by Tina Folsom
“He drugged you.” Eros didn’t need to be a detective to figure that out. And he already had a suspicion as to the culprit. “Tell me what he looked like.”
She shrugged. “Very handsome. Maybe in his late thirties.”
“Dark hair?”
She nodded.
“What was he wearing?”
“Armani. This year’s collection. Not the cheap stuff they sell at the outlets. This was real quality.” And Gloria knew designer wear. It was how she spotted rich men.
And how Eros recognized who she was talking about. Zeus! He’d set all this up to break up his relationship with Psyche.
“That sick bastard!” he cursed and turned toward the door, then stopped for a short moment. “Get dressed and leave my house. And never come near me or Psyche ever again, or I will destroy you! I swear it!”
He rushed downstairs. He had to find Psyche and tell her the truth about himself now. It was the only way to save their relationship. And he had to tell her one other thing: that he loved her.
33
Psyche wiped her tears and kept driving. How could she have been so blind? How could she not have seen that she was just a rebound girlfriend for Eros? Why hadn’t she listened to her own gut feeling at the beginning and allowed herself to start dating him against her own better judgment? And why had she allowed him to get so close?
A sob tore from her chest as she turned into her street, then suddenly became a gasp as she slammed on the brakes. Her truck came to a halt inches away from a man standing in the middle of the one-way street. Shock coursed through her as she squinted in the glare of the sun. It was the stranger from earlier. The same man who’d told her that Eros was cheating on her.
Her heart thundered in her chest as the man walked to the driver’s side and opened the door.
“So you saw for yourself,” he stated without a greeting.
“Leave me alone!” She was in no mood to talk to him and reached for the door handle to slam the door shut, but he held on to it so she couldn’t move it even an inch. He was too strong. Instantly, fear charged through her. “What do you want?”
The man grinned. “Since you’re asking…” His smile suddenly turned icy. “I want you to come with me.”
“You must be crazy if you think I’ll come with you,” Psyche ground out and slammed her foot back onto the gas pedal. But the tires only spun as if the truck was stuck in the snow or mud. Only—there was no snow, nor any mud on the street. “What the fuck?”
“You really thought you could escape me?” He threw his head back and laughed. “Maybe it’s time you learned who you were dealing with.”
When he leaned closer, she shrank back. She released the seat belt to free herself so she could escape via the passenger seat, but the stranger had already grabbed her shoulders and was pulling her from the truck.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, but in her own ears her voice sounded like a whisper at best. She tried again. “Somebody help me!”
“Nobody can hear you,” he claimed. “I alone make the decisions now. You will do as I say.”
“No!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and frantically looked up and down the street. But it was deserted. Nobody was coming to her aid.
“You’re quite the fighter. Maybe that’s what Eros likes about you. Let’s see what he’s prepared to sacrifice to get you back, shall we?”
Psyche struggled against his grip, twisting this way and that. She even kicked her foot into his shin, which only earned her a mocking laugh in response.
“A veritable wildcat.” Her attacker chuckled. “I wonder whether you’re like that in bed, too.”
As the words sank in, panic skyrocketed and adrenaline shot through her veins. She wouldn’t let this man kidnap and rape her. She had to fight him here and now. She recalled the self-defense class she’d taken in college. And though it seemed a long time ago, she tried to apply what she remembered.
Psyche jerked her knee up, but before it could connect with her attacker’s balls, he twisted to the side and pressed her against the car. He brought his head within inches of hers and narrowed his eyes.
“I’m getting tired of this little game. Time to leave.”
Before she knew what he was planning to do, she felt herself ripped into the air. Weightlessness engulfed her, and her heart plunged into her stomach. Nausea overwhelmed her as everything seemed to turn upside down like she was being tossed in a dryer.
She screamed.
~ ~ ~
Just as Eros teleported into Psyche’s apartment, expecting her to have run back home after finding Gloria in his bed, he heard a scream coming from the street below. He raced to the window and stared outside. Psyche’s truck stood in the middle of the narrow one-way street, the driver’s door open. But there was no sign of Psyche. Without even considering the fact that somebody might see him, he teleported down to the street.
“Psyche!” he yelled and whirled around, his eyes searching everywhere. Inside the truck, on the passenger seat, lay her handbag. The keys were still in the ignition, and the engine was running. “Psyche!”
He’d come too late. She was gone.
Eros glared up into the sky, raising his balled fist. “You—”
A flaming thunderbolt split the sky, whizzing through the air on its descent. It hit the truck and moved swiftly over it, searing a message into the hood.
Eros stared at it.
Shoot your arrows, or Psyche will be mine. Z.
Zeus!
The moment he’d read the message, it and the thunderbolt that had delivered it vanished into thin air, leaving the car the blank canvas it had been before.
“You fucking bastard!” Eros cursed. Fury suffused his every cell. “You touch one hair on her head, and I’m going to rip you limb from limb!”
In response, a dark cloud appeared in the sky above him, and out of nowhere, a tropical downpour drenched Eros and the truck, leaving the surroundings dry as a bone. Eros grunted, shaking off the water and drying himself by spinning once around his own axis. He hated it when Zeus displayed his superiority.
“You really think you can make me do what you want?” he hissed. “Think again! This fight isn’t over.”
Loud honking made him spin around. A car was idling behind Psyche’s truck. The driver stuck his head out through the car window.
“You’re blocking the street!” the man yelled.
Fuming, Eros wanted to lash out at him, but thought better of it. He wasn’t angry at the driver, but at Zeus. He lifted his hand in apology and jumped into Psyche’s truck, slammed the door shut, and drove off.
He needed all the help he could get. And he knew where to get it.
34
His friends were already assembled in Triton and Sophia’s private apartment on the third floor of the Olympus Inn, when Eros arrived.
“Zeus kidnapped Psyche,” Eros said without preamble. “He won’t release her unless I shoot my arrows again.”
All three cursed, but they also looked at him sheepishly, confirming what he’d suspected all along. “He asked you to set me up with her, didn’t he? So he could rip her from underneath me just when I started caring about her.”
Hermes, Triton, and Dio exchanged glances, then Dio finally spoke. “He pressured us. But I swear we didn’t know what he was planning.”
Triton stepped forward. “Listen, Eros. He came down on us. Hard. He threatened to exile us. Without our wives and children.”
Eros sucked in a breath. “That fucker!”
“He told us if we couldn’t make you do your duty then we’d lose them. He gave us a month. We had no choice.” Triton motioned to his two friends, who were nodding. “So we figured, if you met a woman and fell in love again, your outlook on love would change. But I swear we didn’t know he was planning to take her away from you. We had nothing to do with that.”
Dionysus added, “If we’d known—”
“I suspected it,” Hermes interrupted.
&
nbsp; Eros snapped his head to him, as did his friends, and clenched his jaw. “You what?”
Hermes lifted his hands in defense. “He summoned me a few days ago. I told him everything was going well between you and Psyche, and that things would work out. But he didn’t want to listen. He talked about using Psyche as a bargaining chip.”
Eros jumped at Hermes and knocked him against the wall, pinning him there. “And you didn’t warn me?”
“Zeus would have known had I spoken to you,” Hermes defended himself. “I couldn’t risk it.”
“Great friend you are!” Eros cursed.
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t put a tail on her.”
Eros released him and narrowed his eyes. “A tail?”
Hermes rolled his eyes. “Don’t you watch any cop movies at all?” He expelled a breath. “Psyche’s leaving breadcrumbs behind, which even Zeus would have a hard time spotting.”
Dionysus stepped closer and let out an annoyed huff. “Hermes, do us a favor and speak English, or Greek, any language we understand.”
“Grimm’s Fairy Tales, anybody?” Hermes paused to wait for a reaction, then shook his head. “Hansel and Gretel. Oh, forget it. Clearly you don’t appreciate fairy tales the way I do. Penny would have gotten the connection I’m trying to make here.”
“Can we get to the fucking point?” Eros ground out, getting increasingly impatient. “Every minute we waste here is a minute that Zeus can put his dirty paws on my woman.”
For a moment there was silence in the room, then Triton asked, “So you and Psyche, it’s serious then.”
He met Triton’s gaze and saw the concern in his eyes. Eros nodded.
“Then we’ll do everything in our power to help you get her back,” Triton said, motioning to Hermes and Dio. “Right, guys?”
The other two agreed.
“Thank you,” Eros said. “And just so you know, when I realized you were trying to set me up with her, I asked her to pose as my girlfriend to get you off my back. I wanted to prove to you that you can’t pull a fast one on me. But I fell for her instead.”
“How did you—”
Eros interrupted Triton. “Oh please! I wasn’t born yesterday.” When Triton started to speak again, Eros stopped him with a movement of his hand. “I was royally pissed at you guys. And frankly, I was in no mood to let you win. I was determined to get back at all of you by beating you at your own game. But Psyche, she’s something else, you know. She got under my skin.” He sighed. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore what you guys did. I have a bigger problem now.” Then he turned back to Hermes. “About the breadcrumbs…”
“Fairy dust actually,” Hermes interjected.
“Brilliant!” Dio said.
Eros had to agree. “We can trace her every move with it. We’ll be able to figure out where he took her.”
Hermes held up his hand. “Hold it. Not so fast. First, we need to call a fairy to guide us. And once we know where he took her, we can’t just march in and grab her.”
“But every second—”
Hermes put his hand on Eros’s chest. “I know. Every second counts, but even Zeus needs a little time to work his seduction. And I’ve seen the way Psyche looks at you. She’s not gonna fall into his bed just because he’s charming and handsome. Psyche likes you.”
“Sophia said so, too,” Triton added.
Eros shook his head and ran a shaky hand through his hair. “But that’s just it: Psyche thinks I cheated on her.”
“Why for Hades’ sake would she think that?” Triton asked.
“Because she found Gloria naked in my bed.”
The jaws of his three friends dropped. His fellow gods stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“You got back together with Gloria?” Dio said in a raised voice. “Are you fucking stupid?”
“What the fuck!” Hermes cried out. “After all you went through because of her? That’s just nuts!”
“I didn’t! Damn it! Will you guys listen to me?”
Silence descended on the room.
Eros exhaled, then took a deep inhale. “Zeus tricked Gloria and put her in my bed while I was outside working on the Jacuzzi. He must have gone to Psyche and told her to come home, because she showed up in the middle of the afternoon and walked into the bedroom and found Gloria there. I didn’t get a chance to explain. Hell, it took me a few minutes of questioning Gloria to figure out what had happened. As soon as I realized that Zeus was behind it, I teleported to Psyche’s apartment. But Zeus had already snatched her and left me one of his messages.”
Hermes’ shoulders dropped. “Oh, you mean…” He made a swirling hand movement. “… one of his burning thunderbolt notes?”
Eros nodded.
“Always hated those,” Hermes grunted. “Drama queen!”
Dio put his hand on Eros’s shoulder, making him snap his head to the side to look at his friend.
“Don’t worry, buddy, we’re with you.” Then Dio addressed Hermes. “Let’s get a fairy, and get this show on the road.”
Hermes looked to Eros for confirmation. “I’m assuming you just giving into Zeus’s demands is out of the question.”
Eros sucked in a breath, ready to let a barrage of insults rip from his throat, when Hermes raised his hand. “Just wanted to make sure you’re not caving.”
“No chance,” Eros said. “He’s gone too far this time. Nobody steals the woman I love.”
There was no time to lose. And not only because Zeus was making a play for his woman just to hurt him. No, every minute that Psyche spent in the belief that Eros had cheated on her was causing her undue pain. And he couldn’t leave her in pain. He had to find her and confess that he loved her. He had to tell her she was the only woman he would love for all eternity.
35
The nausea had subsided and the spinning stopped, but that didn’t mean things were back to normal. Far from it. For starters, Psyche had no idea where she was or how she’d gotten here. It was dark, though she could see sparkling lights in the distance. There was a light breeze in the air, and she shivered involuntarily. Beneath her feet she felt solid ground again.
Psyche ripped her arm from her abductor’s grip and glared at him. “Where am I?”
He made a sweeping movement with his arm. In its wake, more lights illuminated her surroundings. “Welcome to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods.”
Disbelief made her heart beat faster as she looked around. She stood on a terrace of white marble. Below her and surrounding her, were lush hills dotted with lights shining from massive villas nestled among the verdant beauty. Above her, a canopy of stars sparkled brightly.
“I am Zeus. God of all gods,” her abductor droned.
“No,” she murmured under her breath, clutching her chest. “No, it can’t be.”
“Yet it is.”
Like a rapid slideshow, pictures appeared before her mental eye, reminding her of the things that had raised her suspicion: the Greek names of Eros and all his friends, his bow, Hermes’ sandals, the wine Dio constantly poured, the Greek books and artwork in Eros’s house. Everything flashed in front of her.
“You know I’m telling the truth, don’t you?” Zeus now asked, dipping his head to her.
She shrank back instinctively, shaking her head in the hope that if she didn’t acknowledge the realization that was now settling in her gut, it wouldn’t be true.
“Say it,” Zeus demanded.
Her lips trembled. She tried to press them together. But her lips moved as if somebody else was commanding them. As if Zeus was forcing her to speak. “Eros is the god of love.”
When she heard her own words in her ears, a sob tore from her chest. She’d fallen in love with the god of love.
“Yes,” Zeus confirmed. “And he used you. Just like he uses all women. You were just a toy. A plaything.”
“No!” she cried out, but the memory of his ex-girlfriend, naked in Eros’s bed, choked off her desperate denial.
“He is
n’t worth your tears.”
She felt Zeus’s hand on her cheek, and only then realized that tears were streaming down her face.
“Why am I here?”
There were so many questions she couldn’t even begin to ask. She’d never believed in gods or mythology. Never thought there was any truth to it. But she couldn’t ignore the simple fact that this man, this god, had ripped her from the streets of Charleston and somehow magically brought her to this place a world away.
“What do you want from me?” she added, tossing him a defiant look. If he was really Zeus, then her fate was sealed already, and there was no fighting it. But she needed to know why. She needed to understand what was happening.
He pointed to the French doors behind him. “Come inside.”
She walked into the palace without putting up any resistance. Inside the opulent building it was cool and quiet. The walls were painted with murals, and in the ceiling large skylights let in the light of the stars. Subdued indirect lighting gave off a warm glow, and her footsteps echoed off the marble beneath her feet.
“Something to drink?” Zeus asked.
She shrieked and spun around, not having heard him approach.
He gave a self-satisfied smirk. Then he snapped his fingers. “Servants!”
Out of nowhere, three pint-sized creatures appeared in front of Zeus, hovering like little helicopters. Psyche slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. In disbelief, she took a closer look, while her pulse thundered. The three looked like… well, like Tinkerbell: colorful little doll-like creatures with wings and delicate facial features.
“Oh mighty Zeus, god of all gods, how may we serve you?” the three said in unison, their voices like soft music.
“Ambrosia,” he ordered and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. They vanished into thin air.