The Return (Titan 1)

And just like that, the amusement disappeared and Seth tensed up. “That’s not necessary, man.”

“No, it is. It’s really necessary. I know what you did for my brother. I know what it means for you,” Deacon rushed on, and now I was even more confused than before. “So, thank you.”

Seth said nothing as he focused his gaze on the wall, and silence poured into the room. The tension was thick, and while I was as curious as a bored cat, I didn’t like the sudden stiffness to his shoulders. I liked it when he was laughing.

“So,” I said, drawing out the word. “My father can change the way he looks?”

“Oh, yeah. He can pretty much do anything,” Luke said, and the corners of his lips tipped up, and I smiled back, mostly out of relief. “Also has this horrible habit of popping in at the most inopportune times.”

“I second that.” Seth sat up.

Deacon plopped down on the end of the bed, tilting his head to the side as he grinned at me. “The whole hooking up with your dad thing aside, I can’t believe I’m sitting on a bed with an Apollyon and a bound demigod.”

“It’s like the start of a bad joke,” Luke said. He grinned as he reached out, patting my blanket-covered leg. “My life just got so much more interesting.”

Chapter 19

A TINY bit of guilt pricked at me for leaving Josie alone with Luke and Deacon. One of them alone could be a lot to deal with, but two of them were something else, something overwhelming.

I cracked a grin, imagining Josie at the moment. Those eyes— eyes I’d never thought were beautiful before, but I sure as fuck thought so now—were probably wide, and that pretty mouth was also probably hanging open.

But I trusted these guys, the four of them—Solos, Marcus, and those two. And before I had ducked out, knowing I needed to chat with Marcus alone, I had pulled Luke outside and reminded him of two things: that Josie was important and she needed to be kept safe, and that he needed to keep his mouth shut about me. He hadn’t looked happy about it, but I also knew he didn’t want to piss me off either.

What Luke and Deacon knew, Josie didn’t need to know. Or maybe she did, and I just didn’t want her to know. It didn’t matter. What’d almost happened back there… Well, nothing uncomplicated could come from it. If she had been any other girl, I wouldn’t have thought twice. I’d have been in and out of her, thoroughly enjoyed myself, and then forgotten about the whole thing. But I did rub some brain cells together when it came to her. Strange thing was, knowing she should have a big “No Touching” stamped all over her soft, curvy body, didn’t change the fact I wanted to touch, kiss, link, slam into, and take it slow with that body.

Great. The hard-on had let up when Deacon and Luke showed, but now was back to the point it made thinking or walking—hell, breathing—difficult.

I didn’t even know what it was about her. She wasn’t a classic beauty, and gods knew, in the past, that was about all that it took to get me off. She wasn’t strong, and that was something I admired in anyone. But her beauty was different and she sure as hell wasn’t weak.

In just a handful of days, she hadn’t just gotten under my skin. She had crawled in there, set up camp, and wasn’t leaving for a while. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d ever been that affected.

Stripping off my clothes, I turned on the shower, let the heat fog the bathroom mirror, and then got my ass under the steady stream. There was no thinking about right and wrong now. I slid my hand down my abs, gripping the base of my heavy erection. An image of Josie formed in my thoughts, of her underneath me, staring up at me with heavy eyes and rosy, parted lips. A groan broke free and my back bowed. It didn’t take much. A couple of tight strokes later, and I was like a fifteen-year-old boy jacking off for the first time. Release tingled down to the tip of my dick, and the orgasm crashed into me, stronger and fiercer than any time I’d actually been with a chick, and it had been my hand that had brought that on.

Hell, it had been more than my hand. It had been the thought of Josie, and wasn’t that messed up? Gods, I needed to get my head on straight and my hand off my cock. With that in mind, I actually used the shower for what it was meant to be used for, toweled off, yanked my hair back, and once the clothes were on, I was out the door.

In the hall, across from Josie’s room, I stopped and considered checking in, but then I assumed I’d probably end up getting hard again, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk to Marcus with an erection.

Which begged the question, how in the fuck was I supposed to train her when I was a walking boner? And that thought immediately led to, how in the hell had Aiden pulled it off when he’d trained Alex?

I laughed drily as I headed down the empty hall.

Aiden hadn’t pulled it off. He’d been a pure and Alex was an Apollyon, but ultimately a half, so a relationship between the two should’ve never happened, but it had. And when I’d helped train Alex, I’d been able to separate whatever I wanted from what we needed to do, but oh, I didn’t think this time around was going to work out that way.

And why in the hell was I thinking about those two? They had their happily ever after—well-deserved, but fuck. Probably had to do with Aiden’s slightly crazier, albeit cooler, younger brother currently cozying up to Josie.

I was outside in the brisk March wind, ignoring the open gawking from nearby students who’d never had the pleasure of seeing the Apollyon in real life, and boy, didn’t that change up their Monday morning routine? I’d just passed the training facilities and was rounding the marble-columned library, when it hit me with the impact of a cement truck.

Holy shit, I was turning into Aiden St. Delphi.

Being all saintly and shit, tampering down urges because it was the right and decent thing to do, and instead, masturbating in the shower like a loser. Holy fuck, I was probably starting to care. Before I knew it, I’d be holding hands with her.

Oh shit, I’d already held her hand.

This was why I didn’t want to be back here to stay, but it was a little too late for that, because I wasn’t leaving.

A chill got inside my chest though, burrowing itself deep, because there was that feeling again, of the button being reset, of history chugging along, bound to repeat itself. And once that iciness got in there, it was hard to shake.

It was like coming face to face with an oracle who communed with the gods, and she was about to drop some messed-up shit in your lap.