Page 11 of The NemeSis
“Fuck, Ares! You can’t keep scaring me like that.” She closes her eyes and attempts to steady her breathing.
I sort of like seeing her scared. I want her nervous and afraid. I need her to stay away. “What’s not important?” I repeat myself.
“It’s nothing. I had a thought, since you went to the same school as I’m going to that you would know. It’s silly.” She shakes her head with a laugh. “I don’t know what I’m trying to prove.”
“Don’t be coy, it doesn’t suit you, princess.”
“It was a stupid thought I had, but I know better than to ask for your help. So, forget I said anything.” Kyra crosses her arms. “Pick a door and leave.”
“You are so irritating.” I go back out the way I came in.
“Likewise,” I hear her mutter under her breath.
Fucking. Spoiled. Princess.
Chapter Five
KYRA
It’s been three days since Ares arrived, and we’ve done a decent job of avoiding one another since that first night. I imagined family dinner would be awkward, but he avoided it on Sunday. Apollo said he was meeting someone for drinks to catch up, not that it was my business.
Beth arrived yesterday afternoon. We spent part of the afternoon at the club and then went out for the night. It was nearly midnight when I got back to the house. I don’t know what’s going to happen for dinner tonight. Are we taking turns skipping them?
Ryan should be arriving today, that gives me another opportunity to avoid Ares. I don’t want to completely stay away, though. Family is important and I haven’t spent as much time with them as I’d planned.
Ares being back has thrown me off. I don’t like it. I exhale and attempt to shake him from my thoughts.
Inhale. Arms reach up and back lengthens. I drop my shoulders and slightly roll my neck. Exhale. Arms go out and over, my back arches as I fold over. I keep my center of gravity and focus on the movements with my breathing. It’s a routine and rhythm I’ve done a hundred times. The one I default to when I know my body needs to move. The music plays softly in my headphones, blocking out all other noise.
I felt restless most of the day, like a change in the air as soon as I woke up. Maybe if I enjoyed cardio, I could go for a run on the beach. I’m not a runner. If I’m running, everyone should run because something is chasing us.
I’d never even cared much for fitness until my freshman year of college. The other girls rushing Omega convinced me to take a barre class with them and I fell in love with it. It wasn’t about lifting heavy weights or competing with others. It was about moving your body and pushing yourself in a way that didn’t feel like it. I loved it so much I kept going, even when the others decided to try different classes instead.
It surprised me; I thought it would be more like ballet because of the bar. I’d failed at those classes in my adolescence. This was something different. Sure, it incorporated ballet movements, but it was more than that.
Dad and Selene surprised me with the addition of the barre in the home gym during my first spring break from college. I’d barely mentioned it over the holidays, and they remembered. Selene was always like that, for as long as I could remember. She always remembered the little things. It’s one of the things I love about my stepmother, her caring heart.
I know my mom was the same, from what little I can remember. She passed when I was five and now all I have to look back on are pictures and home videos. A collection of shared memories from both my dad and Selene. Before they’d gotten together, it was just two families that felt like one larger one. Like a cosmic connection, where one of us was, the rest would follow.
I bend over and stretch sideways, breathing into each stretch as I continue the routine. My eyes go in and out of focus as I keep at it. I’m not sure how much time has passed when I stand up straight, a thin sheet of sweat across my back.
Movement at the edge of my vision has me nearly jumping out of my skin. I thought I was alone. I blink a few times, look away, then back again—just to be sure. It’s really him.
His eyes narrow on me and his jaw clenches. Clearly, he should change the music in his headphones to something that will make him more cheerful. Something that will pull the stick out of his ass.
I thought with the time apart, he wouldn’t still hate me. Clearly, I was wrong. Not that he would ever say why he suddenly despised me. At first, I thought it was because I was close to their mom, but that didn’t seem right. Selene loves her sons. No, all those years apart only made his hatred for me fester and grow.
The real problem is, I can’t even remember when it started. It’s as if his hatred has grown steadily over the years. When did it even begin? There are six years between us. Surely it was something I must’ve done as an immature child. I’m turning twenty-one. This has gone on for long enough. He hasn’t even been around the past few years.
“What’s your problem?” I walk over to him and place my hands on my hips.
He pulls his headphones off.
“Did I do something to upset you?” I sigh.
Ares scoffs. “Don’t take it personally, princess. It’s just your personality.”
Princess. The nickname he gave me I’ve been fortunate enough to not hear for years. Until he came back. It takes me back to all the times Ares has called me it in the past. One of my earliest memories of it was as a joke, a tease. It never felt so hateful before.
