Page 56 of Sweet Obsession

It doesn’t matter how hard I thrust, how intense the pleasure.There’s no denying the current of caring between us. It’s there in the way he arches up, in the way I catch his mouth, in the press of his fingertips against my skin.

He breaks the kiss. “Icarus! I’m going to—”

“Come for me, big guy.” I nip his bottom lip. “Please.”

That single word is his undoing. I angle back so I can fuck him more thoroughly. It takes a single stroke and he cries out, coming in great jerks all over his stomach as I take him. A fucking masterpiece, his freckles, his seed, my wax. It’s too much. I follow him over the precipice. Too good. Everything with him is too damn good.

It’s like my bones dissolve. I slump onto his chest, mess and all, and he immediately wraps his arms around me and hugs me to him. Words blossom in my chest, words I can’t allow myself to speak. If I tell Poseidon that I love him, he’ll never let me go. Even if it hurts him in the end. Even if itkillshim.

I don’t tell him I love him. I don’t tell him that he’s given me a gift beyond measure. He’s cared for me, seen value in me that no one else in my life recognized—not even my beloved sister. For Poseidon, I can put away my selfish ways. For him, I can be brave enough to do the right thing.

To leave him.

30

Poseidon

We manage a shower before falling back into bed. I have the presence of mind to set an alarm and then I pass out, Icarus tucked against my body. At least until my phone wakes me up sometime later. I roll over, relishing the sting of the tiny burns Icarus made, the languidness of my body, and fumble the phone up to my ear. “What?”

“What did you do?” Hera is so coldly furious that I’m half-surprised she doesn’t manage to ice the entire room with her displeasure alone.

I check the alarm next to the bed but can’t quite manage to breathe a sigh of relief when I realize I have two hours before I need to meet Zeus and Hades. Except there’s no relief to be had because Hera is on the phone. She said something… “What?”

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I don’t sound the least bit convincing. I’m a shit liar even when I have time to prepare. Icarus shifts next to me and makes a small sound. I don’t hesitate to cover his mouth with my free hand and give him a little shake to wake him up. I don’t think Hera is waiting outside the door tomurder us, but I’d be a fool to underestimate her.

“Don’t insult me by trying to lie. You’re terrible at it,” she snaps. “Why is my husband missing, Poseidon? Did you warn him of my plans?”

“Zeus is…missing.” Belatedly, understanding rolls over me. Of course Zeus isn’t where his wife expects him to be. He’s staging a coup and planning a midnight attack.

She pauses for a beat. “That time, I almost believed you have no idea where he is.”

“I don’t.” That, at least, is the truth. I know where he’ll be, and I could take a guess or two to figure out where he is now—coordinating with Ares and Athena tops the list—but it’s not as if he provided me with an itinerary.

“Fuck,” Hera breathes. “This is a problem.”

She has no idea. “It might be a good idea if you go to the countryside with Psyche and your mother. Eurydice is safe enough with Persephone behind the lower city barrier.” For now. “If you’re worried about what Zeus is planning—”

“I’m not going to flee on the possibility that he’s finally got his shit together.” Sharp footsteps echo down the line. She’s pacing.

I knew that suggestion was a long shot, but I had to try. Hera’s the one person who can blow this plan right off the tracks, and while I’d like to think that she values her family more than she hates her husband and the city, I can’t be sure. “Well, I don’t know where he is. Is that all you needed?”

“Don’t get bitchy with me now.” She inhales and exhales slowly. When she speaks again, she sounds more like herself. Controlled. “I’m concerned about Hermes.”

“Everyone is concerned about Hermes.” And they should be. She was pretty clear with her endgame when she broke into my kitchen. I don’t necessarily disagree with her goals, but there’s a reason I refused to work with her. Her methods are just as suspect as the rest of the Thirteen. Which I suppose proves her point. “And no one can find her, so there’s not much to be done about it.”

I glance at Icarus. He’s fully awake now, watching me with large dark eyes. What little relaxation we claimed through the…claiming…of each other is gone. He lies there, tense and silent. I don’t stop to think. I set my phone down on the bed between us and put it on speaker.

She continues to pace, the sound echoing through the phone. “I think she’s working with Circe.”

“I don’t.” That, at least, I know to be true. If she was working with Circe, then we would likely all be dead and scattered among the ashes of the city. “It doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, you’re fucking Icarus right now, so I don’t think we can stand onyourcharacter judgment.”

I sigh. “Is there an actionable step you’re requesting, Hera? Or did you just call to yell at me over things neither of us can control?”

“You aresuchan asshole.” She hangs up.

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