Page 25 of Ares' Shield
“Why not, Jayden? You are obviously trying to push me away.” I wrench my arm from his grasp and poke him in the chest.
“What if that’s for the best?” He clenches his fist. “You heard Draven and he wasn’t even the first to say it. Ares said the same thing in Memphis.”
“So what?” I ask.
Magic buzzes like fire ants beneath my skin, but I refuse to let my lightning out. I don’t want to hurt Jayden even though he’s being an idiot.
“Do you even understand how the gods work?” Jayden’s posture is rigid, but his eyes are burning with anger.
“I don’t care what Ares or Draven said. Their opinions mean nothing to me.”
“You should. They aren’t wrong. The king of the gods won’t like this.” Jayden scrubs a hand down his face.
“Why start anything with me in the first place then?”
If he knew that it would be forbidden, why did he pursue me at all? Why start something if he knew it was a bad idea?
“I tried. All those weeks watching you walk home from that bar were torture. You were beautiful and vibrant, and I tried to resist the temptation when we finally met but it was impossible.”
“That’s why you were an asshole at first,” I say, shaking my head.
When Jayden and I first met, he treated me like I was helpless. I technically was helpless against the monsters then. I didn’t know anything about my powers, only that they came out with strong emotions.
“Yup, lot of good it did us though.” He sighs.
“It doesn’t matter. I want this and obviously you do too. Who cares what anyone else wants? I don’t.”
“Do you really think that Zeus is going to let us be together, Beth?”
“Zeus doesn’t get a say in that. He hasn’t been there for me the way Hades has for you,” I say with a glare.
“You really think he won’t try to put everyone else between us?” He raises a brow. “Draven is already spouting bullshit and has been for a while.”
“I don’t fucking care what Draven or Dax or anyone else thinks.” I poke him in the chest, getting right up in his face.
Jayden retreats from me again and a scream of frustration bubbles to the surface. This is why he’s been acting weird.
I should have fucking known but I doubted my own instincts. “I just don’t understand you, Jayden. Did you mean a single thing you said to me in the underworld?”
My shoulders slump, and defeat pours through me. He told Mia off earlier but is still listening to the prejudice bullshit Draven spouts.
Am I ever going to be enough for him? Will he ever stop listening to others and letting them get between us?
“Beth,” he says, and his hands slide up my arms to my biceps and he pulls me into the circle of his arms. “I’m sorry.”
This time it actually sounds sincere, but what is he apologizing for?
I glance up into stormy blue eyes, but I refuse to let my heart shatter at what I see in those depths. Resolve.
“What? Don’t fucking say you’re going to let them win.” I pull away from him and wrap my arms around my middle.
He’s doing it again after promising he wouldn’t hurt me again. He told me in the underworld that he would prove himself and now he’s doing this.
“What? No. That’s not what I’m saying.” He runs a hand through his hair and growls.
“Then why are you sorry? For doing the same shit to me you promised you wouldn’t? For someone with a massive ego, you sure do let others get in your head a lot.”
It’s a bitchy thing to say and I know it, but I’m so frustrated and angry with him. When am I going to learn?
