Page 47 of God of War

Ares relaxes, offering her a lazy, flirty kind of smile that I’ve never seen on him before. My insides go even colder as he says something back, but my brain glitches and I don’t catch it — instead I just focus on the way Shan props her tray on her hip and angles toward him. She was polite before, but now it’s different. Heated and flirtatious. Has she decided that me and Ares aren’t a couple, that maybe she has a shot with him?

Which, realistically, she does. She’s beautiful, confident, put-together. There’s no way she’s as much of a mess as me. And she didn’t get the whole town to believe he was some kind of pervert.

Next thing I know, Shan moves off, promising to return with the bill. Ares watches her go, his eyes flicking to her ass. When he turns back, he must know I’ve caught him, but he doesn’t react.

He wouldn’t care anyway, right? He has a right to flirt with anyone he wants, check out anybody. And Shan is… Shan is better for him. Shan makes sense.

“You ready to go?”

“What?”

Disappointment floods my heart. I’d been enjoying our time, with Ares talking to me like a normal person instead of snapping at me or ordering me around. But our night is over. Our date-that-wasn’t-a-date.

“It’s getting late. You should get some sleep.”

I don’t feel tired at all, but I can’t argue. I feel myself shut down and we sit in silence until Shan brings the bill. Ares pays, and then we both head out. The crowd has thinned out some in the bar, but the lot is still full with cars, even over at the motel.

At the door to our room, Ares unlocks it, flicks on the light and scans the interior before stepping back and letting me in first.

“You want to watch TV or something?” I ask, flopping on my bed. I start to toe off my shoes but stop when I see that Ares is still in the open doorway, his hands deep in his pockets.

“I, ah, I’ll be out for a bit longer. That okay?”

One sneaker tumbles to the carpet.

“Um… No?” I say, tilting my head. “What the fuck do you have to do?”

Ares huffs, nostrils flaring. “None of your business. You’ll be safe, just keep the door locked and the chain on. You’ve got the knife, right?”

I shake my head as I stand and take a few uneven steps toward him, one shoe still on. “Duh,” I reply. “But that doesn’t explain what you’re going to do. You’re just… leaving?”

“Here—” He stalks past me and grabs the pen and notepad from the phone between the two beds. He scribbles something down, then tosses the notepad on my bed. “There’s my number. Anything happens, you call. I’ll be close.”

I stare at his back in disbelief as he retreats to the door. “And what am I supposed to do? Sit here and paint my nails?”

Ares steps outside and makes an irritated noise as he swings back. “Lock the door, Delaney. I’ll be back when I can.”

He closes the door behind him. The silence rings in my ears. What the fuck just happened? I scurry to the door, about to throw it open, but instead I flip back the edge of the curtain on the window and peer out. Ares is already striding across the parking lot — back to the bar.

My gut clenches, anguished and angry.

Shan.

He’s going back for Shan.

“Asshole. Fucking asshole.”

I slam the lock on the door, but I don’t chain it. Already, a plan is forming in my head — the blurry shape of one, anyway. He’s supposed to be protecting me, and instead he’s trying to get laid.

Good luck, I think with a smirk. You’re going to fucking need it.

***

I give him twenty minutes, long enough to settle back in with a drink. Maybe Shan will have already come over, striking up a conversation about how he’s no longer tied down with his ‘little sister’ — or whatever excuse he gives her for my presence earlier.

I change back into my dress, which is a little rumpled from being tossed on the floor earlier. I don’t have any make-up with me, but I bought a hairbrush at the drugstore and I rake it through my tangles, hoping the final product comes across as ‘sexy and voluminous’ rather than ‘frizzy and unwashed’.

The switchblade is a whole other problem. I don’t have a purse, or a pocket. I try to hide it under my dress, tucked into the side of my underwear, but it’s too heavy and my plain cotton underwear is too elastic to keep it in place.

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