Page 66 of Carry Your Debt

Because they're already at my door, and they’ve come armed with battering rams.

Emotional castle invaders.

Slowly working through my defenses, one by one. Leaving their hairline fractures all over the lead casing around my heart,alongside the two small fissures that both Zeus and Dio were already determinedly working on.

With an audible sigh, I let my shoulders drop and allow my head to fall forward.

God.

I amsofucked.

When I finally emerge from Apollo’s ensuite, it’s to find the man himself, also freshly showered and wearing a new track into the hardwood floors of their living area.

Hermes is sitting bundled up on the same armchair the two of them just gave their performance from. The only thing visible over the fluffy red blanket is a shock of curls and a pair of solemn hazel eyes.

I clear my throat. “Where’s Hades?” I ask, still a little hoarse from screaming into Apollo’s mattress.

“Checking the cameras while we wait for Cal to get back.”

“Cameras? You’ve got access to the Academy’s servers?”

Good luck getting anything useful there. I’d already set up Foster with timestamps to wipe from outside both of our dorm buildings. There’s no longer any record of Dominic, my embarrassing tango with the Boy’s front door, or Leo’s confrontation out in the hallway.

“Hiscameras,” Apollo says, pointedly.

Oh shit.

Hades is notoriously private—and there hasn’t been a firewall that Hermes couldn’t sweet talk the pants off—so of course, they’d have their own secure network setup.

I just hope there are no camerasinsidetheir dorm.

As soon as that thought forms, the image of a brooding Atlas Rhodes fills my mind.

Find what you were looking for?

Fuck.Hedoeshave cameras inside their dorm.

And for the first time since they came home, I’m grateful they interrupted me when they did. Apollo and Hermes’s arrival unintentionally saved me from getting into a proper sweep and somerealtrouble.

But now I’m curious what Apollo’s ‘hell to pay’might look like. Whether or not he would have happily ‘punished’ me for it.

He certainly has the filthy mouth for it.

The front door swings open with a crash and Ares barrels inside their apartment. His auburn locks look like he’s been tugging at the longer pieces on top.

“What happened?” he demands, his deep voice rough with anxiety.

Apollo’s brows knit together as he takes him in.

“Text made it sound like it was an emergency,” Ares clarifies, gym bag dropping heavily to the floor as he moves around the couch. Apollo frowns at it with consternation.

That’s when Ares finally clocks my presence.

His whole body goes on alert, shoulders bunching and the muscles in his jaw launching into their favorite jazzercise routine.

“Why isshehere?” he growls out, and IknowI shouldn’t enjoy it so much because clearly he doesn’t like me—butgoddamn,it’s got someheatto it. I feel that growl inallmy places way down low.

Stop it, you hussy, I just fed you.

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