Athena

2. Dumbass vs. Smartass

The spawn's considerable height swallows up much of the empty space in the doorframe. With a damning click, the light switches on. Our eyes lock. His hostile green gaze glares back at me. He puts his phone away. Silently, we size each other up. I can already tell that he's about to hit me with a flood of annoying questions I don't want to answer.

A grimace thins my lips. Talk about shit timing. I need to play it cool, though, and defuse this situation quickly. The last thing I want is to get Aunt Katrina and Ron involved.

Maybe I can Jedi mind trick my way out of this mess?

My mouth parts to break the silence, but he beats me to the punch, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

To divert the conversation from my guilty ass, I demand, "Were you recording me just now?"

"Yep."

I glare."You better delete that video. Or else I'm gonna drown your phone in the toilet."

He takes a menacing step toward me. "I'd like to see you try."

My eyes dart up as he straightens to full height.

Fuck.

He's huge. I shrink back slightly, realizing that I may have bit off more than I can chew. Whatever. The spawn can keep that stupid video for all I care.

Annoyed, I throw his own question back at him, "Why aren't you in bed?"

He shoots me a pointed look. "A noise woke me up."

I frown.

I wasn't that loud.

Was I?

Feeling indignant, I mutter, "You must be a light sleeper."

"I thought someone might be breaking into the house. I came to check it out."

"Well, as you can see, it's just me. No one's trying to steal your shit," I assure him. "Everything's fine."

He cocks a condescending eyebrow. "If everything was fine, you wouldn't be climbing through a window in the middle of the night."

Touché, asshole.

"Anyway," I carry on in pleasant tones, refusing to give him a speck of intel about my nighttime activities, "it's getting late. I'm going to bed. Peace out."

Scooping my backpack off the ground, I lunge for the doorway, aiming for the small opening to the right of the spawn. I try to squeeze past him. With a stony expression, he closes the gap by taking a step to the right. I dart to the left side. He goes left, too. Annoyance flashes in my eyes. He's doing this on purpose. I should've known that he wouldn't go easy on me.

Jerk.

Smiling tightly, I ask, "Can you move? Please?"

"No."

I grit my teeth. "Fuck the fuck off already."

"Not until you answer a few questions."

I knew it. Here comes the interrogation. I let out an irritated sigh. "Like what?"

His gaze travels to the open window behind me. "Like why you didn't use the front door. Dumbass."

"Maybe I forgot my keys. Smartass."

Flatly, he demands, "Why did you sneak out?"

I try to side-step him. Again.

The spawn blocks me. Again. Crossing both arms over his broad chest, he refuses to budge.