A few more sips from the straw brought the sound of sucking air. She pulled out the straw and went for the dregs. It didn’t taste strong to her anymore, but went down smooth like, well, like iced tea on a hot summer day. “Another, please.” She waved her empty glass at Derek. He nodded.
Cassie hated to think that the one man meant for her was the arrogant and all too gorgeous Apollo, but that’s how it looked. Maybe if she drank enough of that tea it would look different. She drank. “Really good tea.” By the time she’d drained the glass, she had another staring back at her.
Derek smiled. “Are you doing all right, little lady?”
“Oh yeah, just fine,” she mumbled. “How about you keep these tea things coming for as long as I can manage to stay on this seat.”
“Are you driving?”
“Do I look like I’m driving? I'm sitting here talking to you.”
He gave her a long look and then laughed. “Either you’ve had enough and I got to cut you off or you're one hell of a funny gal.”
"That’s me, life of the party. Just ask my wannabe boyfriend, the god. He'll tell you.”
He laughed again. “That sounds like a story. So where is this god of a boy friend? I'd notice a guy like that in here.”
“He’s around. Probably making some one miserable besides me. I think that’s his official job on Mount Olympus, misery maker.
“Mount Olympus? Isn’t that some where near by? Sure, there’s a restaurant with that name. Do you work there?”
Cassie snorted. “No. I don’t work there. I’m a student and world saver. That’s not my official title, but that's what I do. The gal that sees the future and stops the bad guys.” She took another gulp and sloshed the contents onto the bar as she put the vessel down.
“Nope you're drunk, little girl. I have to take your drink.”
“Oh come on. I’m not drunk yet.”
“Believe me, you’re pickled. I hope you can walk out that door. I’ll call you a cab.”
“Thanks Derek, but I have to do something first.”
“The ladies room is straight across.” He pointed. “You can’t miss it.”
She shrugged. She only needed a table to dance on and some music. Cassie swayed and slid from her stool. The place had cleared out some, and she spied an empty table.
“Thanks,” she said, and threw down a few bills. She weaved her way through the tables and found a spot. She lifted one spiked heel onto the wooden chair, latched on to the back with her hands for balance and hoisted herself up.
A pair of arms yanked her off. Her feet suspended in mid-air. “What the hell?” She twisted her head to see who had her.
And a pair of green eyes set in the face of an angel stared back. “Not happening, babe.”
She moaned. “Oh come on. Why would you care?”
“Because I work here and this is my job, to stop pretty girls from making fools of themselves. Besides, we don’t need a lawsuit when you fall off of that table and break something.”
“I won’t break anything. I’m going to dance.”
“Not in your condition. I doubt you can walk a straight line.”
“I’m not after walking, just dancing.”
“Oh, I can see that, how about sitting?” And the man plopped her into the wooden chair. “What is a girl like you doing here?”
“I’m getting drunk, and dancing on this table, and then I’m singing a few songs.”
“And that’s your plan?”
“Yes. And you’re ruining it.” She squinted at him. He had nice green eyes.
“Not a very good plan.” His mouth pinched together as he looked her over. “You might want to sober up first.”
“I wouldn’t do it if I weren’t drunk.”
“Well you got that part down.”
“I do?”
“Yes. You need to go home.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Oh no I don’t. I need to dance.”
The man waved over a waitress. “Coffee,” he called. “A pot.”
Cassie blinked. “You’re thirsty.”
“It’s for you. I don’t want you passing out before we can tell the cab where to take you.”
“I don’t feel so well.”
“Oh no you don’t. You’re going to the head or outside. Which is it?”
“Outside,” she groaned.
He hauled her out the door.
She gulped in the cool air and her stomach rolled. She bent over and spewed ice tea all over her shoes and dribbled goo from her mouth.
“Just in time,” said green eyes.
Cassie shook, swayed and staggered away from the puddle. Green eyes pulled out his phone. “Where do you live?”
She squinted to focus on him, “How do you do that? How do you make yourself all squiggly?”
He shook his head. “I need your address. What is it?”
“Just take me to Mount Olympus. I want to get with a tasty god. Yeah, that’s it.” She teetered. “Oh, no, better not. I'm drunk.” Cassie slumped onto the black top and wiped the sticky goo off her mouth with her sleeve. "Do you want to date me?"
“Ummm.” His mouth twitched. “I’m married.”
“Too bad. You seem like a nice guy.”
“Your address?”
“Oh yeah. I have to get home. I have school in the morning.” And then the world turned black.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Apollo hated relying on human media, but as Hades had pointed out, he’d lost his gift and he lacked minions. It was all over the news. Cassie Priam missing. Apollo found it odd that a grown woman didn’t have the freedom to be abroad without all this interest. It must be her attention-seeking mother and her father’s position that had brought this on. He’d viewed them both over the years and found Dr. Priam lacking honest affection.
He watched the report on the row of televisions at the electronics store. The wonders that human science had come up with astounded him. Dr. Priam tearfully recited the tale of Cassie storming out of the house. It sounded likely. Cassie had been a in a foul mood when he'd last seen her. Where would she go? He searched his memory for her private hideaway, but nothing beyond her room came to mind.
He’d find out more from her family. Apollo had worn the suit that irritated him but would be appropriate for mortal interaction. In a flash, he left the blaring televisions and stood outside her home. He rang the bell.
A dark-jacketed man answered the door. “Dr. Priam is giving interviews out back on the patio. Who are you with, Channel Five or one of the other stations?”
“Olympus,” Apollo answered, only stretching the truth.
“Hmm,” said the mortal, crinkling his aged brow. “That must be a new e-paper. Where’s your press ID?”
Apollo smiled “All is in order.”
The man nodded in vacant agreement. “Head around the side of the house and sign in.” The man closed the door, ending the conversation.
Apollo followed the voices and found Dr. Priam acting the part of distraught mother, wringing her hands and sighing. “I hope nothing terrible has happened. But in this world?” She wiped her eyes. “My husband left for Greece yesterday. It’s such a trial to deal with this alone.”
What had happened after Cassie left him? His chest rumbled as irritation formed a growl and he swallowed it. He must calm down or he’d singe someone.
Dr. Priam was a true thespian by the look of her contorted features. She moaned in agony and bewailed her situation as the worried mother of a wayward daughter. Apollo knew the woman well and this act couldn’t fool him. He very much doubted that it fooled the crowed of reporters hovering around her either. Regardless of his distaste for the woman, he had to interject himself in the mêlée and play his own part.
He used his divine abilities to walk through the crowd and pass the stiff suited, secret service agents unseen. When he opened their awareness of him, Apollo already stood beside Dr. Priam. “I came as soon as I heard.” The agents moved closer, their hands slipping t
o their weapons beneath their coats.
“Who are you?” Surprise apparent for a split second and then gone as Dr. Priam’s eyes narrowed. “Are you the man she went out with last night?” she hissed under her breath.
Apollo hadn’t thought he'd be mistaken for the rodent. “No. I’m not. I haven't seen her.” He didn’t want to lie, but the complete truth wasn’t wise. Zeus would drag him to Mount Olympus for greater punishment.
The thought of his wager with Hades sunk deep into his brain and he couldn’t risk losing. Cassie trapped in Hades’ abode and at his mercy curdled his gut. Serving his putrid uncle added to his discomfort. His lungs constricted and he shook his mane of golden hair. Still attached.
“We're engaged,” he said. That was close to consort, not a total lie, just the bending of the truth. He could live with it. The media clambered around him, not in reverent adoration befitting a god, but like hyenas circling a carcass.
“Where did you meet her?” shouted multiple voices. “What’s your name?” vibrated from the side. Reporters pressed closer, held back by security.
Cassie’s mother stared with hard speculation. “Of course. You met her in?”
“Greece,” he answered. “On a trip to Delphi.” At least that was true.
Her mouth spread into a tense grin. “How and when exactly did you get engaged to my daughter?”
How could he put this and be honest? He couldn’t admit he’d demanded she be his consort. That wasn’t the mortal equivalent to promising marriage. Marriage meant commitment and celibacy, or did once. He’d never tried holding to one woman’s couch for long and he doubted he had it in him. It wasn’t done. Why should he? Gods shared themselves with many lovers. Admitting that wouldn’t aid him. “We had an understanding in Greece and she’d accepted.”
“When is the wedding?” shouted a young woman, with small features and a wide mouth, waving her hand above the field of reporters.
“Are you planning to elope?” said a balding man in front.
Dr. Priam gave him an inquisitive tilt of her head.
Apollo smiled. “We haven’t decided.” That wasn’t a lie, not entirely. He hadn’t said anything really.
Cassie’s mother nodded toward a burly agent at her flank. “It’s too much. I can’t go on.” Dr. Priam lifted her hand to her brow and swooned into the arms of the nearby agent.
Another officer stepped forward “Dr. Priam is exhausted by the events. The interview is over. Information will be forthcoming as it’s made available.”
The mob disbanded with a low murmur. The agents snagged Apollo by the arms and they followed Dr. Priam into the house and to a room where the furniture was elegant, attractive and uncomfortable. So like Cassie’s mother. Apollo could have rendered them all still as stone, but chose to hear them out. He sat upon a high-backed green chair after Dr. Priam took a seat across from him on the couch.
Three agents hovered beside her, a wall of muscle and weaponry between Apollo and Cassie’s mother. “How do you know my daughter?”
“As I said, I met her at Delphi and things went from there.”
She leaned forward. “Stop it. Cassie’s never mentioned a man like you and she’s certainly never spoken of an engagement. That I would’ve heard. What are you trying to pull? I don’t even know your name.” Two more agents entered the room, one positioned at Apollo’s right and another at his left. The energy shifted and Apollo felt their intent to take him in.
This woman was worthy of a god’s smite, but she was also Cassie’s mother. He would bear her disrespect. “I’m Apollo and I met Cassandra in Greece. I asked her to stay with me, and she …” What could he say? “She wanted to finish her education and would think about what I’d said.”
“You’re not John Medina?” Cassie’s mother stared at him cold-eyed. One of the agents’ lips twitched. He must know the man.
Apollo seized the opportunity. “You there. Am I Medina?”
The agent flinched at being singled out. “No sir. I’ve met John and you’re not him.”
Dr. Priam considered Apollo with new interest. It reminded him of a python sizing him up before offering to squeeze the life from him. “Well, Mr. Apollo. What do you know about what’s happened to Cassie?”
“She’d met Medina for dinner. I urged her against it, but you know how stubborn Cassie is.”
Dr. Priam nodded slowly. “Yes. She has a mind of her own.”
“I don’t know what happened. She was to meet me this morning, but never arrived.” What a lie he’d just told. He winced from the pain it caused his head and rubbed his brow.
“Is there anything wrong?” said Mrs. Priam, her eyes wary as a cat on the prowl.
“No, just a headache.”
“I find it odd that Cassie’s never mentioned you or the engagement.” She narrowed her gaze to tiny blue beads. "You don’t seem to be a man desperate for female companionship. I don’t mean to be indelicate, but Cassie is awkward. If you think she has money, you're mistaken. What do you want with her?”
“Cassandra is not awkward.” The muscles in his jaw worked. The woman was insolent. He’d like to set her at the edge of the Mediterranean and let the tide silence her, but Zeus forbade him. “Cassie is beautiful and intelligent,” he growled. “She cares for people. And I love her.”
The agents stared straight ahead. Cassie’s mother relaxed. “That’s the first true thing you’ve said since you walked in here.” She leaned forward. “I’m glad to see that you care for her. But I am worried; Cassie went missing after 9 pm last night. It’s noon. No one has seen her. I wouldn’t be concerned, except this is so unlike Cassie. We had a little argument. You know how mothers and daughters are.”
“Yes,” he said, hiding his irritation.
“I know she had a problem,” she said. “Cassie came home last night looking like, well, not herself. I have no idea where she went, but she’s a naive girl for her age and was in such a state. I fear she’s gotten into trouble.” This time the fear in Dr. Priam’s eyes was genuine.
Apollo thought that the woman might have some love for her daughter after all. “There’s no place she'd go, no friend she’d call?”
“I’ve contacted everyone she knows and no one has seen her. I was hoping you might have answers.”
“I wish I did. We’d had a fight.” Apollo shrugged. “She was angry when she left.”
Cassie’s mother rose to her feet, indignation burning hot in her gaze. “Did you see her last night? Are you the one who tore her blouse and God knows what else?” The agents moved in closer. “I think the officers will continue this conversation. Get him out of here.”
The men encircled Apollo as Dr. Priam sneered, making her look old and hard.
They were about to lay hands on him and he wouldn’t permit that.
* * *
Cassie heard her mother’s outraged shriek and shuffled into the room. Raising her brows in surprise at what met her gaze—her mother and Apollo scowling at each other. “What are you doing here?” Apollo looked, like always, gorgeous, but also shadowed with concern. “Have you both been looking for me? I haven’t been gone twenty-four hours. Really Mom, you do have a gift for drama. Dad will just love this. I see you called in the big guns. Is it the entire FBI or just the locals?”
“You didn’t come home last night. I was worried.” Her mom lifted her chin.
"I’m twenty five years old, Mother. I can take care of my self.” She glared at her mom, not ready to forgive her just yet.
“And you.” She stared at Apollo standing amidst the agents. “What are you doing here? I don't want to talk to you.”
Apollo moved toward her, but the agents blocked his path. He grumbled a few words beneath his breath.
Her mother interjected. “This young man expects me to believe that you're engaged to him. Is that true?”
Something groaned inside of Cassie, a mix of excitement, hope and annoyance. “Really. You never mentioned marriage.”
“I knew
it,” quipped her mother.
He pulled at the collar of his white shirt. “My commitment was understood.”
“Ha!” Cassie plopped herself into a straight-backed chair. “Expecting you to be committed is as likely as a cat.”
Dr. Priam excused the agents with a nod. “We need to discuss this alone.”
As they left, Cassie crossed her arms over her belly and shot her mother a warning gaze. She was not having this conversation in front of her mom. “Whatever Apollo and I have to say to each other doesn’t involve you.”
“But…”
Cassie cut her off. “Leave, Mom, or I'm calling back those reporters. They’re still camped out across the street. I had to climb the neighbor’s fence to get here unseen. I’m sure they’d love the story of what your daughter did last night and where she’d slept.”
“Humph.” Her mom stiffened at the swipe and stomped from the room.
Cassie’s head pounded and her mouth felt like she’d swallowed a wad of paper towels. What happened at the bar last night was fuzzy, just like her tongue. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand the sight of iced tea again without hurling. And she didn’t need her mother playing diva to the media when she’d arrived home or Apollo looking like, well, something good to wake up to. The man might be the cure to her wounds, but then, he’d caused most of them, and Cassie refused to let him off easy. She’d had enough hurt from her mom, John and all the other disappointing relationships life threw at her. She didn’t need Apollo adding to it.
She breathed in to thwart the ache between her ears and focused on Apollo through stinging eyes. “I’m grateful that you showed up at John’s when you did, but I wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it weren’t for you. I’d still be with Eric. You manipulated to keep men from my life. I saw what you did to Medina. Is that how you scared off Eric and the rest? Why did you do that anyway? And don't tell me it was for my own good, because that’s a lie.” She waited for him to explain. This should be good.
Apollo's Gift (The Greek Gods Series) Page 9
