“You will not go anywhere! If we argue, you stay and we fix things.”
“Cause you do such a bang-up job of fixing things between us?”
Jake growled/roared and stalked away, further into the garden.
“Was it something I said?” I munched happily on my cookie.
“I don't see a problem with her keeping that property.” Lex watched Jake go, then looked at Cyrus. “It might be helpful to have two locations to work out of.”
“You are not working out of my house.” I pointed a cookie at him.
“Fine.” Cyrus held up his hands and walked away. “Whatever you want, Salina. I need a fucking break from you.”
Two men down. One to go. I looked at Lex.
Lex shrugged. “I'm good with the attitude. I like sassy women. Bring it on, baby.” He reached over and pulled an entire sheet of wafer cookies out of the bag. “You wanna see my room next? I have a stash of snacks.”
I snorted a laugh. “No, thanks.”
“Come on.” Lex stood up and nodded toward the house. “I'll show you our office. It's kinda awesome.”
Oh, yeah?” I got up and wandered back to the house with him. “You got a bat cave or something?”
“Nah, but we have a secret room hidden behind a wall where we talk to Hades.”
“A Hades safe room? That is intriguing.”
“Did you want to talk to him?”
“Not really.” I rolled my eyes. “If I do, I'm going to be very disrespectful, and he might have to murder me.”
Lex chuckled. “He won't hurt you. Hurting you means hurting us.”
“I just heard you say that I can mouth off to Hades with impunity. Is that right?”
“I mean, I wouldn't go testing it, but if you do lose control—like you do with us—you don't have to be afraid or anything.” He winked at me.
We got to the back of the house, but Lex went in through a different door than the one we had come out through. It led us into a gym. And this gym had some unusual equipment. I went to inspect a weight bench that looked sturdier than others I'd seen. Instead of rods for legs, it had columns.
“Normal weights don't work for us.” Lex tapped a stack of massive metal discs to the left of the bench. “We had to get these specially made, then a bar that would hold them, and a bench that would hold all of that.”
“Why do you have to work out? Don't your bodies stay the same no matter what you do?”
“Sure, but we want to be as strong as possible. Working out improves what Hades gave us.” Lex tapped the bar set across the bench. “You wanna give it a try?”
“No, thanks. Hades didn't make me as strong as . . .” I trailed off.
“What is it?”
“Hold on.” I went to the bench, put down my soda and cookies, stood behind the head, and grabbed the bar with both hands. I knew that the bar alone had to weigh at least a hundred pounds. If I could lift it, it would mean that the immortality Hades gave me came with some bonus super-strength. I pulled on the bar. It didn't budge. “Son of a bitch!”
“It's all right. You don't have to be strong. You've got us.”
“That's exactly what occurred to me just now.” I pointed at him. “Hades could have given me strength. He should have. But he didn't. He's just like every other man—he wants to keep me weak. Make sure I can't run. Take away my options.” I pushed his chest. “Make me reliant on you three.” I spun away cursing, “Motherfucker! I'm so sick of alphaholes!”
“Whoa now. Ease up, Wonder Woman.” Lex came around the bench. “I don't know why Hades didn't make you as strong as us, but maybe it had nothing to do with keeping you weak. It might not have even occurred to him. He only made us strong because we need that strength. And, please, for the sake of the gods, stop judging us by what other men do. Just because a few of them mistreated you, it doesn't make us all bad.”
“No, it doesn't.” I went calm, very calm.
