Page 105 of The Gods Forbid

Sebastian grinned and my stomach flipped. “Don’t tempt me. That’s a dangerous door to open.”

“Who’s to say I haven’t been holding out on you?” It was true. I’d restrained many a compliment or suggestive joke around him. It might be fun to start letting them out.

“Then I would say—” Sebastian cut himself off, looking over my shoulder. He cleared his throat, taking a slow step away from me, seemingly to make it less obvious that we had been standing so close. “I would say that your brother is walking down here.”

I turned over my shoulder, finding Adrian walking down to us with his hands in the pockets of his pants. “I should talk to him.” I certainly did not want to, seeing as something felt like it shifted with Sebastian, but I understood what needed to happen.

“I’m still hungry,” Sebastian said. “You talk.”

I turned back to him, opening my mouth to ask him to save me some food. My stomach had been so sour, I’d barely touched my food.

“I’ll make sure your food is warm,” Sebastian said, a sly grin on his face.

I wanted to push his shoulder away playfully, but my brother would be able to see that. For some reason, my mind decided a better alternative was to settle my hand on his stomach, lightly shoving him. My fingertips burned under the steel of his stomach, but I managed to say, “Good. Don’t leave without me.”

Sebastian’s neck looked stiff, like he was trying to hold it in place. “I would never commit such a sin.” He stepped away and my hand fell between us, Sebastian’s head finally dropping down to look at it.

He breathed in, then straightened. “Adrian,” he nodded, my brother clearly arriving, then slid me another look that made me want to laugh before leaving us alone.

I turned with him, facing my brother while watching Sebastian walk back to the house. As if he could tell that I was watching him, he looked over his shoulder and I caught my smile at the last minute.

When I returned my focus to Adrian, he was staring at me like my face was on fire. Maybe I didn’t do such a good job of hiding that smile after all. “I should fucking kill him,” he ground out, jaw hard.

“What?” He couldn’t do that. “Why?”

“That,” he said, circling his finger over my face, particularly the point where my brows were drawn together. “That’s why. You look like I’m about to rip your favorite toy out of your hands.”

I frowned, crossing my arm over my chest. Sure, I did enjoy a lot of my time with Sebastian, and some might even say I preferred to spend time with him, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of what was going on. “I’m not a child.”

“Trust me,” Adrian said, dragging his hands dramatically down his face. I restrained the urge to knee him in the groin while he wasn’t looking. “I know.”

His tone still wasn’t pleasant enough for my liking. I couldn’t have him sending a lightning bolt flying into Sebastian’s chest. “Please don’t kill him.”

“Persy … has he—” He cut himself off, shaking his head like he couldn’t even find the words to verbalize what he meant. After a moment, he finally said, “I understand that there might be … an attraction or something.”

I sucked in a breath, shaking my head rapidly. “No, no.” Adrian raised a skeptical eyebrow, the expression pure big brother calling bullshit. “There’s nothing going on.”

“Persy…” he said, warning in his voice.

“Fine!” I half-yelled, throwing my hands up. Even in the Underworld, I heard thunder boom as Adrian’s anger spiked, clearly imagining the worst. “That’s not what I meant, Adrian. Calm down or I’m not telling you anything.”

Adrian took one, pointed deep breath. “Start talking before I start sending a storm cloud after him.”

“Nothing is going on,” I said on a deep exhale. There wasn’t. Despite the thing that Sebastian had said about … well, the scream thing, which made me—

The point was, Sebastian was charming and witty and made jokes like that all the time. I was the one who’d gone and developed feelings for him. That was my problem.

“I’ve grown to care for him,” I said carefully, watching Adrian’s every move. I really didn’t want him to electrocute Sebastian. “I’m sorry for making a scene at the table, but you all don’t see how much work he’s putting in.”

Adrian dragged both his hands down his face, which was rather dramatic, but I was keeping that to myself. “I can see it. He’s not different but he’s,” he paused, searching for the right word. “Well, he’s more like the Sebastian I was friends with.”

I couldn’t help the smile that burst across my face. Adrian clocked it and immediately groaned. “Persy, please.”

“You try living in the same house as him for four months and tell me you wouldn’t have a tiny crush on him!” I said, the words bursting out. I clapped my hand over my mouth, as if that would shove the words back inside.

Shit.

Adrian, to his credit, didn’t laugh. His lips rolled together in an obvious attempt to hide a smile, but that was the extent of it. “I am not one to judge someone for developing feelings for the person you have to spend all your time with.”