I wasn’t in a catatonic state when they arrived, but I was definitely drunk. Drunk enough that I didn’t care I was sitting on my ass in the driveway surrounded by groceries, chugging the last sip from the bottle of wine I was drinking.
The roar of their bikes was delightfully loud, almost loud enough to drown out my thoughts. But not quite. That’s what the wine was for. I was actually disappointed when the roar disappeared. It wasn’t long before he got to me, crouching down so he was at eye level. The sight of his worn leather boots was welcome.
“Freya.”
Hades grasped my chin in his fingers in order to tilt it up to look at him. His face was tight with worry, eyes hard with a fury that told me he was already ready to hurt whoever was responsible for me being in this state.
“I need you to tell me what happened,” he articulated slowly. He was forcing his voice to be even, trying to remain calm. I knew that.
My eyes flickered behind him to where Hansen was standing wearing his own version of badass concern.
“Oh, shit,” I groaned. “Tonight is our double date dinner. The dinner is...” I held out my arms to the food that was decorating my driveway. “Ruined,” I finished. “We might have to reschedule,” I whispered, meeting his eyes.
“Freya.” There was agitation in his tone now.
“My father died,” I mumbled, the words tasting strange, sounding even stranger in the air. “In prison. He’d been sick for a while, apparently, but I didn’t know. Because he didn’t want me to know, didn’t want to say goodbye.” I hiccupped. “It’s stupid to be upset about it. I mean, I didn’t even know him, not really. I didn’t even like him. I don’t know why I’m making a scene. Ugh, this is so embarrassing.”
Hades’s finger pressed against my lips in his version of ‘shut up, you hysterical female.’
“Stop,” he urged me. He said it so softly, yet with such force, that I did exactly as he said.
The next second, I was in his arms. His chest was warm and hard and safe. “What about the groceries?” I whined.
“I’ll take care of them,” he promised.
What was left unsaid was, I’ll take care of you.
Hades had done as he’d promised. He took care of the groceries. And me. There was no comment about how I’d consumed a whole bottle of wine on pretty much an empty stomach. He did give me a large glass of water, but a generous glass of tequila followed that.
I was sitting at the breakfast bar, sipping tequila, contemplating the tiles on my backsplash, when Hades walked in. He had been gone for a while, cleaning up my mess. Now my phone was pressed against his ear, and he was murmuring something I couldn’t hear.
When he approached me, he leaned down to drop a kiss on my neck. “She’s right here,” he said into the phone.
It took me a couple of seconds to take the phone he was holding out to me, but eventually I did.
“A man answered your phone,” my Aunt V remarked quizzically.
“I know,” I replied, staring at the man in question.
“He sounds attractive.” I could hear the delight in her voice.
I smirked. “He is.”
“You haven’t told me about this man,” she accused.
My smirk turned into a smile, something that had seemed completely impossible just a few moments ago.
“And because you haven’t told me about the man and because of the strange and horrible things you must be feeling right now, I’m coming there,” Aunt V reported, her voice a tad softer now.
The softness reminded me of my hard edges, the ones that had been sharpened by today’s news. My smile faltered, but just a little.
“You can’t come here,” I groaned, looking at Hades and wondering what he’d look like through my aunt’s eyes. I was desperate for her to meet him, just to give him a little more permanence in my life. Yet I was terrified that she wouldn’t approve. Not that my Aunt V had a judgmental bone in her body, but still.
“You have your job,” I pointed out. “Your routines.”
“Fuck the job and fuck my routines,” Aunt V scoffed. “I have a niece to visit. And I have a man to meet. I’ve already booked my flights and a rental car. I’ll be there by tomorrow.”
My body relaxed at this news. It had been months since I’d seen my aunt. Months of huge, traumatic life changes. And wonderful life changes, like the one I was looking at. Today’s news had shaken me to my core, and despite the amazing people I was surrounded with, I needed my Aunt V.
“For now, you let that gorgeous man take care of you, and I’ll be there tomorrow so he can take care of us both,” she teased.