Page 16 of Zeus' Spark
Jayden comes up next to me, too close for comfort. “Can I talk to you, Beth? Please?”
“No. What’s there to talk about? We may have to work together to save the missing students, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“I don’t want her,” he explodes, grabbing both of my arms.
Glaring at him, I try but fail to break free of his grasp.
“You have a funny way of showing it.” I stomp on his instep, but it does nothing to break his hold.
“Ow. Fuck, Beth. Would you just listen?” he roars, and I’m shaking my head before he finishes his sentence.
Students milling around the quad stop to gawk at us, and anger washes over me. He’s making a scene. Again. Why can’t he just leave me alone? Why can’t he understand how badly he hurt me?
“No, stop. We are done. So please, just stop.”
“We aren’t done.” He pulls me closer, even as I struggle. “We will never be done. You aremine.”
“No, I’m not, and the faster you see that, the faster we can stop all this. You made your choice, Jayden. You never pushed her away, even after what happened between us on the way here. You need to stop.” I storm into the cafeteria, away from him and all his demands.
It crushes my heart every time I have to deny him. It crushes me because I thought we had something special.
Torches light the cafeteria with a cheery glow, and the twelve long tables sit in neat rows with the main Olympian gods at the front, closest to the buffet line.
Elaborate tapestries with the crest of each god or goddess hang above the tables to indicate who sits where.
“I don’t accept that, and I will do anything to prove to you that you are wrong. I’m yours and yours alone,” he whispers to my back.
“There’s nothing you can do. You lost your chance,” I say, grabbing a tray and going down the buffet line.
The smells make my stomach growl angrily again. I grab a steak, well-done.
Yeah, fight me. I can’t eat meat that moos at me, or I will be sick.
I grab some macaroni and cheese and a twice-baked potato before shuffling over to the Zeus table.
My father has no living children other than me, so I eat alone every meal. I like my alone time, and after classes, I need to recharge by being by myself, especially with Jayden snarling at me all the time.
Well, maybe not just me, but any guys who ask me for a pen or look at me too long. He’s been a menace in my social life, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
A tray slamming on the table across from me pulls me from my thoughts.
I glare at Jayden. “You’re supposed to be at the Hades table. Alone.”
He’s being more of an ass than usual, and that isreallysaying something.
Sitting, he shrugs and picks up his fork and knife to cut into his steak. “We are the only children of our godly parents. They don’t give a fuck if I sit here instead of there.”
It obviously doesn’t matter to him that I definitely do care if he sits with me. Why can’t he hear me? Am I not clear enough about the relationship that never was?
I scan the cafeteria just for an excuse to look at anything but Jayden when my eyes lock on the Hermes table.
“Where are all the Hermes kids?” I whisper, causing Jayden to stiffen.
“What do you mean?” he asks, looking over his shoulder.
His eyes widen when he sees what I’m staring at. The table that is usually at full capacity is nearly empty.
“Has it just been the Hermes kids going missing? Why didn’t anyone connect the dots?” I ask no one in particular.
