Page 2 of Risk

I’ve just got to hope that my one is out there somewhere and we’ll find each other sooner rather than later.

Although that kind of love comes with the fear of loss. Which I know a little something about.

I saw my dad fall apart when my mom died. He became a shell of the person he once had been. Gone was the father we had once had, and in his place was nothing but a drunk man who seemed to forget he had to take care of four children who had just lost their mother.

If it wasn’t for Zeus and Ares stepping up for us, I don’t know where we’d be.

I need to believe that I’m nothing like my dad. That I wouldn’t fall apart if I had a great love and lost him. But there is a fifty percent chance that I would be. Some things are just inherently in your genetic makeup.

“You ready, sis?” Lo asks, bringing my attention to his.

Lo is my twin brother. His given name is Apollo, but he’s always been Lo. Same with me. My name is Artemis, but everyone has always called me Missy.

Lo is younger than me by five minutes—which is always an important fact to me. I might be the only girl out of the Kincaid siblings, but at least I’m not the youngest, even if it’s only by three hundred seconds.

He holds his arm out for me to take. I slip my hand through it and let him lead me down the aisle. Cam and Zeus are behind us, along with their daughters, Gigi and Thea.

And I make sure not to look at Kaden again.

I’ve spent years hiding my feelings for him from everyone. If only I could figure out a way to make those feelings go away permanently, that would be ideal.

TWO

“I’m telling you, that man wants you,” Ari says to me once I get her seated on the toilet.

The not-so-glamorous job of the maid of honor is helping the bride take a piss. Not literally, of course.

“He does not,” I tell her, leaning back against the door while she does her business.

“He does,” she says emphatically. “He’s always looking at you, especially when he thinks no one else is watching.”

“Dude, he is not always looking at me.”I would know because I spend a lot of my time sneaking glances at him.“You’re all hopped up on your own wedding happiness, and it’s set you on a romance quest.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

“Okay, I’ll rephrase. I want you to be dick happy.”

“Dick happy?” I sputter out a laugh. “How much Diet Coke have you had today?” I tease.

Ari doesn’t drink alcohol. She had a drinking problem for many years. Before she met my brother, she got sober through rehab and regularly attending AA meetings, and I’m so proud of her.

“Only a few glasses.” She grins. “I’m not high on caffeine. Just happy.”

“And I’m happy that you’re happy, but I do not need to be dick happy—whatever the fuck that means.”

“It means you need to get laid.”

“I do not need to get laid.”I so need to get laid.

“When did you last have sex?”

I refuse to answer that because it’s been a while. I’ve been busy starting my PhD while working in between, so there’s no time to get laid. Well, I could make time if I really wanted to, but there hasn’t been anyone I’ve wanted to get dicked by.

“I’ll take your silence as an admission that it’s been too long. You want to know when I last had sex?”

“I really don’t.” Because I don’t need another reminder of my brother in that way.