came from the bedroom lamp, casting long shadows over his face and body.
“Just wanted to let you know that I checked on Sarah and she’s doing well.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you.”
They both stood there for a long moment, just looking at each other. Yasmine’s mouth felt like it was drying up. She wanted to say something, something that would make everything better… but she couldn’t think of what.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally.
He looked away. Rolled his head to the side. Looked back at her.
“Thanks.” Another beat. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Her heart sank into her chest as he turned away and went down the hall.
She was about to close the door when she realized Tiger was sitting in the hallway, staring up at her, right behind where Zeus had been a moment before, his head cocked to the side. Zeus must have taken off his collar for the night, which meant he’d moved silently, and she hadn’t seen him at first.
Yasmine took a step back.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked the dog, who immediately got to his feet and trotted into her room. Jumping up onto the bed, he spun in place three times, ending curled up with his head on his paws, facing where she was standing in the door. “Well, all right then.”
She had to admit, the idea of having the dog beside her did make her feel safer. But she also felt kind of guilty that Zeus’ dog had just abandoned him for her. Even though it wasn’t like she could control the dog.
Leaving the door to her bedroom open, so Zeus could call for Tiger if he wanted, or so Tiger could change his mind and go to Zeus, Yasmine went to the bed and crawled in.
Tiger’s body was a heavy, reassuring weight on the comforter, and he let out a little sigh as she got into place and turned out the light.
He didn’t move. Zeus didn’t call for him.
Completely exhausted by the events of the day, Yasmine closed her eyes. She almost felt like crying, but she was too tired to summon any tears. Instead, she felt herself plummeting down into the dark, so wrung out that she literally couldn’t stay awake.
Zeus
Now his dog had betrayed him, too.
Which felt overdramatic but also felt true. Tiger didn’t usually leave Zeus’ side to sleep, even when Zeus had a guest in the guest bedroom.
On the other hand, Zeus had never had a guest in the guest bedroom who had been through as much as Yasmine had tonight. Tiger probably sensed her emotional upset. Maybe even her need for safety. And he was responding to it.
The same way Zeus wanted to respond to it yet couldn’t bring himself to. His whole chest hurt as he lay on his back, staring up into the darkness of his room. Knowing that his girl and his dog were just down the hall.
But she wasn’t really his girl.
Hadn’t really been his girl.
And she hadn’t needed him as much as he’d thought.
She’d had an entire team of security that would have jumped to help her.
Even if her ex-fiancé hadn’t—and Zeus didn’t believe for one second that Mason wouldn’t have protected her—there was still everyone else.
She was friends with all their significant others, as well as Claudia.
Which begged the question of why she’d stayed with him.
Why hadn’t she called her friends?
He reviewed the scene at Yasmine’s house in his mind, once Claudia had shown up. Claudia had said that Yasmine had been keeping things from her, which backed up what Yasmine had said about not telling her friends about Zeus. A revelation that gave him very mixed feelings.
At least he wasn’t the only one in the dark. On the other hand, the fact that she’d been keeping him a secret from her friends didn’t sit well with him, either. Noelle had also kept a lot of secrets. So, had his mom.
This was probably different, though. Noelle hadn’t really had other friends to keep him a secret from; she’d only been keeping secrets from him. And Yasmine only thought of him as a fuck buddy, something he hadn’t yet had time to change her mind about—and wasn’t sure he wanted to anymore.
He just couldn’t figure out what her goal was.
She didn’t need his money, as Noelle had.
She didn’t need protection, as he’d thought.
Orgasms, sure, but she hadn’t known he could give her those until they’d actually hooked up.
Why had she wanted to spend time with him in the first place?
She’d been perfectly safe at Sarah’s, but she’d invited him to stay, anyway.
She didn’t need him for the security system, not when she had access to Ashley and Lincoln.
Hell, Claudia was like a one-woman security system.
He wouldn’t put it past her to spend tonight on Yasmine’s roof with her sniper rifle if she thought she could get away with it.
Ah, shit, he should warn Drew— No, wait. Claudia had said she was going to call in the troops, and she’d included both Naomi and Drew in that. They were going to be forewarned.
Zeus wondered how pissed Drew was going to be about Zeus and Yasmine.
Then it occurred to him that Claudia might not even tell them. He was going to have to check in with her tomorrow morning before going to the office to find out what she’d told the others.
Like he needed another setback with the team. Especially one where he was completely innocent.
He was, wasn’t he? He reined his thoughts back. Yes, he’d known Mason had gotten engaged, but he’d never met her. Mason must have mentioned her name at some point, though. Someone should have.
The question was whether Zeus had been paying attention.
Or maybe Mason hadn’t said anything around Zeus because he didn’t entirely trust Zeus and hadn’t wanted him privy to Mason’s personal life, which was entirely possible. Zeus sure as hell hadn’t shown any interest in his co-worker’s personal lives, not after his own had exploded so spectacularly.
Even before that. He’d been struggling with Noelle, and she hadn’t seemed to think Ashley or Naomi liked her. Although she’d been excited to see Cassidy at The Outlands and had acted like they were good friends, Zeus had noticed she hadn’t wanted to return to the club after that.
It wasn’t as if he had wanted to answer any questions about what was going on with him and Noelle, so he hadn’t been asking questions of the others. Then, when he’d found out she was cheating on him with Devlin…
Yeah.
His thoughts spun round and round, pointlessly circling. Eventually, he must have slipped off to sleep without realizing it… until he jerked awake at the sound of Yasmine crying out in fear.