“You’re on.” She grins, pushing wet strands of hair off her face.
“You’re a very good swimmer.”
“I wanted to swim professionally, and my mother encouraged me, but after she died, Dad put a stop to all that. He told me it wasn’t becoming for a woman of my position.”
“I’ll add that to the list of reasons I have to kill your father.”
“I blocked most of his bullshit out,” she says, staring off into space. “It was the only way I could survive, but now I’ve decided I’m done being his lackey, I’m remembering all the reasons I hate him. I know Knight thinks I’ll regret it if I kill him, but I honestly won’t.” Her eyes lift to mine. “If I was a bigger person, I’d rise above it and just cut him out of my life, but screw that shit. He’s a conniving prick, and I won’t shed a tear over his death.”
ChapterThirty-Four
Drew
Iheave a sigh as I roll over in bed, rubbing my tired eyes as I will sleep to come. It’s been the same these past three nights. My brain won’t switch off no matter how exhausted I am. Waiting for news is the slowest form of torture. Xavier submitted our suggestions to Ares, and they are reflecting on them and checking out some stuff on their end. Until they come back to us, it’s a waiting game, and I’m gradually going insane. Usually, work is a great distraction, but that’s not helping this time. I can’t concentrate for shit.
To be this close to getting the answers I have craved for years is bittersweet. Now I might finally know what happened to Jane and her family and I might finally have my revenge, I can’t help wondering what next? What will I do with my life now I no longer have this quest?
It’s these kinds of thoughts that have me tossing and turning in bed. I’m just about to call it quits and get up when my bedroom door opens and a slim silhouette slips into the room.
“I know you’re awake,” Athena says in a soft, raspy voice that stirs things down south.
I sit against my headboard and turn to face her in the dark. “What’s up?”
“Can I sleep in here with you?” she asks, tiptoeing toward the bed. “Not to do anything. I mean not like that. I just want to be held, and I want to hold you.”
I should say no. I plan to, but that’s not the word that trips off my tongue. “Okay.” I lie down on my side and peel back the covers, silently questioning my sanity because this is the very definition of insanity.
Athena slips into the bed wearing an oversized T-shirt, and I can’t decide if I should be grateful or disappointed. I know she has sexy nightwear as I saw a bundle of silky lace things when she was folding her laundry earlier. She moves next to me, setting her head on the pillow and turning on her side to face me. There is scant space between us, and I’m conscious I’m only wearing boxers the same time I’m wondering if she’s wearing anything underneath that shirt.
Her big eyes find mine in the dark in silent question.
I lie down flat on my back because I’m already going to hell anyway and might as well embrace it. “Come here,” I say, opening my arms for her.
She scoots right over, resting her head on my chest and her hand on my stomach. Her body presses up against me, and I’m instantly hard. Like full-on stiffy trying to poke a hole through the comforter.
I seriously need to get laid. I inwardly groan the second that thought lodges in my brain. I can’t even think about Vixen when Athena is in my bed, in my arms, and obsessively occupying my thoughts like she has been since she moved into my house and edged her way into my heart.
“I haven’t been able to sleep since Sunday because I keep thinking of everything, and I’m so confused.”
“Join the club, sweetheart.” My arm wraps more firmly around her back as her fingers dance softly over the ink on my chest.
“My father needs to die, and I want to be a part of it, but what if I lose Arlo?”
“You don’t have to be involved. I want to be the one to end him anyway. The obvious solution is you sit this one out, and Arlo doesn’t need to know you had any part in it. I’m comfortable being the bad guy.”
She props up on one elbow, leaning her other arm on my chest as her face comes closer. It’s seductive torture at its finest. My cock jerks behind my boxers, and I urge the beast to calm down.
“See, that’s another issue. You’re not the bad guy, Drew. Not the way you think you are, and I don’t want that for you. You already carry such a heavy burden.”
“And killing the man responsible for her death will free me of it.” I trace circles on her back through her T-shirt. “I know you understand that.”
“Yeah. I do.” She sets her head back on my chest and eases her body back down onto the mattress. “It all goes round and round in my head, trying to drive me mad.”
“I keep asking myself what now. What will I do when it’s over? It’s all I’ve thought about for fifteen years.”
“You get to live your life.”
“What does that even look like?”
