Paper Fools (Hearts and Arrows Book 1)

by Staci Hart

  “What do you like to sketch? Animal, vegetable, mineral?”

  You, Lex thought, feeling herself flush. “I prefer human subjects,” she said, hoping she sounded blasé. It wasn’t a lie even if it wasn’t the full truth. She couldn’t exactly tell him she had drawn him every day since she met him.

  Her heart pounded, her unease hitting new and painful levels as she slid off her stool and grabbed her drink, needing to get away from him. “I’m, uh, going to go join in on darts. Catch you later.” She gave her hips a little extra sway, despite her conscience, feeling his eyes on her as she walked to where Kevin and Kara laughed by the dartboard.

  Dean watched her walk away and ran his hand over his mouth. Roe shot him red-hot poker eyeballs from across the room, and Dean glanced back at her hips, raising an eyebrow at Roe in answer.

  He didn’t know why he’d sat down next to her — he should have kept on walking. He should have, but he hadn’t wanted to. In fact, he’d felt like he had to do it, like he needed to talk to her. She was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, and with every second that passed, it consumed every thought until he would do anything, give anything to scratch it.

  If he scratched the itch, if they did hook up, would it break the spell? As he watched her from across the room, his eyes on her red lips as she laughed, he thought through it. He pictured himself pushing the stool away, marching across the room, slipping his hands into her hair, and kissing her until her lips were swollen and her knees weak. Thought about dragging her from the bar, taking her to his apartment, undressing her in the moonlight.

  Dean picked up his glass and drained his drink. One night wouldn’t be enough to learn every curve of her body. It wouldn’t be enough time to hear every sound she made when he touched her. It wouldn’t enough. He would want more.

  He just didn’t know what more was, what it meant, or if he could give her what she needed.

  It would be best if he found a way to forget about her, and he considered keeping her from coming to practice. But the emptiness that filled his chest at the thought had him taking the thought back. He didn’t want her to go.

  There was no way out. Not without someone losing. Travis. Lex. The band.

  Dean himself.

  And the cold truth dawned on him. He would be the one to sacrifice.

  No one else was prepared to lose the way he was.

  Kara took a sip of her drink with her eyes on Dean, who was bent over his drink at the table, as Lex and Kevin laughed and fumbled through a game of darts. Kara was pretty sure that Dean was attempting to look inconspicuous as he watched Lex, though he was doing a terrible job. Any idiot could see that he was sick over her. Any idiot other than Travis.

  Poor guy. She glanced over at Travis, smiling and completely unaffected next to Roe by the pool table.

  For a long time, she’d thought that he might actually be the guy for Lex — even though she never got all gooey about him. She didn’t for anyone — it was Lex’s modus operandi. But watching Lex react to Dean was like nothing Kara had seen from her before.

  She shook her head as she watched Lex, who choreographed every move she made, probably sensing Dean as he stared holes through her from across the room. Kara couldn’t blame her for being hyperaware. Anyone would swoon under that kind of eyeballing, which somehow wasn’t creepy. It was the kind of look that could incinerate panties from fifteen feet.

  Kara wished things were different for the two of them. If only Dean weren’t a whore. If only Lex wasn’t dating his drummer. If only they could be together — or at least hook up and let that run its course.

  If only I had a million bucks.

  If Lex would just break up with Travis and distance herself from him a little, then she could make a move. But Kara shook her head at the thought. The reality was that Lex would never make a move on Dean. Not with his reputation and not thinking that, if she did actually end up caring about him, he could hurt her. That was the stuff of Lex’s nightmares.

  He didn’t seem like the type of guy to want something fiercely, but he looked at Lex pretty fiercely when he thought no one was watching. Maybe he was a whore because he hadn’t found the right girl. Lex could be that girl. She was a catch, if he could hang on to her.

  Kara had no idea why she wanted to see the two of them together other than that she wanted her friend to be happy. And she had a feeling that Dean would make Lex happy. That he could be her antidote.

  Kara weighed it out, wondering if there was something she could do — she couldn’t depend on Lex to do anything about it simply because Lex wasn’t thinking with her whole brain.

  There was a good possibility Dean would hurt her. But what if he didn’t? Even if it didn’t last, would it be worth it for her to really feel something for someone?

  It wasn’t something she had any desire or right to decide for Lex, but there might be a way to interfere obliquely, do something to nudge the two together.

  Kara smiled as she outlined a plan. If she could help put Lex in a situation where she could see her options, where she could get to know Dean, she could make the decision for herself.

  That was something Kara could do guilt-free.

  She knocked back her drink and set it down with a clink before she walked over to the table and to her huge bag. She dug around in its dark maw until she found her lip gloss and a small mirror and turned to face an arbitrary direction. Lex was watching, so Kara stared into the mirror, hoping her intentions were hidden enough not to throw Lex’s red flag.

  “Listen up, Romeo,” she said.

  Dean straightened up.

  “I’m probably only saying this because I’ve had a few drinks, but she likes you. I’m sure you’ve got Spidey sense for that and all, but I’m just saying it out loud.” She blotted her lips together and made a kissy face into her mirror, continuing as she packed her things back into her purse. “She doesn’t want to cause problems with the band, and she doesn’t want to hurt Travis. But I’ve never seen her like this over anyone, and if I didn’t give you a nudge on her behalf, I’d regret it. So, go get her, son.” She zipped up her bag and turned back toward the dartboard, smiling over her shoulder at Dean as she walked away.

  Dean leaned on his forearms and watched the ice melt in his glass, wondering if the cruel universe was testing his mettle. His one job, his resolute decision had just been undermined by a blessing from Lex’s best friend. Just when he’d thought he could do it. Just when he’d found resolve.

  One step forward, two back.

  The test never ended, the trials never stopped, the finish line was a dream. And all he’d ever wanted was to pass the test. Reach the end. All he’d ever wanted was to be free.

  Day Eight

  “I’m just saying, Apollo, good luck with that.” Dita sat sideways in an armchair in the common room with her long legs in dark skinny jeans slung over the arm and a grin all over her face. She couldn’t help herself. “There’s a reason I’ve been undefeated for three millennia. Dean’s got it bad for my girl, and it’s only a matter of time before she caves. I’ve seen it a million times.”

  Ares sat in an armchair next to Dita, watching the two needle each other with twinkling eyes. Hermes typed out emails on the couch next to Apollo, his fingers moving so fast on the keyboard that they were a blur. He looked like he wasn’t paying attention, but Dita knew his nosy ass better than that.

  Apollo looked good in chinos and a striped button-down, cuffed to three-quarters. His blond hair was combed neatly, his smile bright, and he leaned back, hanging his arms on the back of the couch as he rested his camel oxford just outside his knee.

  He looked far too relaxed for Dita’s comfort, and when he smirked, she frowned.

  “Come on, Dita. You know what they say about counting chickens and eggs and hatching, et cetera.”

  He had no reason to be smug, not if he had been watching the same players she was, not unless …

  She swung her legs around, spinning to cross them where they belonge
d in the front of the chair. “What do you know that you’re not telling me, Apollo?” she asked with narrow eyes.

  “Dita, please. Like I’m going to give you any more of an advantage. You know me better than that.” He rose gracefully and gave her a condescending look as he patted her on the shoulder. “This competition is mine. Just try to hang in there, kid.”

  That son of a bitch. Her mouth popped open as he strolled to the elevator, his hands in the pockets of his chinos. Kid? She was older than him by a thousand years.

  Ares laughed at Dita, the sound hitting her in places she didn’t like him to touch. “Called out.”

  “Ugh, shut up,” she snarled and punched him in the chest.

  He grabbed her forearm and pulled her into his chest. “Fists of fury, hmm?” he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her neck — the scent of him, clean and spiced and thick, crept over her.

  Goosebumps broke out down her arms, but she was too furious to care — her thoughts were fixated on whatever the fuck Apollo had been so chipper about.

  “Not now.” She jerked her arm away and picked herself up.

  Perry would know what to do.

  Dita marched into the elevator and slammed B4 with her fist. She folded her arms across her chest and rubbed her goosebumps away, cursing the opposite sex as a whole as she rode down to the basement, the lowest levels of Olympus.

  When the doors opened, she stepped into the silent black marble foyer of Hades.

  Her boots clicked on the shiny floor as her eyes roamed the immense paintings that spanned the length of the long hallway. To her right hung a dark and fiery scene, the punished souls forever circling in eternal tasks, their punishment for their wicked lives. Tartarus. It always creeped her out. She found Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill, and Tityos was screaming silently, chained to a rock as vultures ate his innards for all eternity. Ixion lay strapped to a flaming wheel, his face wrenched in pain. She shuddered.

  The wall to her left held a painting of the same size and fashion, but it was as beautiful as its twin was horrific. It was illuminated from within, bright and shining, an expanse of lush green hills, mountains and waterfalls with birds flying across the blue sky. The Elysian Fields, or Elysium, as it was called.

  Every time she came to the underworld, she looked for Adonis, though she was pretty sure that Perry had purposely hidden him. Dita was simultaneously sad and grateful. Otherwise, she might well have ended up like Echo who loved Narcissus, staring at the painting for eternity, wishing for him until she wasted away to nothing.

  On a round mahogany table in the center of the foyer floated a massive glass orb, inside of which suspended a globe covered with bright green grass, dotted with flowers. She could see souls walking, running, sitting together in communion, all lit by an unseen sun. The Asphodel Meadows. Before Persephone had married Hades, Asphodel had been a gray, lonely place where souls who fell in between Tartarus and Elysium wandered eternally alone after death. Persephone, heartbroken that those souls should be punished to live in such sadness, had persuaded Hades to model Asphodel Meadows after the meadows where she’d picked flowers as a girl. It was a marked improvement.

  Dita ran her hand along the mahogany table as she walked by, her anger dissipating in the sobering room. A warm fire crackled in the living room fireplace tiled in black marble, and Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound, snored in rounds by the fire, heads all piled on each other with tongues lolling. She made her way around the heavy furniture and sat on the couch.

  Perry looked up from the book in her lap and smiled, but it almost immediately fell when she saw that Dita was visibly upset. “What’s got your goat?”

  “Psh, please. No one has sacrificed a goat for me in eons.”

  Perry snorted.

  Cerberus barked softly, lips puffing and legs twitching. Dita’s eyes were on him as she grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her chest as she sank into the couch.

  Perry followed her gaze to the dog. “Ever since Hades devised the paintings, Cerberus hasn’t chased a soul. It’s been ages. The least I can do for him is give him a good run in his dreams.” She turned back to Dita. “So, what happened?”

  Dita stuck her lip out. “Apollo. He’s holding out on me.”

  “What do you think he’s got working?”

  “I have no idea. He was just a pompous ass upstairs. He actually called me kid.” Her lip curled in disgust.

  Perry sucked in her breath, her eyes wide and mouth open in mock surprise, hand to her chest. “He didn’t.”

  Dita chucked the pillow in her lap at Perry, who laughed, her hands in front of her to block the blow. “Shut up, Perry. This is serious.” But Dita laughed, too.

  When their giggling died down, they sat in silence for a few minutes, gazing into the fire as the rest of Dita’s anger burned away with the firewood.

  “I’ve got to do something,” Dita said, breaking the silence. “Lex and Dean are a love match — that part is obvious to anyone — but Apollo knows something. He’s going to make a move, but I can stop him before he starts if I can get them together first. There’s got to be an angle to play. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  “Well, you’ve been working your ass off to get them in the same room.”

  “I know, but there’s so much to set up, so many moving parts.”

  “Okay, well, let’s think. Lex and Dean are attracted to each other. That’s the easy part. Why did Apollo pick Dean?”

  “Well, his mom was … let’s say, she played fast and loose.”

  Perry shot her a look.

  Dita flushed, rushing to defend herself. “I was having a bad day, and she was just sort of at the wrong place at the wrong time. I cursed her with an insatiable appetite for sex.” She nibbled her thumbnail sheepishly.

  “Oh, Dita.” Perry’s voice was thick with disappointment.

  Dita had been known — when having an exceptionally bad day — to walk through crowded streets on Earth and zap people with curses. She wasn’t proud. It was a closet habit she’d been trying to shake for eons.

  “I know, I know. So, she got knocked up with Dean and never bonded with him. She wasn’t what you would call a maternal woman, and she neglected him. Different guy every night, and sometimes, she’d leave him home for days at a time. He basically raised himself.”

  “That is so sad,” Perry said softly. “Sounds like Apollo picked a winner. So Dean’s a musician …”

  “Yep, a musician who thinks women are walking sperm banks who can’t be trusted.”

  Perry nodded. “And Lex is his match because … ”

  “Well, Aphrodite’s curse strikes again.” Dita rolled her eyes. “Lex’s dad left when she was a girl, and her mom never could, or will, recover. And it maybe was possibly my fault.”

  Perry looked at Dita with her arms folded, and Dita sank a little deeper into the couch.

  “What? I know. I’m a horrible, cruel goddess. Though some would argue that’s part of my job. I sometimes have to break love I’ve made. Not everyone gets a happy ending.”

  Perry shook her head. “Lex has abandonment issues, and Dean can’t commit. Damaged, party of two.”

  “Right? Lex has Apollo’s blessing, obviously, as a poet and artist. And she has my blessing as well. She’s good at relationships, even when she’s not invested. Lex has the potential to get it together, but she just needs the right guy to unlock it all for her.”

  “Okay, so Lex writes, and Dean writes too?”

  “Yeah, Lex never goes anywhere without her notebook and neither does—” Dita sat up straight. “Perry, you are a freaking genius.” She hopped out of her seat and pounced on Perry to kiss her on the cheek.

  “What?” Perry cried as Dita bounded into the elevator. “What in Hades did I say?”

  Hades appeared behind Perry and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You rang?”

  She turned, lighting up. “Well, speak of the devil.” A smile spread across her face. “It’s just Dita. You know how s
he is when a competition is on.”

  His bright teeth flashed in his sly, boyish face as he smiled. “That, I do.” He leaned down and kissed her head, and his carefully groomed, inky black hair didn’t move an inch.

  Perry folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not helping you when you’re up against her, not this time.”

  He gave her a look.

  “What?” She raised her chin defiantly. “I’m not. Don’t look at me like that.”

  He smiled and rushed her, scooping her up, and she giggled as he hauled her out of the room.

  The doors to the elevator closed as Apollo stepped into his living room and fell onto his white leather couch. He slid down the low back and rested his head on the cushion, gazing out his long wall of windows at Central Park, content for the first time in ages.

  When daylight broke that morning, his eyes had flown open, his back arching off the bed with a snap and a gasp. As the vision left him, he struggled for breath, not believing what he’d seen.

  The sky had been red and gold outside his windows, and Daphne stood in his apartment, her hair red as flames, glowing with sunshine as the sun broke the horizon.

  He was going to win. After so long, so much pain and loss, she would be his again. She would be free. Waiting a few more days for that moment was nothing, not after waiting an eternity for her.

  Practice was over, and everyone lounged on the couches in the warehouse. Lex leaned into Kara, laughing at Kevin as he hit the punchline of a story about the Special Sauce at Taco Town.

  “Man, I’m starving,” he said, rubbing his belly. “Can we please order some grub?”

  “Gross. How could you be hungry after that?” Lex said on a laugh.

  Kevin shrugged. “I know I’m skinny, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love me some Kung Pao.”

  Kara pulled out her phone, giggling. “What do you guys want to eat?”

  “Ooh,” Kevin said, “I vote Shanghai Palace.”

  Roe shook his head. “They don’t deliver.”