Page 52 of The NemeSis
“I’m already making your plate, sweetie,” my dad says from the kitchen before walking over and sitting it next to Daphne, then another plate in front of Selene.
Elena climbs up onto the seat next to her mom. “Pancakes! Woo!” Her eyes glance up. “Auntie Kyra, are you going to have pancakes too?”
“She sure is.” Ares walks up behind me and slides a plate in front of me then another plate in front of Daphne.
The tension drops slightly as we dig into breakfast. Maybe it was all in my head. I attempt to convince myself until I see Selene glance between me and Ares with a smile on her face. Maybe she’s just happy to see all of us here and getting along. That has to be it.
It has to be.
* * *
My hands gripthe railing as if it can anchor me. I refuse to look back at Ares. We’ve been talking in circles all afternoon it feels like. My gaze focuses in and out on the sun setting.
“This can’t work. Why can’t you see it?” I mutter.
I can feel the heat of him at my back before he speaks as he steps closer to me. He cages me in.
“I’m not giving you up, Kyra.” His voice is steady and unshakable.
I spin around. “You have to. We can’t keep doing this. It’s wrong.”
“Does it feel wrong?” His hand moves to my throat, then to the back of my neck. His thumb traces my jawline. “I love you, Kyra.”
My lips part with a gasp. No. He can’t. I shake my head. “You can’t say that.”
He smirks. “I’m fucking in love with you.”
“No.”
“Tell me you don’t feel the same way. Tell me I don’t own your heart.” His jaw tightens. There’s something raw in his eyes. “I’m not letting you go and I’m not letting you push me away. No matter how messy it gets. I don’t care what everyone else thinks.”
For a moment neither one of us moves. The soft sound of the ocean nearby fills the air, but all I can focus on is how rapidly my heart is beating. I’ve been falling in love with him.
Footsteps come up from behind him, but he doesn’t move.
“Ares,” I plead for him to move. To show nothing is happening here.
He takes a slow step back and then turns around.
Fuck.
My dad and stepmom are staring at us and glancing at one another. For a moment we all just stand quietly, as if pretending there was nothing to see out here.
“What’s going on?” Dad asks, too casually.
“Nothing,” I blurt out too quickly.
Ares stays quiet next to me, refusing to lie. I shut my eyes and wish the earth would swallow me up at this moment. A pain forms in my chest knowing what’s about to happen.
We’ve been caught, and now everyone hates me. I messed up.
“We know,” Selene says.
I don’t think I can’t breathe. My stepmom smiles faintly as she steps closer.
“You two were always close growing up.” She shakes her head. “I knew the two of you wouldn’t see it when you were both so young. Six years of an age difference means nothing as an adult, but it feels like a lot as a kid. Part of me wondered if your friendship would grow into more when you were adults.” Her eyes move to Ares. “Then you stopped wanting to be around her. It wasn’t my business since you both seemed happy and healthy.”
Heat floods my body and I really wish a hole would appear so I can disappear.
