“I’ll be okay, thanks, Pen.” Edith gives a reassuring smile to her friend, but Pen nails me with a hard stare.
“I’m good.” I’m not at all good, but I need to be, for Edith.
When Penelope leaves, Edith gives me a playful slap. “You need to calm down, Pollo.”
“If I’d gone and had surgery behind your back, you’d be pretty damn pissed off, too, Edie. What the fuck were you thinking?”
She grimaces as she reaches for the bottle of water on the bedside table. “I was thinking that you needed to keep your head in the game. We both don’t need to be taken out by this stupid injury of mine. You have goals, and dreams, and I’m not letting you set them aside because of some goddamn broken bones that aren’t even your broken bones.”
She can’t open the bottle of water, so I take it from her and twist open the top. A growl rumbles in my chest. “Princesa—”
“No, Apollo! Don’t.” Tears stream down her face as she shakes her head. “Your dreams matter, even if mine are in tatters.”
I don’t tell her that nothing matters, not hockey, not my father’s company, not the world outside this building.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you, Edie. It’s all going to be okay.” I put the water back down and pull her against me, holding her while she cries.
I fix her some real food, sitting with her while she eats, and about thirty minutes after she takes her meds she passes out on my chest.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
Athena: 911. We’re on our way.
Fucking perfect.
* * *
“We need to talk.”
I want to talk, just not to my siblings. But Athena called a family meeting. We don’t run from a 911 regardless of who sounds the alarm. It’s not “someone died” level of importance, that’s a code black, but it means drop what you’re doing and assemble.
Considering I did almost die, if this isn’t life-or-death important, we should rethink our system a little.
Since we were kids, it hasn’t been something we can shirk out of. So Ares, Athena, Artemis and I are sitting around my dining room table while Edith sleeps across the hall, snuggled up to Bacon who Ares brought back for another visit.
“The words ‘we need to talk’ chill men to the bone, Hen. I’m glad we’re not dating.” My muscles ache, I’m exhausted, and the only person I want to see right now is Edith. Creepy as it sounds, I want to watch her sleep, to be there, a silent strength lending her whatever energy I can while she heals.
I’m going to be away a lot over the next couple weeks. But she refuses to let me take time off from the team, and insists I need to keep up my obligations. It’s hard when all I want to do is hold her until she’s better.
Being in love with your best friend is exhausting. Especially when they refuse to accept that they love you back. I think she’s finally come around to the fact that I love her as more than a brother-slash-best friend, but she’s still fighting an inner battle I can’t help her with.
No one around the table laughs at the joke I almost forgot I made. In fact, no one even cracks a smile. Somber faces stare back at me as I survey my siblings.
“What is it?” I don’t have the energy for any more drama, but from the pained expressions on my siblings’ faces, I’m about to get handed a shit storm.
Ares doesn’t meet my eyes. He’s picking at invisible lint on his pants. Artemis picks up one of the four glasses of iced water in the middle of the table and moves it so it’s in front of him. “There’s something we need to tell you.”
“Okay?” Is someone sick? Is it Mamá or Papá? It’s the only thing I can think of that might bring them all around the table with such a heavy air hanging over them. “Is Abuelita okay?” I’ve always believed she’d outlive all of us, but maybe—
“Papá cheated on Mamá.” Athena shifts in her seat.
It’s like she punched me in the stomach. All the oxygen in my body dissipates at once, leaving a tight pain in my chest. My head snaps between my brothers and sister, searching for the punchline, or any sign of humor. But there is none.
“What?”
She reaches across the table and takes my hand. “We have at least three half-brothers,hermano.”
“Mierda.” It’s as though someone has blasted a horn in my ear. I can hear what she’s saying but she sounds so far away, her voice is quiet and hard to hear.
