Page 68 of Sweet Obsession

One of them holds my gaze, a man with light-brown skin weathered from the sun and years, his short hair long since gone gray. “What happens now?”

“We are going to get you home.”

He laughs bitterly. “For all the good it will do. We don’t get our wages until the end of this disaster. What home do we have to go back to?”

He’s right, and yet it doesn’t sit well with me. I look around at the people gathered. There are easily fifty of them. “I’ll pay you for your lost wages when we return to Aeaea.”

Instead of looking comforted, the man crosses his arms over his chest. “And what of the others?”

“The others?”

“The other crews,” he supplies. “They sailed off without accomplishing their goals. No doubt Deo Artino and the others will use that as an excuse not to pay them for the work they did.”

I glance at Poseidon, but he’s simply watching me, letting me take the lead. I could use some of his deep well of confidence now. There’s none to be had inside of me, but I’ve always known how to fake it. “That sounds like something Deo would do. He’s a bastard like that.” I shrug. “Then I’ll pay their wages, too.” My father was the kind of rich that borders on absurdity. It’s an easy enough promise to make.

“Why?”

I blink. “Why?”

“Yeah. What’s in it for you?”

It’s a fair question, and one I don’t have an answer to. “It’s the right thing to do.”

The man laughs again, even harsher this time. “Since when has an Aeaean noble cared about theright thingto do when it comes to people like us?”

I have to fight down the tremble that threatens. He’s right. My father and his ilk are selfish creatures who hoard their money and are only concerned with getting more. I’m just like them…but that doesn’t mean Ihaveto be. I could…choose to be different? “Sincenow.” My voice is even steady as I say it.

“We need to get moving,” Poseidon says softly. “We don’t have long to get them to safety.”

“Right.” I meet this stranger’s eyes. “Stay here. We’re going to travel outside of Olympus’s waters and then the crew will be freed, but if you cause trouble, I can’t save you.”

“I understand.” He sinks back down to speak in a low voice with the others gathered around him.

A couple of Athena’s people stand over the crew with guns held easily in their hands, but they look significantly more inscrutable than Zeus was, so I’m not worried about them panicking and shooting someone—or killing them out of anger. They’re true professionals, because of course they are; they work for Athena, after all.

Poseidon leads me up to the bridge. We’re alone for the first time since we left his apartment, and the relative silence feels so fucking loud. He scrubs his hands over his face. “Okay. Okay, next steps.”

Next steps. “We need a way to get my people back to Aeaea.” I already meant for it to happen, but after seeing the crew on this ship, having it driven home exactly how fucked over they’ve been by every single person in power.

Poseidon turns and looks at me, reallylooksat me. “Your people.”

“It’s the truth,” I whisper. I have lied, cheated, and stole and never felt a fraction of the guilt blooming inside me as I realize what I have to do. “You were right about the corruption in Aeaea. Hermes was too, in her way. I couldn’t do anything about it before, not with my father in the mix, but the blackmail I used against Circe’s generals was only one piece of my arsenal. If I go back, if I step intothe position my father left with his death, I could actually change things for the people who need it the most. People like this crew.”

It hurts to say it. It hurts to even contemplate it. I’ve been selfish my entire damn life, and it’s fucked beyond measure that I’m going to develop a selfless streak right now, in the moment when I find an honorable man who loves me. An honorable man that I love, too.

Poseidon doesn’t yell. He doesn’t accuse me of using him. He just studies me for so long, it feels like he’s seeing me right down to my tarnished soul. “You have to do this.”

It’s not a question, but I answer it all the same. “I have to do this.” I drag in a harsh breath. “I won’t ask you to leave Olympus and your people. Not with the threat of Circe hanging over your head. But…” Fuck, this hurts. I want to stay. I want to spend whatever stolen moments we can find in his bed.

I want everything.

But I wouldn’t be worthy of his love if I ignored the deep wound in Aeaea that I have the potential to help heal. It’s what he would do in my position. I swallow past my increasingly tight throat. “Fuck it, I will ask you. Come with me. You never wanted to be Poseidon. You never wanted any of this. Fuck this city. Stay with me. Loveme.”

He pulls me into his arms and kisses me with a desperation that conveys his answer even before he speaks. I cling to him, trying to communicate a feeling I don’t know how to put into words. I don’t know if I succeed.

When he finally breaks the kiss, he presses his forehead to mine. “I can’t.”

Even expecting his answer, it strikes right through all the bullshit. “I know,” I whisper.

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