My Date From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy, #2)

Cupid's Golden Arrow (Part 4)

"What are you doing?"

Theo's voice startled me. I realized that I'd slid myself completely into my cocoon, face covered, my fists bunched in the material.

I wiggled back out, flushed. "Nothing."

This was the most practical solution. I was sure Kai would feel the same.

I snatched the candy package away from Hannah. "There are a few imminent to-dos on the table. We have to help Pierce stop Bethany. Find him candidates."

"Already started," Hannah said.

"Then we have to find and ward the location before spring equinox. That's when this all goes down."

"Equinox, huh?" Theo looked thoughtful. "Remember Kai once said you weren't supposed to be in Hades the night you were killed? You were supposed to be on Earth? That was the night before the equinox. Means Kai and Persephone were about to try this ritual before."

"And that might be what got her killed." Hannah nodded decisively. She pointed at Theo. "Time to go make yourself useful and figure out the warding ..."

She trailed off because Pierce had gotten all up in her space and gazed at her, enthralled. He leaned in to her, as if to inhale her scent, then trailed a finger along her jaw.

Hannah scrambled off the other side of the bed from him. "Okay. Sophie needs to sleep. Reconvene later. Everyone out." She became very busy organizing the books on the shelf beside her bed.

I grabbed Theo's shirt before he stood up and pulled him in to ask quietly, "Why doesn't he just shoot her with one of his arrows and cement the deal?"

"Can't use the arrows for self-interest." He smiled in wicked delight. "Got to struggle through like the rest of us schmucks."

"I heard that, you wanker," Pierce muttered as he passed by.

The boys left, shutting the door behind them.

I tossed an M&M at Hannah to get her attention, bestowing a wicked grin on her when she turned. Time to torture my best friend. "What's the deal with Pierce?"

She shrugged, sat down on her bed, and picked up her laptop. "I'm not sure I trust him. He's too pretty."

"You're too pretty, too."

"Nope. I'm beautiful. It's different."

I could have bugged her about her lack of modesty but I had something far more fun to taunt her with right now. "You are the same girl who once told me that there were no fireworks or soulmates. Just chemical compatibility and mutual interests?"

"Yup."

"So having the ultimate fireworks maker, the dude responsible for earth-shattering kabooms, the God of Love, live and in person hitting on you ... ?"

"It's freaking me out," she squealed. "Shut up!"

I would have laughed but she did look upset. "Hannah, there's nothing to be wigged about."

"Yes," she said looking directly at me, her blond hair falling into her face, "there is. I'm not the girl who ever wanted some fantastical creature to love me." She swept the offending locks out of the way.

"No," I agreed. "You're the girl who demanded proof of their existence and then wanted to dissect them."

"Exactly. And sometimes ..." She flicked her gaze to the door Pierce had just left through. "Sometimes I can pretend he's just a normal guy. But then the impossibility of it all starts to run through my head."

My comforter cocoon had loosened so I tucked the corner back under me. "Stop analyzing it. Enjoy the attention, have fun if you feel like it, and don't let it stress you out."

"He's a god," she mumbled, looking down at her screen.

"True." I stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "But in my limited experience, they act just like guys. Really irritating alpha guys. I say go for it. You're sixteen. Have fun. You don't like him, dump him."

Hannah looked aghast. "Dump the God of Love? What if that curses me or something?"

I tilted my head to look at her, puzzled. "Since when are you superstitious?"

"I'm not! That's the point." She'd set down the laptop and hugged her favorite pillow decorated with pictures of sharks, only considered cool by ten-year-old boys and one creature-obsessed teen girl. "This is ... outside my realm of experience. I need more data. To get more information on what it's like to date a god." She looked at me hopefully.

"Sorry, Pumpkin. I wouldn't call whatever weird interaction Kai and I had dates." I flung an arm over my face. "Argh!"

Hannah came over to my bed and tugged my arm off. "Speak."

"Kai and me needing to be in love is insane. You have to work on Pierce and get him to agree to shoot us. Otherwise, all humanity is going to die. Sorry, but there it is."

Hannah gave me a measured look. "Methinks the woman doth protest too much."

"You've got to be kidding."

She shrugged. "For someone who absolutely doesn't want to fall for him, I think you're most of the way there already."

"How many divorces has Felicia had?"

"Excuses. That's not the same thing."

My hands were clammy and my heart pounded. "If I ever do fall in love, I want it to be with someone safe. That's not Kai." My chest got a little tighter.

Hannah nodded. "Fair enough. But can you turn off what you already feel? Especially after everything that just went down between you two? Because you're right, Soph. He's not the jerk we thought."

I sighed, remembering the wonderful weirdness of warm, pliant Kai.

"He likes you too," Hannah said.

"Yeah. On some level."

"Except there's too much baggage over his ex, right?"

"A whole matching set with carry on," I replied.

Hannah took my hands in hers. "You're freaking out because you don't want to be his second choice love."

Hearing it said out loud made it sound even more brutal than thinking it in my head. My eyes teared up. "Well, d'uh! It would be horrible. Him loving me out of obligation after learning all the first-hand memories of how he felt about Persephone?"

Hannah pulled me into a hug. "Stupid Kai." That's why she was my best friend. She got me. Totally and absolutely.

But I got her, too. I pulled out of her embrace and gave her rueful smile. "Stupid Pierce. I think we're gonna need more chocolate."

"Gods, yes," she said, and went to find sugar to cure all our woes.