Page 38 of A Girl and HER Prince
Speaking of those he wanted to keep an eye on—he spied Bris in the crowd next. She’d found Turner again after Deedee had stolen him away from her, and clearly she was letting him have it for actually appearing to enjoy himself.
That was Venice’s best read on the situation anyway.
Those two were so on again, off again Venice was getting dizzy trying to keep track of their relationship status. His sister chased everyone away with her explosiveness; even the normally good-natured Turner didn’t stand a chance.
Livvy returned with a cup of water for him too. Her attention swerved to Deedee and Achilles dancing and her eyes widened. “They seem happy,” she murmured.
“Yamas!” He took a long drink, feeling the cool liquid sooth the nervousness from his dry throat and directed a smile at her. “Where are you staying tonight?”
“It’s a cute place, just ah…” She stumbled over her words.
“You realize all I need to do is watch Deedee’s latest TalkieTalk to find out where,” he teased.
She choked on her water. “Sorry, it’s not that I don’t trust you; I just don’t know where we checked in—some Greek name I can’t pronounce.” She winked to show she was joking. “So if you look that up for me, I’d be uber grateful.”
Chuckling, he pulled out his phone. He’d forced Achilles to buy him one at the nearest kiosk to replace the one he’d tossed into the sea. It wasn’t the most amazing model, but it would do the trick. “Which video?”
She gasped and threw her hand over his. “Wait, wait, no! Everything on there is super embarrassing and… please don’t look! Not now, not ever!”
He was intrigued. “What did yousayabout me?”
“I didn’t… well, I can’t actually remember,” she admitted.
He pulled up Deedee’s channel, glancing down at the uploaded videos. The thumbnails showed shots of Greece, though the titles were more interesting. He began reading through them: “Invading Venice’s boat.”; “Abandoning ship at the Next Port—you can blame Livvy for that.”; “Retail Therapy.” The thumbnail was of Livvy twirling around in her white dress. “This looks like a good one,” he said.
Livvy paled and snatched the phone from his hands before he could open the video. She hid it behind her back, much to his amusement. “Are you taking my phone?” he asked.
“No… just until you promise that…” She bit her lip. “Let’s make a deal. You can call me Luvvy if youneverwatch those.”
“I can call you Luvvy now anyway!”
“Not for long! I’ll meet your basketball challenge tooandwin!”
“Deal!” he said before she could change her mind. “We’ll settle this in my Jacuzzi.” That also meant he’d get her back on his boat. Judging by the title on that video when they left his vessel, she was the one calling the shots,notDeedee.
She returned the phone, not answering. Her gaze went back to where Deedee and Achilles had been on the dance floor. She jumped, startled. “Where did they go?”
Hopefully to the farthest shadowy corner where they could flirt the night away and never come back.“I’m sure they’re fine,” Venice said.
Livvy didn’t look so sure. She took on that same Florence Nightingale look she’d had with him and stepped off the marble platform to go after her friend.
He followed her, landing into the hard dirt pathway. “I think they’ve got it handled,” he said behind her. “They don’t need us interfering.”
“I don’t know. I think I should see if she… needs me.”
Of all of his friends, neither Deedee or Achilles needed anyone’s help, but then again… going out into this maze of ruins with Livvy sounded like a great idea. “I’ll go with you,” he quickly offered.
There were plenty of lit pathways on the hill leading up to the ruins of the Temple of Hephaestus. He’d taken enough tours here as a child to know that the well-preserved ruins were a tribute to the god of metalworking, craftsmanship, and fire. While the Stoa of Attalos was completely restored in the ’50s, this temple was a relic of the Doric period around mid-400 BC, and it looked ancient in comparison, like a picture frozen in time. Most of its preservation was due to the fact that it had been a Greek Orthodox Church until the late 1800s… and that was from a test he’d taken in his tenth year at private school.
He chuckled low under his breath, his eyes going to the goddess who was quickly trying to get away from him in all this. Her white dress glowed under the moonlight. He hurried to catch up to this otherworldly being.
The stiff breeze ran over them as they found a crooked way through to the ruins. The temple would be the highest point in the Agora to try to spot their friends. His hand went to Livvy’s back to keep her from tripping over the cracks in the cement. She shivered.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m fine.” She hugged her stomach with a shiver.
Pretty little liar!And he didn’t have a coat to offer her. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, running his hands down her prickling skin—yeah, he’d caught her fibbing. She was freezing. “How’s that?” he whispered against her ear.
