Page 48 of Conquered Obstacles

“Yes, of course, but…” I wasn’t sure how to say what I was feeling, but he gave me such a kind, curious look that I found myself saying what was in my heart. “I find knowing about people’s pasts doesn’t tell me who they are. I’m completely different than who I was. You are too. That’s your past and yes, if you want to tell me, I’d love to hear the stories, but you are who you are now.”

“This is why I like being with you,” he said as he made his own plate and smiled at me. “You see things from such a different perspective, and it’s not just because you’re a goddess. You’ve seen people come such a long way. You’ve seen the best and worst of us. You’ve seen the heavens and underworld and so much in between. I mean, you’ve seen actual sea monsters of mythology. That’s horrible but so cool.”

“The first was a joke,” I admitted, nodding as I took a huge bite of some delicious pulled pork. “Poseidon wasn’t happy that his realm was the oceans and waters when people weren’t even close to traveling them. They hadn’t even invented fire yet and were living—he knew Zeus gave him that realm because he had no faith in him.

“But really, I think the only one of us he loved was our baby brother, so he didn’t want to ever feel competitive with Poseidon. But Hades and I agreed with the decision because Poseidon was bratty, back then at least.” I smiled. “He’s grown into the man I always thought he could be.” I hurried on when Jamie gave me a look to remind me that we weren’t talking of family.

But really, we were, so it was a bit of splitting hairs.

“He asked what he was supposed to do with so much water that had barely any sort of life, but Zeus said it was only like that because he lacked imagination and he could do whatever he wanted. The next time we checked on him, there were huge monsters and he was having the time of his life like a kid playing with toys.

“It started so innocently, but they had no food because this was even before most fish evolved as you know them now and—it became a mess. Yes, we laughed and watched the monsters fight each other, but then they would attack settlements near the water desperate for food and… The fights we had. Poseidon was so damn stubborn back then and—maybe he was lost too.

“I don’t know, but it started funny.” I gave a sad smile as I moved onto the ribs. “He talked me into making dragons that way, but then they killed a whole village, and that was when Zeus started really trying to control me. It was as if it was the mistake he’d been looking for—”

“Sorry,” Jamie whispered, clearing his throat. “It really is all tied to family and the bad of your past for you. I didn’t realize that. Sorry.”

I shrugged. “Maybe now that I’m healing some I can see some of it better. I haven’t been able to laugh about those sea monsters. Some of them were so fucking goofy that—Poseidon really did have quite the imagination. It was all just so underhanded. If Poseidon was doing that and distracting me too, we weren’t helping Hades. That had been Zeus’s real goal.”

“Yeah, it’s so hard to see how far back it goes, and the pain never really goes away,” he muttered.

I knew that tone and the defeated air around him. “Something happened with Barb?” I pushed a bit when he looked like he wasn’t going to answer. “Jamie, I want to be here for you the way you are for me. I can be understanding too. Don’t let this burden you because you want this perfect night for us. It’s perfect because we’re good for each other.”

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed. “Thanks.”

“Always.” I winked at him and gave a nod for him to tell me.

Steam about came out of my ears as he did. Barb was still on lockdown by her parents, the cover that she was in rehab from her drinking, but basically she was being beat down and rehabilitated from her stupid and trying to destroy her family because she was so selfish.

I had strong opinions about her after all.

But she wasn’t allowed her phone or any form of technology. Her grandmother was overseeing her under Hades’s direction and working on her rehabilitation or whatever. So she couldn’t communicate with Jamie directly like that, and Jamie had blocked her number anyways since he was going to cut all contact with her, but Barb found another way.

She’d told her grandmother that she wanted to write some letters asking forgiveness like people did in actual rehab… And her grandmother had allowed it thinking it was a good step in accepting she couldn’t keep behaving as she had.

Except she hadn’t read them first.

Apparently, Jamies’s was about forty pages—front and back—of bile. Absolute bile blaming him for everything and basically saying she was sorry that she hadn’t killed him the moment she was able to so she didn’t have to suffer all of this now. That everything would have been different without him being the embarrassment of their family and just toxic drivel.

I was steaming as I listened to it all as we both ate more than a few humans could.

“You have to tell your mother and grandmother, Jamie,” I told him, shaking my head when he tried to argue. “No, you can’t protect them from this, love. They need to know this to make sure things are working as they should and she—they thought this was a step in healing and clearly it wasn’t. They could let her back out into the world thinking she’s better and—”

“Yeah, okay, yeah, good point,” he agreed with a heavy sigh. “I didn’t think about that. I just keep—this is going to hurt them both so much. It… It’s really bad, Arabella. I mean they’re both mentioned in it and how weak they are for letting all this happen—it’s so psycho. She’s blaming Grandma for becoming a minion and not taking over Hades.”

I let out a heavy sigh and rolled my eyes. “Seriously, she’s going to end up being put down like a rabid dog if she doesn’t stop. She can’t talk about things because of Colton’s curse but…” I shook my head.

Now she was resorting to writing letters so long they were short stories to get out her bile? I mean… Was there really any way to save her?

Was she worth saving?

I didn’t think so, but I didn’t think my relationship with Jamie or even Patti would recover if Barb died.

We finished eating and I gave him a kiss to thank him, asking if he could clean up and call his mom to say he needed to talk to her. I gave him a look that he should get it off his mind and let her know the truth.

“Then we’ll relax and have fun,” I promised, having a few things to do of my own.

One of which was putting a leash on a rabid bitch.

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