Goddess Secret (18 page)

“Sorry. I didn’t sleep very well last night.” He yawned.

“Come to the kitchen. I’ll make you some coffee.”

River chuckled. “Nah, I’m straight.”

“It’s a Keurig. Won’t take but a second. Now c’mon.”

River followed her to the kitchen, and she brewed them both a cup before sitting across from him at the table. “Why didn’t you sleep well last night?”

“I was thinking about my conversation with my dad.”

“Did you find out anything?”

“Oh, yeah,” River said as he sipped his coffee.

“Well, don’t leave me hanging. What did you find out?”

“Do you know who King Cinyras of Cyprus is?”

She felt the blood rush out of her face. “Yes. That’s Adonis’s father. Well, his father is of his likeness.”

“Well, one little tidbit that I found out was Cinyras thought Aphrodite engaged in…umm… lewd behavior, so he wanted to out her true activities to everyone. I guess he wasn’t pleased that his son was with her.” River shrugged.

Legacy smiled. She liked this little bit of information. She knew Adin’s father wanted him to go to school in Texas to avoid Venus. She guessed his father kept Cinyras’s beliefs about Aphrodite and Venus.

“Why are you telling me this? I figured this would be something you’d keep to yourself.”

“Because I’m trying to be helpful to you and not let my own personal agenda of the last few weeks interfere anymore.” River looked down.

“Thanks,” she whispered. “What else did you find out?”

He looked back into her eyes. “Well, I found the connection between my mom and Aphrodite.”

“What is it?”

“Aphrodite was apparently jealous of Medusa.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because she thought Medusa was beautiful.”

“So, what happened between them?”

“Well, Aphrodite is the one who made Medusa ugly.”

Legacy gasped. “
What
?”

“Aphrodite is the reason Medusa’s hair can turn into snakes and why she could turn people to stone.”

“Are you
kidding
me?”

“I’m totally serious.”

Legacy leaned back in her hair and stared at River. “Okay, so if Aphrodite was jealous of the original Medusa, then why would your mom find Venus and bring her here? I mean, why would Venus come here to help your mom?”

“We know that my mom wants to hurt you, so maybe she wants to hurt Aphrodite too.”

“Then why help her by leading Venus to Adin?”

“My mom wants to hurt you, so bringing Venus into Adin’s life is a way she can do that. But if Adin
stays
with you…” River hesitated, looking down because the thought of this obviously bothered him. “Venus will be hurt by that. Hurting Venus is a way for her to get back at Aphrodite. It’s a win-win situation for Medusa. Bringing Venus into Adin’s life will allow her to either get revenge against you or against Aphrodite.”

“It doesn’t matter who Adin wants to be with,” she said gravely. “Someone will get hurt.”

“Exactly.”

“So what does your dad think about all this?”

“Of course he’s furious. He’s like a sibling to your mom, so he doesn’t want Medusa to do anything to hurt you.”

Legacy took a deep breath. “Is Venus a goddess?”

“Yes. She’s
just
like Aphrodite.”

“Ugh! So if she wants Adin, he’s not going to be able to resist her.”

“I’m not sure if she’ll have the same control over men that Aphrodite has.”

“But you just said that she’s just like her.”

“I know. I don’t know what all she can do for sure, but she’s Aphrodite’s likeness, and she ascended when she turned eighteen. I just put two and two together, if you know what I mean.”

“So we need to assume she has all of Aphrodite’s abilities then.”

“That’s what I’d do. It’s better to be prepared for the worst.”

Legacy sighed. She didn’t like this news, but as she stared at River’s sad eyes, she was happy that he was helpful. “Thank you so much for your help. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

River took a deep breath, but kept his head down. “You know I’ll do anything for you,” he murmured.

“I know.”

They continued drinking their coffee without saying much. She tried to engage him in conversation, but his mood was too sad to stay focused on any particular topic.

When they finished their coffee, River stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I have some stuff to do at home.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

She walked River outside and to his car, but he glanced over to her car. “Your tire’s low.”

“Huh?”

“Your front passenger tire is lower than the others. You should get it checked out.”

“I will if I think about it.”

“Legacy, it’s too dangerous to drive around with a low tire,” River said as he walked over to her car. “You don’t want to get stranded somewhere.” He opened the driver side door and popped the trunk. Then he walked over to the truck and started rummaging around.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking to see if you have a spare. Damn it,
Legacy
. There’s not one in here.”

“I’ll go buy one.”

“You need to have the tire looked at. I’ll follow you to the store.”

“No, don’t worry about that. I’ll go one day this week.”

“Legacy, please? I don’t want you driving around on a low tire and no spare.”

“You said you have some things you need to do at home. I can call Calli.”

“It’s no big deal. I’m already here. Now, let’s go.”

He shut the trunk and opened the door for her to get in, not taking no for an answer.

“I have to get my purse.” She ran in the house and grabbed her purse and keys. River followed her to the tire store. There was a nail in the tire and they were able to plug it. She also had a spare put in the trunk. When they finished, they handed her back the keys to her car.

“Where do I need to go to pay?”

“Your ticket has already been paid.”

She sighed and looked out the glass door into the parking lot. River was talking to the mechanic, and she knew he arranged to pay for the work done on her tire. She walked back outside and up to River.

“I could’ve paid for it.”

He chuckled. “I know, but I did make you come out here for my own peace of mind. It was the least I could do.”

“You still didn’t have to, but thanks anyway.”

He smiled and nodded.

“Are you going to follow me back home, or are you going home now?” she teased.

“I’m going home.” He smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She nodded and got in her car. When she got back home, she called Adin to see if he wanted to come over. He sounded a little distant, but he was eager to visit. When he came over, they sat on the couch to watch television, and Adin rubbed her feet. He still seemed a little distraught, and she couldn’t understand why, but she wanted to. “What’s wrong?”

Adin shrugged.

“Adin?”

“I, umm, had to run some errands this afternoon. I ran into Venus.”

She shut her eyes and shook her head. “What happened?”

“Nothing. She just talked about school.”

Legacy nodded.

“And I saw you and River at the tire shop.”

Oh. “Yeah, he came over today to tell me about a conversation he had with his dad. He talked to him about Venus and Medusa. When he got ready to leave, he noticed my tire was low and insisted I have it checked out.”

“That’s good.” But he didn’t sound like he really believed that.

“Adin—”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

Adin sighed. “Seeing Venus and then seeing you with River…it was too much for one afternoon.”

She put her feet down and scooted over to him. She wrapped her arms around him, and he put his arms around her, squeezing her tightly.

“I’m sorry you had a bad afternoon,” she whispered.

“Me too.”

He pulled away and kissed her forehead. “So what did River have to say about everything?”

She told Adin everything River had said. Adin wasn’t surprised about the information on Cinyras, but he was intrigued about Medusa’s connection to Aphrodite.

“I guess River was right about his mother’s involvement. I’m surprised he admitted to that.”

“He just wants to help.” She shrugged.

“He just wants to help
you
,” Adin modified.

“Yeah.”

Adin cleared his throat. “Do you want to go out tomorrow night? I’m going to be busy the rest of the week getting ready for a charity event my fraternity is sponsoring, so I won’t get to see you much this week.”

“Sure.”

She put both of her hands on Adin’s face and kissed him, but he pulled back after only briefly kissing her back. “I should go.”

She didn’t protest. Adin was dealing with so much, too, and she needed to give him the space he needed when he needed it.

“You know I love you, right?” Adin asked after she walked him to the door.

Her heart raced with confusion. “Yes.”

He nodded and kissed her cheek for before walking out and not looking back.

Chapter Twelve

The next night, Legacy and Adin got takeout and went to their hilltop to eat for their date. Since it was windy outside, they stayed in his car and had the radio turned down low so that they could enjoy the background music while they spent the afternoon visiting. Adin seemed to have let go of whatever was bumming him out yesterday, and she was very happy about that.

After the sun had set and it started to get dark, their conversations slowed. They did less talking and more staring. Adin played with her hair while he stared at her, and their breathing picked up. Sitting in a parked car, in the middle of nowhere at night was different for them. Sure, they’d been to this hilltop many times, but they usually stayed outside of the car and left when it got dark—except for when he brought her up here the other night to tell him about her true abilities.

But now it felt very intimate—as if they were the only two people in a very small world.

While Adin gazed into her eyes, he slid his hand from her hair to her face and leaned in to kiss her. He gently caressed her face while they kissed softly. And like other times when they were alone and kissing, it intensified. Before she could even register her actions, she had her hands in his hair, and he had his other hand wrapped around her back. They tried to press up against each other, but the pesky console was in the way. She wanted to be close to him, so she shifted in her seat and started to climb over it. When Adin realized what she was doing, he effortlessly pulled her over on top of him without breaking away from her lips.

“Oh,
Legacy
…” he moaned into her mouth as she landed on his lap. He had his arms wrapped tightly around her as they kissed, but he slipped one hand up across her back, clutching her shoulder and pulling her down even closer against him, making her come in contact with his erection. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt him get hard, but it was the first time he’d held her down onto it like this. There was no escaping it, and she didn’t want to.

They kissed feverishly, eagerly moving their hands everywhere. She was grinding herself against him, and yet she still couldn’t get close enough. When Adin grabbed her face with both of his hands, he lifted it up and moved his lips to her neck. She panted as he kissed her all over her neck and up to her ear. When he reached her ear, he stopped kissing and breathed into it.

“We should probably go.”

Go? She leaned back and looked into his eyes. “Is that what you want?”

He shut his eyes and shook his head. “No, but what we should do and what we want to do are two different things.”

“Okay, but let me see something before we leave,” she whispered.

She slid her hands down his chest, stopping at the top of his jeans. He took his hands off her, locking one hand onto the console and the other on the doorframe as if he were bracing himself. She slowly pulled his tucked-in shirt out from his jeans while he pressed his forehead against hers to watch what she was doing. When she slid her hands underneath his shirt, across his stomach, and onto his chest, he gasped. “They’re both hot,” he whispered quickly, understanding she wanted to see if the temperature of her hands had changed.

Feeling her hot hands rubbing on his chest was apparently more than he was able to stand. His head leaned back against the headrest on a groan, and his already shut eyes squeezed even tighter just as his mouth fell open. He kept his hands locked in their places and tried shifting in his seat, but with her right here, it wasn’t as if he could go anywhere.

She remembered during the summer that when they were swimming at his house, she rubbed his chest and played with his ear. At the time, she figured it was the attention to his ear that stirred the intense reaction out of him, but after this, she’d have to rethink that theory.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” she whispered sincerely.

Adin faintly shook his head, but didn’t say or do anything else. She leaned down and kissed him softly, but he moaned loudly when their lips touched. He kissed her back, but tried to keep the kiss from building, and he kept his hands off her.

Whatever resolve he was desperately trying to stick to started to wane. After a few seconds of sensual kissing, she caressed his chest—gliding her hands over his tight nipples—rotated her hips just right, and he gave in. One hand locked around her back while the other tangled into her hair, holding her tightly against him as he surrendered his control to the demand of his desires. Even though she was sitting on top of him, it seemed like that wasn’t close enough for him. He sat up in the seat to try and get as close to her as he possibly could. He held her down as he thrust up. They clung to each other and kissed passionately, but after awhile, that was all what they were still doing. Why? That question rocked her to the core, and she couldn’t shake it away. It started to eat away at her, confusing her, making her feel uncertain.

When she pulled away from him, she didn’t say anything. She just finagled her way back into the passenger seat, and he slumped back into his seat, panting with his hands on top of his head. Then without saying anything, he started the car and drove her home. He did hold her hand on the way back to her house, but neither of them said anything. When they got to her house, Adin walked in with her and followed her up to her room. She put on her pajamas and crawled in the bed. He stayed on top of the covers, but put his arm around her and held her. After a few minutes of stroking her hair, it was finally apparent to him she wasn’t going to fall right to sleep.