A total dummy I was not.
I got what he was implying. I got it well. So I mouthed, Are you the hitman in the family?
Alex smiled and slowly shook his head.
Who was then? Maybe asking that in a room full of people with his same level of exceptional hearing was a bad idea. I’d ask him later. I’d bet it was Athena, or maybe Odysseus. He’d fool people with his looks and then bam! I could totally see that.
I’d worry about it later though.
A quick peek around the room confirmed that yeah, I should leave that for when we were back home. I swallowed hard. “Does the government know?” I whispered.
“The important people do.”
Hmm. My brain went back to what the hell he’d just said. “You’re sure you’re not going to kill me for knowing all these secrets?” I pressed my hand against the multi-tool by my hip. “I haven’t taken an oath.”
Cool fingers pulled my hand off. “Nobody’s going to do anything to you.”
Oh, I felt light-headed now. My knee started shaking too. Glancing toward the side, I spotted the table with a bartender with a lot of delicate glasses sitting on it, thirst punching me straight in the throat.
“I think I need a drink.” I’d never said that before, but the moment felt right. “I’ve never had champagne. Do you want some?”
Alex shook his head, and I gave him a weak smile at the knowledge bomb he’d just dropped on my ass. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I rubbed my hands together and made my way toward the table with the white tablecloth, my head spinning with thoughts and questions.
I was sweating. Great. I was really starting to feel funny too.
I smiled at the bartender as he handed me a glass, or was it a flute? “Thank you.”
Not exactly sure what I was expecting, I took a sip. I didn’t drink much other than an occasional beer, but… not bad.
It wasn’t a Dr Pepper, that was for sure.
I took another sip and figured I had to finish this shit to not be rude. The last thing I wanted was for Alex’s mom to see me making faces or handing back expensive champagne. Then I’d really get my throat slit.
This was a family of gods and demigods. I could barely wrap my head around it. It was pretty much insane really.
Alex was The Defender.
His grandmother would have been some evil villain deity that it took heroes twenty-five comics to try and vanquish, and then, they would have only found a way to contain her for 100 years or something like that.
And here I was. The country bumpkin with a stomachache that made me slightly interesting to them.
That was bullshit. Maybe I was a country bumpkin, but so what? I wasn’t going to feel bad about it.
Fuck these snobby fuckers if they thought otherwise. That made me feel better. I smiled at the bartender, and he gave me one right back.
I took my time making my way to Alex, who was in the same spot I’d left him, but wasn’t alone anymore. Beside him was the Odi brother.
I walked even slower, slowly sipping and looking around as I skirted the room the long route back. I took another sip, making eye contact with Achilles as I went by him as he talked to a petite older woman in…
He was speaking Japanese, and the woman was replying to him in it. Her gaze met mine, and I nodded just a little at her, earning myself a nod in return. I happened to make eye contact with Achilles again and did the same, but just barely bending my head at him, and got one right back too.
I didn’t think I liked him much yet, but I could appreciate him being what he seemed like.
I kept walking, going by another waiter, and took three of what I confirmed were beef kebabs, ate two, and saved the third for Alex. He was still talking to his brother, and I was running out of reasons to avoid getting over there. If his grandma hadn’t made me feel so funky, I would have gone back over there and talked to her for longer.
He had no idea how lucky he was to have so much family. Maybe they weren’t all best friends, but they were still there for one another. They still worried about each other in their own ways, and the good relationships he had seemed to actually be special.
I took another tiny sip and wondered why the hell the room felt extra hot suddenly.
Was I running a fever again? I’d been doing better. Agatha had said she thought I was on the right path for recuperating. It had seemed that way to me too, except for being exhausted over the smallest things.
A different kind of shiver than the one that Alex’s grandma had caused ran down my spine, and I cleared my throat, taking another drink of the champagne before looking at it. I held it up to my nose and took a sniff. It didn’t smell weird, but it wasn’t like my olfactory senses were all that great. Not like theirs. But someone here would have noticed if there was something off with the champagne. There was no way they wouldn’t have.
I walked a little faster, licking my lips and not exactly liking the taste.
Why was it so hot?
My head was really starting to feel weird. Was I dizzy? I reached down and pulled the dress away from my chest a little, blowing down into my boobs as I approached Alex and his brother.
He had no idea how good he had it having people in his life, I thought, as a sense of longing filled my chest.
The lucky son of a bitch was already looking at me and frowning. I wrinkled my nose as I stopped right next to him. I held out the boujee version of beef-on-a-stick and gave him a weak smile, my tongue a little numb.
He took it from me and held it there, in the air. Alex leaned forward and sniffed.
“I have deodorant.” I licked my lips again and blinked slowly. “Is it really hot in here or is it just me?”
He sniffed again. Those strange blue eyes were aimed at my face when he suddenly plucked the champagne from my hand and, with the kebab, shoved both at the frowning brother beside him.
I angled my face down to blow into my boobs again before saying, “Alex, I don’t feel so good.”
My knees went soft.
I full-on grabbed his forearm and flicked my gaze up to him.
I opened my mouth…
And that was the last thing I remembered.
Not again.
Peering up at a ceiling that I didn’t recognize, I groaned.
What had happened? Had I fucking fainted? Again?
I opened my eyes even wider and started patting around the area beside me, feeling… a bed? Sheets?
WHERE THE HELL WAS I?
“About time,” a crabby voice muttered.
Oh. Angling my head, I found Alex right there, sprawled out on the bed next to me, on his side with his head propped up by a hand on his cheek. His face was smooth and relaxed, but his eyes…
“What are you pissed off about?” I asked, hearing the roughness in my voice and swallowing hard.
Moving my gaze around, I realized I was on a bed in a room I didn’t recognize, but it wasn’t just a room. There was crown molding. The wallpaper looked like it was made of silk. Even the furniture seemed like it was made of some ancient wood.
Flicking my eyes back to Alex, I barely heard myself ask, “Am I dead?”
If I thought he’d looked crabby before, he definitely did then.
Dragging my hand across the surface of what felt like an embroidered comforter, I rolled onto my side and pressed my fingers against a spot on his chest between his pectorals. His jacket was off, and that white, button-down shirt that was more formal than a normal one was stretched across his chest. It had to have been tailor-made for him because not a single button was on the verge of popping off over all those spectacular muscles.