Zeus

I walk out of Joey’s office feeling every bit the god I’m named after.

I rocked her fucking world. We’re going out for burgers soon as she’s done for the day. And then she says she’s gonna whoop my ass in foosball.

She was smiling when she said it too. A full-blown, sparkly-eyed smile that she topped with a smack to my ass.

Best. Day. Ever.

That cloud nine place people talk about? I’m there.

Which is why I don’t see the ambush coming.

Something clinks around my wrist, pain shoots through my left elbow, and before I can spin, there’s a stick or a broom or something sweeping under my feet.

I don’t go down, but suddenly both my wrists are trapped behind my back and I’m shoved sideways. I’m about to fight back when a blonde bombshell dangles something in front of my face.

Fucking spider. A fucking spider.

It’s not real. It’s hairy and thick and horrifying, but it’s not real, because it can’t—fuck fuck fuck, it’s moving.

I shriek like a teenage girl meeting Justin Bieber, except terrified, and suddenly I’m trapped in a room that smells like bad whisky with shelves of torture devices lining the walls.

I can fucking break these handcuffs in two, except the spider’s still there.

It’s moving.

Four fucking inches from my face.

My head’s swimming. My pits are raining sweat like a hurricane. I’m having a heart attack.

I’m having a fucking heart attack.

Breathe, big guy. Breathe. You can eat it—fuck. Fuck.

I’m not putting something that makes ass yarn in my mouth. It probably wove its fucking coat out of ass yarn. It’d keep spinning its ass yarn around my tongue and suck all the blood out and—fuck fuck fuck.

“What are your intentions toward my sister?” a familiar voice demands.

I swallow, and half my tongue gets caught in my windpipe.

That’s it. I’m done for. I’m gonna fucking die of archo—araka—arachnafuckingscaryspiderfear.

“Yell all you want, sugar-pie,” the blonde adds. “She can’t hear you from this side of the building.”

“Put the spider away, Peach,” Gracie says. “We can’t get answers out of him while he’s foaming at the mouth like that.”

I can do this.

I can be bigger than the fucking spider.

Air. Lungs. Nose.

Fuck, I’m gonna breathe in spider cooties.

“Fine.” The blonde flips the spider over, rubs its belly, and plops it on a shelf. The red glow in its eye sockets fades to black.

Fuck.

It’s a fucking fake spider. A hairy-ass battery-operated fake moforantula.

And it’s still fucking staring at me.

Be cool, I hear Ares saying. You could crush its batteries with your ass.

I picture him taking a sledgehammer to the beast, and my lungs start working again. I snap the handcuffs apart and contemplate grabbing each of the women by the throat, except I don’t hurt women, even crazy-ass lady dicks who threaten me with spiders.

I clench my fists and growl.

They share a look, and both scrunch up their mouths like they’re trying not to giggle.

Fucking women.

Gracie straightens first. “Peach, meet Zeus. Zeus, meet Peach. If you hurt my sister, that spider’s just a hint of what’s coming next.”

“I’m not going to fucking hurt your sister.”

“So what do you want with our Joey?” Peach demands.

I pinch my lips together, because I barely know what I want.

Those feelings that started in Copper Valley? Yeah. They’re still there. And they’re stronger. I look at her, I hear her voice, I touch her, and boom.

She’s everything I never thought I could have. Everything I never thought existed. Strong enough to put up with my shit. Smart enough to challenge me. And I’d never make the mistake of calling her soft, but she is where it matters.

She’s in my head. She’s in my blood. She’s in my heart.

Gracie takes two menacing steps toward me until she’s close enough to threaten my breastbone. She has to crane her neck to glare up at me. “She’s not nearly as tough as she acts,” she says, and fuck if fear doesn’t slink down my spine.

What if I can’t handle the delicate stuff?

The world’s seen me and Ares as nothing more than two big brutes for too long for me to ever discount another human being having feelings. World sees Joey as a big pilot badass, but she’s more.

Yeah, we both have feelings.

Just not a lot of practice with letting them show.

“Nobody’s ever as tough as they act,” I say to Gracie. I turn a glower to Joey’s business partner. “Leave the fucking spiders out of it next time.”

Before either of them can get to me any more, I turn and leave.

And I don’t slam the door behind me. Or tear it off its hinges.

Turns out, sometimes being quiet makes the biggest point.

I step into the hall and almost run over Joey.

She glances at the closet.

Back to me.

She doesn’t say a word, but she grips me by the hair of the troll on my shirt, yanks me down, and kisses me like I’m a fucking god.

Yeah.

Me and Joey?

We’re gonna be just fine.