Page 4 of Odin
“Damn!”
She snorts. “I was pissed. How could they do that to me? I don’t want to be angry. I want to get it out of my system. That’s why I came up with a revenge plan, and I need your help. I came here to seduce you.”
I’m fairly good at picking out bad ideas when I hear them, but even if I had shit all for judgment, this one would be a clear, cut and dry, hard and fast, nope. “Whoa. No. No way!”
“Not for real,” she’s quick to assure me. “I just want a few damning photos made to look a little bit racy. Just enough that there’s zero doubt what I’ve done. There’s no other way to give him the middle finger of all middle fingers.”
It’s not often, I’m speechless, but right now I’m struck dumb for a few moments. Then I finally speak. “There are plenty of other ways.”
“I did consider sleeping with his stepdad, but uh, no thanks. They’re not that close anyway. And then I considered his mom, but that’s a hard pass.” She shudders so brutally that I wonder what Honey’s done to herself. Then I wonder if this woman is actually batshit crazy. “I’m not a bad person, I just want to hurt him. I thought about his friends, but asking one of them to fake anything is just wrong. Hitting him financially would be next to impossible. Money can replace just about anything in his life. The only good revenge plan I could come up with is you.” She winces when she says it. “But just fake, because I can’t even go through with something like that, no matter how angry I am.”
“But your mom—” I’m trying to ignore the part where she talks about fake seducing me. Because that’s making me think things I have no right to be thinking.
“She tried calling me with every excuse. I told her that I’d call her in a few days, when I cool off. Until then, if I don’t cut her out, I’ll damage our relationship beyond repair.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” I say.
“Do you have any idea how humiliating this is?”
It’s my turn to wince. “I don’t. I truly can’t imagine. I’m so sorry that this happened.”
“But getting even doesn’t make things right. That’s what you’re going to say, isn’t it?”
She seems like a smart girl, and genuinely sweet. I want to do everything I can to talk her out of this. I figure it will only hurt her more than it could heal. “I’ve lived a few more years and not all of them have been wise ones. I’ve learned a few too many things the hard way, and if you don’t have to, trust me, it’s better that way.”
“And you won’t help me because Preston is your son, no matter what he’s done, and you have to side with him or it’s equally a betrayal.”
“I didn’t say that. From all accounts, it seems like my son is a spoiled little prick, and a cheater to top it off. He hurt you, and if he doesn’t have the sense to apologize properly for that, then I want to do it on his behalf.”
I have to take a steadying breath to cut off the rage fest that wants to erupt inside of me on her behalf. “I would like it very much if he didn’t hate his old man, but I guess I’ve neverbeen more than a sperm donor. His mother made that clear right from the start. She’d take my money to ease my conscience, but she was never going to let me into his life. I didn’t blame her at the time. I didn’t have my shit anywhere near together, but since moving here, I’ve wished things could be different.”
There’s a vulnerability in my voice that even I don’t hear very often. It might come out when I’m talking to Tyrant. Our Prez is a good man. The kind made from the very earth he walks on, honed bright, with a heart of real fucking gold. It might sound cliché, but he’s literally one of a fucking kind. I look her in the eyes as I say, “I’ve been here a long time though, and it’s always been clear to me that it’s not going to be. I’ve never met my son. Probably never will. Maybe if I’d been in his life, things would have turned out differently, but maybe it would have been worse. It is what it is.”
Well, shit. She doesn’t need my whole sordid life story, now does she?
She eyes me hard, her thick lashes narrowing over stark blue irises. “Does that mean you’ll help me?”
It means the exact opposite. Why can’t I bring myself to say that? Why can’t I bring myself towantto say it? I truly do know a clusterfuck when one hits me right upside the head, and this one is hitting hard, so why can’t I just turn around and say no? Why can’t I make sure she gets somewhere safe for the night and tell her that I’m sorry and that I wish her well?
“Just as long as you understand that vengeance never makes you happy.”
She reels back. I do the same. Of all the things that was supposed to come out, that wasn’t it.
“I get that. This isn’t about my happiness. It’s about shutting the door on five years of my life.”
Holy fucking balls. Five years?“I’m sorry.”
“Me too, but like you said, it is what it is.” She stands up so straight and crosses her arms in such a confident, stubborn pose, that her confidence is almost believable. “They say you can’t control other people. You can only control how you react. I want this to be how I react. I just want one photo. Fully clothed. Not even suggestive. As long as it’s with you, it doesn’t have to be suggestive or filthy. It can even be us giving thumbs up.”
“I have a better idea. Do you trust me?”
She laughs and I nearly tip right over into doing the same thing. She very obviously shouldnottrust me. “I actually spent a large portion of my life in some really bad neighborhoods, so no. Not at all. But tonight is a night for bad decisions. Everyone should have at least one night in their life that they don’t regret like that, so lead the way, Daddy.”
“No, no, hell the fuck, no. It’s Odin. No daddy business.”
Her lips twitch. She’s sharp as fuck, alright. I can practically see her mind working. “Do you happen to have a pet raven?”
“No.”
