When she woke up, Zeus was gone, as if he’d never been there at all.
Zeus
Although he’d fallen asleep in Yasmine’s bed, Zeus had woken up before her and made himself go back to his room. He wasn’t really all that tired; he’d just been tempted to keep lying there because she was there. Not a good reason. Not after last night.
So, by the time she came out of the bedroom, he was already up, dressed, and in the middle of making breakfast while talking to Claudia, who he had on speakerphone. Yasmine wasn’t that far behind him, so she hadn’t missed much more than the preliminaries.
“Yasmine is here,” he told Claudia through the phone. Yasmine gave him an odd glance, which he couldn’t interpret, before leaning on the side of the counter.
“Morning, Yasmine,” Claudia said immediately.
“Good morning, Claudia.” She yawned, looking around the kitchen. Today, she wasn’t dressed for work; she was in leggings with an oversized, slouchy t-shirt that hung off her shoulder, showing off the bra strap. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun. It was a more put-together outfit than what she’d had on during her spa night, but a far cry from what she wore outside the house. She met Zeus’ gaze and her chin lifted almost challengingly. “Can I help with anything?”
“If you want to get Tiger his food, it’s in that bin there.” He nodded at the plastic bin.
“I can do that. So, what’s going on?”
“I was just giving Zeus an update on your house last night,” Claudia said. “No sign of Pete James last night or this morning. We got everything cleaned up as best we could, though some things are going to need replacing… some frames, glasses?—”
“My mattress,” Yasmine said sadly and shuddered.
Zeus clenched his jaw. Knowing the asshole had peed on her bed made him want to punch something. Preferably Pete James. Repeatedly. Granted, he wanted to do that for multiple reasons, but peeing on her bed was that little extra bit that threatened to tip him completely over the edge.
“Your mattress,” Claudia repeated after Yasmine. “Lincoln took yours in his truck. He said he can get it cleaned, or he can take it to the junkyard.”
“Junkyard,” Yasmine said immediately. “I won’t be able to sleep on it without thinking about what it’s been through. I’ll order a new one today.”
“I’ll let him know. Everyone sends their love, and they’re worried about you. Are you coming to game night tonight?”
“I… don’t know.” Yasmine put Tiger’s food bowl down and straightened up, glancing at Zeus. “I don’t have my car.” She also sounded reluctant to go.
Zeus kept his gaze on the eggs in the pan in front of him.
“I can take you to get it today.”
“Mmm.” Her response was noncommittal.
“There might be some questions you’ll have to answer if you aren’t,” Claudia said. “I think everyone assumed you went to my house last night, and I didn’t disabuse them of the notion.”
“Pretty sure I’m going to have to answer some questions, anyway. I never told Naomi about Pete James showing up at my house.”
“Ah.”
“I’m going to call her this morning and tell her everything.” Yasmine sounded almost fierce. Now she wasn’t looking at Zeus; she was staring at his front window, very pointedly not looking at him.
“Everything?” Claudia asked.
“Well… everything about Pete James,” Yasmine conceded.
“Uh huh. Anyway. It’s up to you and Zeus how much you want to tell the rest of the team.”
“Why?” Zeus couldn’t help but ask.
“Because you two crazy kids deserve time to figure things out for yourselves. And if the team knows, they’re all going to get involved and put their two cents in. You only have a limited amount of time as it is… especially if Yasmine tells Naomi about you. At some point, someone is going to slip up and mention it to their partner.”
“So, you think it’s better to keep it to ourselves?” Zeus asked dubiously, although she was making sense. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from Yasmine right now, but he did know he didn’t want his entire team sticking their noses into it. And he didn’t want to disappoint Lincoln.
“You should tell them eventually, preferably before it slips out,” Claudia explained. “But you don’t need to today. And I feel like things between you two aren’t quite settled. Personally, I think you two would make a decent match if Yasmine can get her head out of her ass about the curse, and you can get your head out of your ass about whatever hangup you have.”
