Chapter 42
forty-two
I’m not one for costumes. Neither is Apollo. So he’s wearing his best black suit with a black undershirt, his hair slicked back and a clean-shaven jaw, looking like a mafia god. A hint of his neck tattoos pokes out from his crisp collar.
I picked out a short black strapless dress. Simple. Satin. A little bit of flare to the skirt. And those terrible black stilettos I wore at the Omega party.
So people didn’t look at us weird and wonder why the president of Delta got an invite, we both wear masks that cover the top halves of our faces.
Immediately after getting frisked, having to put our phones away, and showing our invitations, we step into the opulent entry of Theta Manor. Apollo’s grip on my hand tightens possessively.
Despite the normal, fancy party atmosphere. Things are…different. A few couples are already fucking in the ruby-carpeted parlor. On the silk sofa. The wall. On the classy bar.
To our left is a billiards room. Except the table is covered in a mass of naked bodies.
I take a deep breath, trying to see if any of them are Ayan.
“Where do we go?” Apollo asks, as if just as stunned as me. It’s a lot of sex for one area.
“I don’t—”
“Drink up! Drink up! Drinks on me!” My brother Lan unfortunately makes an appearance. The only good thing is? He’s at least wearing his boxer briefs. But that’s it.
Eyes bloodshot. Pupils huge. And hair loose like wheat in the breeze.
I tense and hold still, worried our cover might get blown. Or worse, that he’ll do something disgusting I don’t want to see.
With a flourish, he shoves two sparkling champagne flutes into our hands, and we rapidly take them, hoping he won’t recognize us. He spins on a bare heel and grabs a tray of more glasses, then darts off toward the dance music down a hall.
Apollo’s shoulders relax in sync with mine. Shaking his head with relief, he raises his glass. “Cheers. That was close.”
We down them and edge farther into the mansion.
The place is packed with bodies, but despite checking most of the rooms downstairs, we don’t find Ayan. And neither of us dares to ask anyone if they’ve seen him. It would draw suspicion. Both to us asking about him when he eventually disappears and giving away our presence at the party.
We’re not supposed to be here.
“Maybe down this hall?” Apollo suggests, pointing the way. “This place is a fucking maze.”
He guides us down a darkened section, lined with mahogany wainscoting and thick doors. All shut tight. We approach one with a gold President’s Office plate just outside it.
“I’m having deja vu…” Apollo groans.
“I doubt he’d be in there—”
Just as I speak, the door flings open. Aiden almost barrels into us, Ashlyn right at his back. We all jump, startled. And then straighten up as we take each other in.
“Oh, hi,” Ashlyn says. “You made it!”
“Yeah, thanks for the invites,” I tell her and Aiden. “We’re…looking for him…”
Aiden nods once. “Come in. We were just going to head upstairs.”
“Only because someone won’t let me have any fun—”
“Because someone is about to get fucking punished.”
The two stare each other down like they’re about to commit murder right here. Then Aiden snags Ashlyn’s hand and leads back inside the office. With a squeak, he takes up the spot at his desk chair as we shut the door.
“Lock it.” He barely glances at us as he pulls Ashlyn onto his lap, not gently, then types on his keyboard, arms on either side of her waist. Locking her in. “Let me search the cameras, and I’ll tell you where he is.”
“Valen could probably help with that, too,” Apollo says, squatting on the upholstered leather sofa across from the marble inlaid desk.
Aiden freezes for a moment. “I don’t know that he’d help me.”
“But he’d help me.” Apollo straightens, then waves his fingers for me to join. I sit beside him, dress sliding up higher. He places his palm on my thigh, thumb stroking up and down in a soothing pattern. Tingles light up my skin like I’ve been burned with bliss. The feeling shoots right to my core.
I shiver. He darts a look over at me, and his expression is so concerned that I giggle.
“You okay?” he asks.
All I can do is laugh. “Yeah.” But he’s really funny when he keeps scanning my face.
“Where do you want him to be when you do this? Because I’m not seeing him in the— There he is.”
Apollo jumps up and rounds the desk to look at the monitors. As he does, his suit coat flaps behind him like a superhero’s cape. The light from the monitors illuminates his sweaty skin until it sparkles, each molecule vibrating so loud, they cast a low hum.
I shake my head. Squeezing my eyes closed, I try to swallow, take a deep breath, and reset. Surely, I’m not drunk from one glass of champagne.
My eyelids are heavy.
“A cloak? No… That’s not Ayan,” Aiden’s saying. But it’s hard to hear when the fluorescent bulbs above us buzz so loudly.
“Who would it be?” Apollo drapes a hand down his face, and as it moves, all of his features melt off. I have to blink a few times to make sure everything’s still there. Nose. Eyes. Lips… He’s talking so slowly, his mouth barely moves before the words escape.
“Grayson Noel Umbridge.”
The name hangs in the room like smoke from a firecracker.
Aiden continues, focused and serious. “The full name for the code GNU. We think he’s taking body parts and using them as some sort of sacrifice to an unknown eighth god.”
“You’re sure it’s not Ayan?” I hear my thoughts say. But everyone turns to look at me. The way they stare is almost terrifying. Blank faces. Bated breaths. Dilated pupils.
“I know Gray. We’ve seen him out of his cloak. He’s definitely not Ayan, no,” Ashlyn says. Her hair shimmers in the lamplight like gold.
Tapping on the monitor, Aiden then points to me accusingly. Each motion is deliberate. Stuttered. Trails from his hand fascinate me until I can’t look away.
Somehow, I raise off the sofa and make it to the desk.
“Do you know this guy?” Aiden points to a picture of a man on the screen. Dark hair. Mousy looking. And definitely not Ayan.
“I know him.” My voice echoes several times between the walls of my skull. The face shifts. It reshapes. It becomes my ex. But I know it’s not. “No… That’s not Ayan. That’s his close friend who goes by ‘G.’ He’s in a lot of my pre-med classes.”
Aiden and Ashlyn look at each other and communicate silently, though if I look hard enough, I’m pretty sure I can read their minds.
“It wasn’t Ayan hunting you,” Apollo says, his jaw clenching. He pulls out his gun and racks the slide. “But I’m still going to take care of him anyway.”
Aiden’s voice is dry. “I wouldn’t shoot him in the indoor pool.”
“Pool?” The word is so strange sounding. Is that how one says it? Pool. Just…one syllable like that?
My heart pounds violently in my chest. I can feel each chamber opening in sync. Perfect timing.
“Yeah. He’s in our indoor pool right now— Scoutie? You okay?” Aiden says, and I snap my attention to the three figures in front of me.
There’s such a long pause, I realize…I’m definitely not okay.
“I think I need to cool off in the pool. It’s hot in here.”
Apollo’s forehead also gleams with sweat. “Good idea. My tulip has the best fucking ideas. She’s a genius. Did you all know that?” Grabbing me, he kisses the top of my head. It feels like a shower of honeyed warmth.
Aiden laughs. And the sound carries through the room like bells ringing.
“Did you all dose before you got here?”
“Dose?” I ask, voice so far away.
Apollo slowly sways with me in his arms. I think I’m in heaven. I really am. I must have died, because this motion? It feels so good; I don’t want to lose it. I can’t lose it. If I just don’t breathe, I could stay here.
“You look like you’re high on Molly.”
Apollo and I meet eyes. His pupils are as big as black holes.
“Champagne!” I yell.
At the same time, he grits out, “Landon!”
Aiden continues chuckling, and Ashlyn joins in. He opens the door, body shaking with laughter, and ushers us out into the hall. “Come on, you two. We’ll babysit you in the pool. Try not to do anything stupid.”
“I’ve never had drugs in my life. Other than…” I drop my voice to a whisper and rise up on my tiptoes to tell Apollo, “That joint. That one. Never anything else. Tell the police I never tried anything other than that.”
He nods. “Same, girl. Just weed for me. What do we do?” His hands roll through his hair repeatedly, tugging on the ends. “What do we do?!” he repeats, a look of terror on his face.
Aiden shakes his head and points toward some locker rooms at the back of the manor. “You get naked. Put your shit in a locker. And get in the pool. Hopefully, you get your target alone. And can still aim right.”
Apollo swallows. His lips find my ear, and in a panic, he whispers, “Do we leave? Should we leave? We can’t leave. We’re supposed to murder someone tonight.”
I grab his hand. “Focus, stallion. Get undressed. Meet me in the pool.”
It takes years. Eons of time. And stopping to drink gallons of water straight from the bathroom sink, but I manage to strip off my clothes. It feels so much better to not have the constraints of the world trapping my body. I need to be in the water, though, so I can truly be free.
The pool. It’s like something from The Great Gatsby. Art deco in style. Fountains. A low diving board.
And tons of naked bodies.
Fucking. Flopping. Dancing. Swimming.
Moans and gasps for air fill the space and bounce around until it’s like chamber music. Holy and right.
The moment the water kisses my skin, something inside me dissolves. The world loosens its grip on me. Like I’m slipping out of myself and into something softer. Safer.
Endless.
Especially as I sense my husband’s hands surrounding my naked figure. His thick cock presses into my back as he lifts me up, spins me around, and places me on his waist.
My hands find him without thinking, tracing the lines of his chest like I need proof he hasn’t disappeared.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs, and the words don’t just land in my ears, they settle into my soul.
We wade in deeper. And deeper.