“Don’t you dare walk away from me, you bastard,” Rayne shouted, grabbing his arm. “I’m serious, Apollo, someone could have got hurt tonight, and you weren’t even here. You can’t sweep this one under the rug. You are in serious trouble. This town can’t afford to allow you to continue this way. You are conceited, self-centered, and you only care about yourself.”
Apollo looked around at the town residents, and saw almost everyone standing quietly whispering amongst themselves, shaking their heads in disgust as Rayne publicly chewed his ass. When no one chose to speak up and defend him, Apollo lost it. “You self righteous little brat. Do you think all I care about is myself! For the last week I have bent over backward to help the people in this community. I put my life on hold to show all of you that this town and its residents mean more to me than my own self. I endured total mayhem with Cricket at her daycare as she tried to contain chaos and two small boys who could literally outtalk you any day of the week accosted me. I was almost killed by a swarm of bees, and Buzzy did nothing but laugh. I had my face rearranged by the naked sheriff for charity. I helped Aquarius out at 5th Dimension while that stoner sat on his ass, got drunk, and smoked oregano. I almost had my balls removed by Pandora’s husbands because she overbooked herself with chakra’s cleanings. I had to endure my brothers for a day of fishing and hunting, which I am trying desperately to forget. I tried to cook breakfast for the town over at the Crystal Tumbler and instead was treated to a tongue lashing by those who apparently don’t know their own faults. That’s right, folks, I heard every damn word you said about me. Would you like me to count all of your failings? Then, if that was enough, I gave up my club to Moon and her cackling cronies all because the moon and some fucking planets were aligned, and they destroyed my club. So don’t you dare stand there and tell me that I don’t give a damn about this town. Everything I’ve done this week was to help someone else. I may not be the best babysitter, beekeeper, fighter, storeowner, or whatever, but at least I can say I tried. Which is more than I can say about all of you. So if you all don’t mind, shut the fuck up and leave me the hell alone!”
Chapter Twelve
Friday afternoon…election day
Apollo sat quietly in his favorite chair, going over all the damage reports from Rainbow Room. He had been there all morning, making sure everything was ready for when Rayne took over as mayor. When he woke this morning, he didn’t even bother stopping by the Best Lay Hotel to see how the election was going. He didn’t care anymore. The town residents had made themselves perfectly clear, and he felt his presence wasn’t needed when Rayne won.
After his blowup last night, he didn’t bother going home with Helios and Fairy. He just couldn’t be around anyone. He couldn’t bare their pity and sympathetic looks. Therefore, he gathered what files he could and stayed at the night in the mayoral office making sure everything was in order. He had done his job to the best of his abilities. However, there were some things that he needed to make sure Rayne knew about. Running a nightclub and looking after the town of Celestial wasn’t an easy job, but he knew with Rayne’s organizational skills, she would have this town running in tiptop shape in no time. She was good at that, so he really wasn’t worried.
He felt bad for yelling at her last night and knew he should go to her and apologize. Yet, he just couldn’t do it with the town out and about. He would have to find the time when she was alone to say he was sorry. It wasn’t her fault that his club was destroyed. She was just doing her job, and he berated her for it.
The town still didn’t know where Moon Goddess was, and no one was worried, except for Apollo. He knew she would have never left his club unless it was important. They only problem was, no one knew anything. It seemed as if she just vanished, and he wondered if he should call over to Treasure Cove and ask Garret or Zac to put out a missing person’s bulletin, because he knew Pisces wasn’t going to do anything. According to the naked sheriff, Moon was a grown woman, prone to occasional disappearances.
A soft knock on the door brought him out of his state of misery. “Come in.”
He looked up just as Rayne peeked her head in. “Is it safe?”
“If you mean am I going to blow my fuse again, the answer’s no.”
“Good.” She smiled, closing the door behind her. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Rayne, I’m really busy trying to get everything in order for you. You have a lot to take on, and I want to make sure you have all the paperwork.”
“I won’t take long, I promise.” She smiled.
“Can I get that in writing?”
Rayne chuckled. “No, you’re just going to have to trust me.”
“Fine.” Apollo sighed, and waved her toward one of the chairs in front of his desk. He had no idea why she was here. She should be out celebrating and whatnot. God, he hoped she didn’t come here to gloat and rub his nose in his failings. If she did, he didn’t know what he would be capable of.
“For starters, I wanted to apologize for last night,” she began, and Apollo stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “I shouldn’t have been so hard on you, and then calling you names, well, that was beneath me. Please forgive me.”
Apollo sat stunned. If anything, he should be the one apologizing. Rayne was just doing her job, and he was a little hard to handle last night. Hell, he could at least admit that. “Rayne, I was the one who lost his temper last night. You did nothing wrong. You were doing your job, and you did it well. Hell, you saved half my club, because of you and you’re firefighters. They were brilliant and responded quickly. You are good at what you do and will be an excellent mayor. May I be the first to congratulate you on your win?”
“Um, well, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I withdrew my nomination.”
“When?” Apollo asked, shocked that she would do such a thing when she fought so hard for the nomination. She was up to something, and he didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her. He didn’t like the twinkle in her eyes or the way she was looking at him. So, when she shrugged her shoulders and whispered cautiously, “Monday afternoon,” Apollo took a deep cleansing breath and tried to rein in the fire that was smoldering beneath the surface.
“When I heard you spent the day with Cricket at her daycare, I felt so bad that you put yourself through all of that, knowing how you truly feel about babies and kids in general. I figured if you were willing to subject yourself to the horrors of child rearing for the day with Cricket, I figured you were more than capable of dealing with the town’s hoopla. In all honesty, I never really wanted to be the town mayor. I just wanted you to be a little nicer to me. I’m sorry this all got out of hand.”
Apollo sat in his favorite chair, holding onto what sanity he had left with dear life. He tried furiously to contain his temper while trying to breathe calmly and think rationally. She was just a woman, and he was raised never to hit a female.
“And I won’t even go into what you had to endure with your brothers,” she added, as if everything was fine between them. “I know how they can get. I’ve been fishing with them. I don’t know how you managed it. Then you stepped into the ring with Pisces. Goddess, Apollo, what were you thinking? That man could have seriously hurt you.”
Breathe, just breathe through the anger, he said silently to himself. She’s a complete nut job, and she is not worth your time and aggravation. If you stay quiet, eventually she will leave, and then you can go berserk.
“Now, what are we going to do about Moon? I totally agree with you that she just wouldn’t leave your club unattended. I’ve asked around and no one saw her leave. It’s like she just vanished out of thin air,” Rayne said, babbling on and on as his office door opened and Helios walked in shouting with Fairy right behind him.
“Apollo, this has gone on long enough. I refuse to start our marriage with you brooding like a small child because your club was destroyed. Do you know that Fairy and I waited up for hours for you to come home?”
“Don’t yell
at Apollo, Helios! He’s under tremendous pressure, even if he is overreacting. But we both know how he can get. It’s best we just let him stew for a while.”
“He can’t do that anymore, Fairy. He has us. And I refuse to marry a man who can’t talk out his problems without blowing a fuse.”
“Who said anything about marriage?” Fairy asked. “I didn’t hear a proposal. I heard, ‘Will you,’ nothing else. For all I know he was asking, ‘Will you go get me beer?’ That is not a marriage proposal.”
“You guys are getting married?” Rayne squealed. “How wonderful. Have you picked a date yet?”
“No, we are not getting married. We were going to discuss it more last night, but Apollo didn’t come home.” Fairy smiled, sitting next to Rayne as if she had all the time in the world.
“Apollo, we have a problem.” His bartender Samuel walked in looking flustered. “The liquor commission won’t replace our stock until you explain in detail why the club doesn’t have insurance. And the waitresses are about to go on strike because they said cleaning up the debris is not part of their job description.”
“Sam, did you hear the good news?” Rayne said cheerfully. “Apollo, Fairy, and Helios are getting married!”
“No we’re not,” Fairy replied adamantly.
“Yes we are,” Apollo said, grinding his teeth. He didn’t have time for this mess. He wanted to propose last night, and according to him, he did. He was crystal clear on how he felt about them.
“That’s great,” Sam deadpanned. “What about the liquor, Apollo? I can’t do my job unless the bar is stocked. You have to call them today.”
“Apollo,” Cricket shouted, storming into his office angrily. “You have got to stop by the daycare and talk to the boys. They are getting out of hand. You need to explain to them that taking the girls behind the drawing center and kissing them is not allowed. I’m at my wit’s end, and their parents are getting angry. I don’t know about you, but the Quinn Brothers and Micah and Daniel are not happy with you. They said they were coming to visit you today.”
Apollo looked at everyone in his office as if they’d all lost their minds. Everyone was yelling, shouting, or laughing, conversing as if he were their only savior. Doing the only thing he knew to do, he picked up his phone and called the only person who could help him. As everyone went about their business demanding this and that from him, he concentrated on the ring phone to his ear.
“Hey, bro!” Zeus shouted into the phone. “Congrats on the reelection. It sounds like you got a whole lot goin’ on over there.” Apollo took a deep breath, stood, and simply said, “Grab the boys and the grenades. I’ll meet you at the pond. I need to blow something up.”
“If you leave this office to go fishing, I will call every member of this town and tell them where you are at and what you and your brothers are doing,” Helios shouted, slapping his hands on Apollo’s desk. “We need to discuss this, Apollo.”
The room instantly quieted. All eyes were on him. He felt like a germ under the microscope. He hated that. All he planned to do today was cleaning up the mayoral office for Rayne and taking home his personal items, including his favorite chair. Now, it looked as if he were going to be here for a while.
Rayne was grinning from ear to ear, eagerly waiting to hear what came out of his mouth next. Sam stood against the wall, glaring at him. Cricket looked annoyed, but who cared? Helios was already acting as if they were married, but it was Fairy who stared right back at him, challenging him to say something. Apollo could tell by her posture she was serious. Sitting ramrod straight and holding eye contact, she was daring him to finish what he started last night. Only Apollo didn’t know why. He believed he was perfectly clear, and therefore shouldn’t have to repeat himself. He hated repeating him.
When the seconds ticked by and nothing was said, Rayne slowly stood. “I think we need to give them some privacy, folks. If you want, you can all come with me over to the fire station. I have the signup sheet for the next CPR class ready.”
Groans and moans were heard as everyone piled out of his office, all except Helios and Fairy, who still sat in her chair glaring at him.
When the door closed, Apollo yelled, “What is wrong with you! You know damn well I proposed last night, and you accepted.”
Sitting comfortably, Fairy smiled. “Actually, no you didn’t and I never gave you an answer because no question was posed.”
“Oh for the love of the Universe, Fairy. Why else would I take you and Helios to the Flowering Teapot?”
“I have no idea,” she replied innocently. “Maybe you wanted a swanky venue for sex? Maybe you wanted to relax. Maybe you wanted to say you got to stay at the Teapot. Who knows with you, Apollo? However, what I do know is that you never proposed.”
“Yes I did!” Apollo said, slamming his hand down hard on his desk.
“No you didn’t.”
“I told you both last night that I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and Helios. I know I said that.”
“Actually,” Helios interrupted. “You didn’t say that either.”
Apollo felt like pulling his hair out. They were driving him crazy. He couldn’t get five minutes of peace and quiet anywhere in this crazy town, and now Helios and Fairy were pulling this crap. He knew what he wanted to say last night, and he was pretty damn sure he said it, too. He remembered kneeling before them and saying the words, and then the boom happened. That was when his world was turned upside down. After that, everything was a big blur. Leaning back in his favorite chair, he sat there looking at them, but not seeing them as he tried to remember everything that transpired before the boom.
“I don’t think he remembers,” Helios said, sitting down next to Fairy.
“Oh, that’s his thinking face,” Fairy replied then added. “Or at least I think it is.”
“He looks like he has gas.”
“Yep.” Fairy grinned. “That’s his thinking face.”
“How long does it last? Because he’s actually freaking me out.”
“A couple of minutes. Don’t worry. He’ll remember. He always does.”
“How can he not remember proposing to us? That is the most important time in a person’s life, along with the birth of a child.”
“Apollo is a singular in nature kind of person. Unless it directly has something to do with him, he generally forgets about it. It’s his way of compartmentalizing what’s important.”
“So we’re not important?”
“Before last night, his world revolved around his club. Oh, he made time for us, spent time with us, and on some level, I believe he does love us, but when the one constant in his life went up in flames, he focused solely on that. Therefore, it’s easy to assume, he would forget about everything that happened beforehand. In some way, he does believe he proposed, because that was what he had planned to do, but he was interrupted. Now, he needs to figure out where he left off, and find a way to get back on track.”
“That makes no sense, Fairy. We told him where he left off. He knows what to do.”
“Yes that’s true, but in his mind he already said the words. He needs to realize and figure out that he didn’t for himself.”
“That man has too much going on in his life. It’s like weeding around in a minefield. We could be here all day!” Helios replied.
“He will remember. Just give him some time.” Fairy smiled.
Apollo replayed everything for the week before, every horrendous moment. The only peaceful moments were the times he spent with Helios and Fairy. He had planned on doing something special for them. That was when he thought of the Flowering Teapot. He knew he couldn’t have made it throughout the week without them. He loved them both so much. He had realized last week, that no matter what he did, he still had things to learn, and he wanted to learn them with Fairy and Helios. He wanted to marry them, and experience whatever the Universe had in store for them together. Then, his club exploded. He never got to say the words. He was about to an
d then boom!
Apollo gasped.
“See!” Fairy laughed. “I told you he would remember.”
“Oh Goddess,” Apollo moaned.
“Come on, buddy, just say the words so I can start planning the wildest wedding Celestial has ever seen.” Helios smiled.
“Can we have cotton candy?” Fairy asked gleefully before Apollo could say anything. “And maybe a magician or two. I love magic tricks.”
“Oh, what about a marching band and balloons?” Helios added a little to giddily for Apollo’s taste. From the sound of it, he was going to have a circus carnival for a wedding.
“We can get Capri to give us a demonstration on the correct procedures for marital bliss before we consummate our union. We don’t want to mess anything up, because the first night of marriage sets the tone for our future. I’ll get Pandora to do a chakra cleansing for all of us, and have the Celestial Chapter of Wiccans do a blessing of the marital bed.”
Helios nodded in agreement. “That sounds good, but what we really need is a—”
“No,” Apollo interrupted. “What you both need is for me to say the words. So listen up. Take notes if you have to, because this is the only time I will say this. Will you both marry me?”
When neither of them answered, Apollo cringed. When Fairy leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, Apollo knew that maybe how he said it was the most romantic way in the world. He should have been more considerate, maybe put a little more feeling into it.
Sighing, he tried again. “I’m sorry, that was rather unfeeling, and I do apologize. I love you both so much, and I do want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can’t imagine either of you not in my life, and I do thank the Goddess everyday that you both are still with me. I know I’m not the easiest man to be with, but I will try to get better. I love you, both of you, and would be honored if you both would consent to marry me.”
Whole Lotta Apollo Goin' On [Celestial Nights 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 13