Page 49 of Art of the Hunt
A few seconds later, the roar of an engine filled the air, and he caught sight of her flying down a narrow lane on her Harley.
Shit. That had definitely not gone well.
Chapter Sixteen
She and the MC’s resident mechanic-slash-god of fire and forges arrived at the bar at the same time.
“Hey, Heph,” Artemis said.
Hephaestus pulled open the door and waved at her to step through first. “You look unhappy. Break your bike again already?”
She shook her head. “No, the bike’s fine. Good as new. Thanks for fixing her up for me. Again.”
He nodded and eyed her in that distrustful way he tended to have pretty much all the time. Heph had yet to forgive Zeus for crippling him when he cast him out of Olympus all those years ago, and over time, his resentment had grown to include all the gods in general.
The guy needed to get laid.
Which reminded her of Hunter. She’d helped to break his celibacy streak. And she’d be more than happy to do it again and again and again, except he wanted nothing to do with her.
She trudged toward the bar and ordered a flight of tequila shots.
By the time Nike dropped into the seat across the table from her, Artemis was five shots in. Nike picked up the sixth glass and tilted the prime liquor down her throat.
“Tequila, huh? Whatever happened, it must be bad.”
Artemis flipped over one of the small glasses, twisting it ’round and ’round on the table.
“So…wanna talk about it?” Nike tried again.
Artemis sighed.
“Wanna go somewhere else and get drunk and dance on tables?”
Artemis shook her head. “He still doesn’t believe me. About any of it. Who I am, that ambrosia saved his life, that I slept with him because he’s him, not because he resembles Orion.”
“Are you sure you didn’t sleep with him because he reminds you of Orion?”
“Yes!” The word burst from her mouth like she’d kept it pent up for far too long. She slumped in her chair. “Yes, there are similarities between the two men, but he isn’t Orion. And honestly…”
Nike leaned forward until she was practically lying on the table. “Honestly what?”
Artemis twisted the tail of her braid around her finger. “I’m pretty sure I like him more than I liked Orion.”
Nike straightened and stared at her. “Whoa. That’s deep.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Especially considering youlovedOrion.”
Artemis stared at her friend for several beats and then placed her elbow on the table and dropped her forehead into her palm. “Not helping.”
“Okay, okay. It sounds like we need to convince Hunter that wasn’t the reason you slept with him. That ought to be easy enough. Hell, I’d sleep with him, and I never really liked Orion much.”
Artemis peered up at her friend. “Really? Why did I not know this? What didn’t you like about him? And please don’t sleep with Hunter.”
Nike smiled and patted Artemis’s arm. “I would never do that to you. Not that he’d ever give me the chance. I’m pretty sure he has eyes only for you.”
Artemis skipped over that last bit of ridiculousness for a moment. “Seriously, why didn’t you like Orion?”
