Bad Influence (Seven Deadly Sins #2) ✅ Completed

Chapter Sixteen: Lust Throws a Pool Party

Lust Throws a Pool Party

I laid in bed staring at the freshly painted ceiling. The shop and all of its floors were quiet. It felt like forever since I’d last slipped into my bed by choice and not because someone or something knocked me flat on my butt.

My new flatscreen TV flickered in the background, the volume muted. A movie I’d seen half a dozen times was on. I already knew how it ended but that didn’t really matter. It was just nice to feel halfway normal for a change. I used to always fall asleep in front of the TV in my old apartment when my mom decided to stay out and leave me alone all night.

Some things were as familiar as putting on an old pair of jeans.

The sword of Perseus was on my dresser. Dante had wanted to lock it up to keep it safe, but since I’d been the one to go in and get it, he didn’t argue when I told him I was keeping the sword with me. I still didn’t know how I’d pulled it out of Hermes’ magical trunk in the first place, but since I’d been deemed “worthy” enough to have it, Dante wasn’t in any real position to say otherwise - at least not via text message anyway. 

I hadn’t actually seen him since earlier in the afternoon when Hermes left to go back to where all the other Greek gods hung out. He was still in his room when I’d left with Chase to have dinner at his house. Justin, his dad, was grilling again. This time dinner was an assortment of chicken quarters and polish sausages, with twice-baked potatoes and some kind of apple salad made with cool-whip that was out of this world. I ate with the Crawford men on their newly sealed deck, small Tiki torches set out along the railing to keep the bugs away while we ate.

The night was warm, but a slight breeze kicked up to keep it from becoming too uncomfortable. Every time the wind hit me, I smelled honeysuckle, wood-smoke, and the slightly damp smell of lake water I was coming to associate with the town.

It was starting to smell like home.

Justin asked about Aunt Celeste and I’d lied through my teeth, telling him she’d called to let me know the estate sale was going to be locked up in litigation for a little while. She wouldn’t be returning to Blackwater until she’d seen everything sorted out.

“So your aunt really isn’t coming back to wait out the litigation?” he’d asked surprised. “That can take quite some time depending on how stubborn some of those family members get. If it’s one thing you can count on, is everybody holding their hand out for a share of something they didn’t help earn after some poor fool’s dead and buried,” he’d said, shaking his head.

I’d been helping myself to a second serving of veggies in some kind of tasty cheese sauce. Broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower had never tasted so good. “Actually, Aunt Celeste seems to be enjoying the time away from the shop. I think she may have been looking to get away for a while now. I think the stress was finally getting to her,” I’d answered, closer to the truth than I had been all night.

Chase coughed a little but didn’t have anything else to contribute. His dad’s curiosity wasn’t anything unusual. This was a small town and people were going to ask questions – especially without Aunt Celeste’s mojo working to keep them clueless.

Justin hadn’t let it go right away though, “Huh, well running a business ain’t easy. I can certainly see the need for her to take a break. Especially when she’s got some new blood around to leave her work to,” he’d grinned at me as I tried not to choke on my coke.

Chase saved me from any further discomfort at that point.

“Sorry, Eliza, my dad likes to gossip as much as the old ladies at church – especially about your aunt.”