Page 18 of Hate To Love You

Is it wrong that I hate swimming? That I hate the sport? That I hate how it took my best friend away from me when I needed him most? Yeah, it’s probably time to let it go. It’s kind of ironic how much I missed him, considering how I don’t even want to be here right now.

“What’s the idea?” I ask flatly. I grab a handful of wet hair and twirl it into a knot at the back of my head. It doesn’t spin itself out even though I don’t secure it with an elastic.

“I have shares in my dad’s company. He sold them to me a few years ago. He wanted to give them to me as part of my inheritance and partly because he thought it would get me involved in his company and start taking an interest. They might be controlling shares.”

My eyes go big. I feel like this is insider information. Like it’s not something I’m really supposed to even know.

“I was hoping that instead of that bailout, which I haven’t told your dad about or discussed with anyone other than you, you’d consider asking him to sell you shares in order to save the company, or at least better it to the extreme.”

Apollo must be extremely sleep deprived. Maybe he absorbed too much pool chemicals with all that swimming. No, wait. I don’t think he uses chemicals. More like salt or something. I’ve refused to use the pool, partly because I hate pools on principle and partly because there was no way I was putting on a bathing suit or enjoying any single part of this house where he could see me doing anything other than hating.

“Why would I ever do that?”

“Because then we’d both own a controlling interest in rival companies. We could force a merger.”

“What?” I nearly fall over. “You’re insane! That would kill my dad.”

“No.” His eyes sparkle, which is just another unfair low blow that I know he can’t help, but it still pisses me off. How dare he look so freaking good without sleeping? How dare he grow into this beautiful man who is so hot that it’s nearly painful to even be in the same room as him? Painful for my body. “No, it wouldn’t kill either of our dads. Because they’d be working for a corporation we designed and operated together. It would be the next generation furthering their legacy. We would make sure the company is large enough that they get to live out both their visions. That all their needs would be served and beyond. So far beyond. We would take things to a level they couldn’t even begin to imagine. Software and technology have never been more important than it is now. Home security, medical, point of sales systems, programming for pretty much every kind of machinery there is…the options are pretty much endless. The company would have specialized departments, but it would be working as part of a whole. There would be no competition.”

I snort the snort of all snorts. “You clearly haven’t worked in a corporate setting before. There’s always competition between departments. People don’t like working together. They like being the star of their own show.”

“Maybe. But what if we were all working together? What if we were there too?”

“What? That would involve going back. You seem to just want to be out here, living in your fantasy land and swimming in your pool of money day and night.”

His eyes crinkle. He looks way too handsome when they do that. I spin around, walk to the fridge, and grab the container of OJ. I hate juice in the morning, but whatever. Apollo doesn’t know how it makes my stomach burn. He makes my stomach burn. This is the lesser of two evils. At least I don’t have to look at him while I’m searching for a glass and pouring. Then, with the glass in my hand, I study the window after, pretending to be thinking.

“I like swimming,” he admits. “Day and night, certainly, but not in money. That would be deadly for papercuts.”

“Ha fucking ha.”

“Seriously. If you think it’s our only chance of helping our dads get along, I’d be willing to temporarily move back to Dedind.”

“You used to say it was called Dedind for a reason. Because no one went anywhere there.”

“That was just me being a dumb kid. I didn’t mean it. You can’t hold what I said when I was like seven years old against me.”

“How do I know what you think now? You live in this fairytale house. Of course, you’d think Dedind is disgusting, or at least beneath you. You thought everyone was beneath you. That’s why you never came back.” I don’t mean for that to slip out.

The room is both supercharged and utterly still. I feel like I just crash-coursed something I was always meant to stay away from. And fuck, it’s not a good feeling. I want to take it back. I feel so utterly vulnerable now. I’ve flayed myself open like a total tool.

I can hear the soft footsteps coming across the kitchen. Soft enough that, without looking, I know Apollo is in bare feet. His voice is just as soft, and it’s too close. He’s too close. I don’t move. I can’t move. I have to stand my ground, even if it’s the shakiest ground I’ve ever stood on.

He doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t even comment on what I said. Instead, his words are gentle and even. “Our dads will be here soon. They were closer than brothers, and now they’re worse than enemies. They’re rivals. My dad wanted to destroy yours. That’s the most malicious thing from the most loving man I know. What happened at that card game might not be fair or right, but we’re here now, and it’s up to us to make this work. Despite the past, can we do that? Can we be that unbeatable, unshakable, extremely awesome, possum, blossom, moss on ‘em single unit of epicness that we used to be, even if it’s just for a few hours today?”

He’s using our childhood terms. Our code. He doesn’t tell me that I’m being petulant or call me a problem. He doesn’t call my dad a problem, even though he was the one who left to begin with and basically initiated this whole feud. It’s not his fault, but he did take that first step.

I sigh with my whole body. It was inevitable that we both arrive at this point. We both want the same thing, and we’ll only get it if we work together, like it or not, past or not, card game or not. We’re here now. The past years have been ugly, to say the least. I know how much my dad misses his old best friend. No one understood him the way John did. They had a lifetime together, a history, years and years. Giving that back to him would be the best gift I could ever offer him.

I just need to get over myself.

I shut my eyes. This isn’t surrender. It’s just a temporary truce.

“Alright.”

CHAPTER 7

Apollo

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