Ares

Chapter 32 || I'm sinking on the silence.

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"I can't move on unless we're being honest, I think you know that you're wasting your breath. But when it's good it's easy to forget."

- Lying To Me, Josh Dreon.

Aphrodite slammed the Jeep's door shut and bent over to peer through the open passenger side window. "You have ruined everything," she growled, hitting Ares with a sub-zero glower.

Ares grunted, one hand on the wheel, motor running. "That ship sailed a long time ago, sweetheart."

Her cold eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth to say something else and hesitated before huffing loudly and stomping up the double drive, her heels scraping across the concrete. Ares waited until she stepped inside her new house before backing out of the drive, headlights sweeping across the neatly trimmed grass.

Dotted white lines zipped beneath him as he headed for somewhere he hadn't figured out yet, wondering what he had just done, speculating on what would happen next. "Shit," he said, squeezing the wheel tighter and grimacing with the pain in his hand. If he hadn't messed things up good enough before, he sure had now. A slideshow of horrific images flickered through his mind: Daisy-Chains on fire, Adrian with a broken leg, Grace with someone else. He shook his head, unable to blame her. He had put them through too much already. Her entire family must hate him.

He slowed down when he saw an officer and took the next right, deciding his place was the next best course of action. He needed a minute to clear his head. Plus, telling Grace what had just happened wasn't on the top of his list right now. He wasn't sure how she would take it and didn't have the heart to find out. Not yet anyway.

His place was quiet inside and felt like someone else's place. Ares dropped down heavily onto the sofa and looked around. He had been so proud of this place when he had purchased it two years ago and now he barely recognized it. The faces of different female guests over those two years flashed through his mind, one at a time, each smiling at him with that look in their eye. He shuddered with the thought of returning to that lifestyle and turned on the TV only to turn it off again a few minutes later.

He stretched out on the couch and let his thoughts run wild, a big mistake. But before they could get too far, sleep took him to a place where they found him anyway. Three hours later, his cell phone jerked him from sleep. He stared at the screen, a kink in his neck, his heart lurching when he saw Grace's name.

// ***** //

Ares helped Grace out of the Jeep's front seat and guided her into her apartment.

She sank into the couch with a giggle rushing past her lips, her eyes half open. "You should've seen the looks on these guys' faces."

He peeled her heels off and carefully set her feet on the coffee table. "I bet."

"She told one guy she had a dick," she laughed, blinking slowly.

Ares rested his hands on his hips, surveying Grace's droopy eyes and disheveled hair. "Oh, boy," he mumbled to himself.

"Swidney is so dirty," she slurred, staring at her TV like she was watching the night's events play out all over again. "I wish I was funny like her."

"You're very funny," he assured her, going over and closing the front door.

"You're flunny!"

"Thank you," he replied, coming back over and smoothing her hair.

"Take off your trousers!" She fumbled with his belt and he stopped her. "Come on, Ares, I wanna take a picture of it."