Page 125 of Riding the Pine

Scott bails me out by picking up the conversational baton. “I think she should call it ‘The Red Revolution.’” He winks at me. “Or the Ovary Achievers.”

Ophelia groans.

“See?” I gesture at Scott. “This is what I have to put up with.”

She laughs, bringing out a dimple on her cheek. Scott’s right, I am most definitely attracted to the woman, and the ease with which she’s settling into conversation with both of us, the natural comfort she brings with her, it’s alluring.

“What about…” Ophelia taps her chin while Scott shovels a bite of chocolate cake into his mouth.

For an athlete, he sure does eat like shit.

“The Crimson Cause? Cycle Solutions? No, don’t listen to me. Those are shit.” She laughs and her hair falls into her face. I lean forward, fingers itching to tuck it behind her ear.

“May I?”

She nods, looking up at me demurely from under her eyelashes. I’ve seen that look before, I’ve given that look before, and a quick glance over at Scott confirms he’s seen it too, that he knows.

I’m most definitely going to sleep with this woman.

CHAPTER 53

Athena

JUNE 11TH

“Have you heard anything from Artemis?” It’s Tori that asks. Considering I burst into her kid’s birthday party yesterday and brought the drama, it makes sense that it’s still on her mind.

Savannah circles the room with champagne. “Not to let him overshadow your day drinking, Hen, but, yeah, have you heard anything from him? I haven’t spoken to him lately, and I mean, sure, we’re not close, but…” She blows out a puff of air. “You think you know a guy.” She grins. “And then he goes and turns out to be even more badass than you think.”

You think you know a guy indeed. What else don’t I know about my quiet and introspective younger brother? Who knows? I might need to make a concerted effort to get to know him a little better than I clearly do.

“Athena?”

Ah, yes. Back to bursting into a three-year old’s birthday party to tell my brother he needed legal representation wasn’t quite how I planned to spend yesterday, you know?

I check my phone, again. There’s nothing from Arte. Nothing from any of them. They told me not to cancel my afternoon of day drinking with my friends to help out—though I haveno idea how I’d even help out—so here I am, sitting with a full champagne flute glass of the most delicious champagne, eating chocolate covered strawberries, and worrying about my brothers.

“Nothing.” I take a long sip from my glass. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

Penelope holds out a bowl of cheese popcorn in my direction. “Did you know he’d bought your father’s leading competitor?”

No, no, I did not. I originally thought it was because of everything else I’ve had going on in my own life. But from the shock that was painted on Apollo’s face it’s pretty clear that Artemis was flying solo on this one.

“I had no idea.” I take another sip. “But I’m not surprised Papá is trying to mess with it. He knows Artemis is a more formidable opponent to face than the dithering old fool he’s buying it from.”

“Can your father really block the sale somehow?”

“I’ve spoken with one of our lawyers, he says it’s all bluster and stalling tactics. Artemis’s paperwork is airtight. But Papá always plays dirty, and he’s likely to be pissed.”

Tori pretends to hit a baseball with an invisible bat. “Quite the big swing from your brother.” She offers us a menacing grin. “I love it.” After a second she purses her lips. “Sorry. I know he’s your father.” She looks at the other women for help that she doesn’t even need.

“He is. But he’s also a piece of shit who hurt us all. So, destroying him sounds like fun about now.”

Savanna clinks her glass against mine. “I’ll drink to that.”

“To the destruction of Daddy D!” Penelope announces, raising her glass.

Eloise doubles over laughing.

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