Page 4 of You Can't Fight Lightning
Now that the club was up and going, I wasn’t as uncomfortable as I’d been when we first came here. I also couldn’t hide behind the club needing me anymore.
Another thing I wouldn’t admit to anyone but me.
I will say, though, that I was pleased with our club. It had three levels. Chiron the centaur was our manager. Polyphemus and his brothers, Poseidon’s cyclops sons, were our security team. Euryale, one of Medusa’s sisters, was our bartender. She wore large glasses no matter how dark it was, and she made a mean gimlet. She also wore a magical spell disguise in case she was spotted by any humans. I loved that her snakes helped her bartend.
It was odd. Without the pressure I felt to be the king, to always be on top of things, even though most saw me concerned with my own affairs, I found that I enjoyed the family I’d known and been around for ages more than I ever had.
Why hadn’t I learned to delegate long ago? I was less on edge, less focused on making sure that everything was all right.
Whatever the hell that meant. It was enough to make you question your entire existence, when you could no longer be sure of what it meant to beall right.
One thingwasfor sure, however. Since we’d closed Olympus and come to the human world, things were easier. I’d stayed close to the club over the past year, wanting to make sure that everything was running smoothly, that nothing was out of place.
I suppose it was also because if I was focused on making sure the club was running well, I didn’t have to deal with myself.
As for our club staff, they were content, things were running well, and I had a gimlet any time I wanted that was godly by all known standards. We had a place we could be ourselves. In that respect, life was good.
My thoughts wandered from Hera, thank Hades, to when we first bought the club. I stood on the sidewalk, looking it over, wondering how to make this a home base for us. Wondering if I could return it and try again?
Nyx had appeared beside me, silent as she’d been when she found me that last day on Olympus. The easy manner that had been between us when I’d left Olympus was still there. Unsure what to do, unwilling to allow the shiver of fear I’d always felt around her to take over, even with our declaration of friendship, I’d invited her to have brunch.
Nyx laughed in her cool way and said yes. Since then, we’d gone to brunch regularly. I liked brunch.
I liked the idea that I had a friend even more. In all my years, I wasn’t sure I’d ever had anyone, gods, demigods, children, human allies—that I could call a friend. It was new, and enjoyable.
But at this moment, even though I was on the brink of leaving and getting away from everything, nothing was making me feel good. Nothing felt easier, or pleasant.
Because of Hera.
Damn her.
I was back in that moment yesterday with my ex-wife.
Again.
Why couldn’t I have taken off without running into her? It was my bad luck to often be in the wrong place at the wrong time with Hera. A recurring theme with us, if you will.
With her laughter over her comments regarding my inability to be alone still filling my ears, I’d looked at her. “What are you talking about? Of course, I can be alone.”
Hera’s patience ran out. She put her hands on her hips and gave me The Look. I knew it well, having lived with it for the past several thousand years. We’d been ‘married’ but because we were brother and sister, we didn’t have a typical marriage, even by the loose standards of the gods. We had children, yes, but they were conceived by magic, and we both had our romantic interests outside of the marriage. Although I was the one who took all the heat for my romantic interests.
It’s what you did when you were married to your sister to solidify power and all that.
Even now, when we were all going our separate ways for a time, I had yet to find an easier manner with Hera, without the bickering and nitpicking that was standard between us.
Shestillknew every button to push.
Istillcouldn’t stop myself from reacting.
“I can.” My voice was steady, my resolve firm, as I repeated myself. “I’m looking forward to it, fact. To be alone, to not be responsible to anyone else, or for anything at all.”
“We’ll see.” Hera was uncharacteristically solemn. “Have a good time, Z. If you’re able.” She walked out, her heels making sharp sounds on the concrete of the garage floor.
“Don’t forget to pick up your bike!” I called out to her retreating form. “Don’t just leave it at the shop!”
“Okay.” Her voice drifted back toward me.
She had more problems with her bike than all the rest of us put together. It was probably good she had also invested in a customized SUV, even if it did look more pink than white.
