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“Okay,” I snapped. “I get it.”
“Everything all right, ladies?” Apollo asked, turning to us.
I nodded. “Yes. Yep. All good.”
But after the first ‘yes’, Apollo had the information he needed to decide not to follow up, and his attention turned to the approaching Valen.
“Valk, man, you ready for a week off?” he asked with a grin.
“Got plans?” Marco asked, looking between them as he shoved some sandwich into his face.
Apollo leant back, his hand pulling my shoulder with him and I was brought into his body in a warm snuggle. It was a stance we’d affected many times over the years. It was as normal and natural and casual as breathing. My body instinctively leant against his and put my hand over his stomach. It didn’t mean that my head wasn’t a befuddled mess of awkwardness.
“Nothing but me, my best mate and my perfect girl for a whole week,” Apollo said happily as he fiddled with his ring on my hand.
It was clearly happy families time. It had been all day. Showing off his perfect relationship with his perfect girl for all the world to see. It wasn’t that I didn’t like his attention or the time we spent together like this. In some weird way, I cherished it. Cherished some sort of semblance of our old friendship. But it was also getting tiring. Anyone with a brain would have worked out that our relationship was a sham. It just seemed like there weren’t very many brains going around. That, or the whole school thought the same way about me as Valen; that I was a simpering idiot who just let her man fuck around because I was – what? – too weak and gormless to do anything about it?
The realisation that that could actually be the case made a shiver of sadness run through me. I tried covering with a cough and resettling against Apollo, but when I looked at Valen I saw him watching me carefully. There was no doubt he’d noticed, but what had he thought of it?
“Until the Halloween party,” Marco added, with an excited wriggle-dance move.
Apollo’s grin widened. “Until the Halloween party,” he agreed.
“You still good for us to come over on Saturday to help prep?”
Apollo nodded. “All good.”
And, by prep, they did indeed mean drink while ordering some staff around and maybe doing a bit themselves. At least, Florence was also coming on Saturday so I wouldn’t be alone the whole time.
“And have we all got our costumes sorted?” Marco asked.
Apollo gave me a squeeze. “All sorted.”
Florence and I exchanged glances. All I’d been told was that Apollo was dealing with a couple’s costume this year and I was just going to have to wait and see what it was when it was ready for fitting in the holidays. The concept filled me with a bit of dread, but I was also mostly pleased I didn’t have to do anything about it. Apollo had been on the organisation end for plenty of things for me in the past – not including the crown that still weighed heavily on my finger – and it had all turned out fine. If Archer had given his son one good thing, it was good taste in jewellery, clothes, and style.
“You coming as your usual?” Apollo continued.
Marco nodded. “Nah, the Angels decided that the three Musketeers was a little overplayed. We’ve got a better idea this year.”
Apollo turned a quizzical look on Valen. “A better idea?”
Valen blinked, long and slow, and gave a single nod. “You’ll see it next weekend.”
“Are you going to be at the Callahan’s all holidays?” Florence asked Valen, not very nonchalantly at all.
Apollo nodded. “Yep. Aren’t you?” he clarified with Valen.
Valen gave a much more curt nod. “In and out. Few jobs for my family.”
“In and out?” Florence said casually. “No doubt.”
Valen’s eyes narrowed and turned to me. I gave a little start and leant further into Apollo, who absently gave me a kiss on the head as he talked with Marco. His hand entwined with mine like it was second nature, but there was no other outward sign he even knew I was there
When Apollo and I had agreed to this – to faking it – we’d decided to only do enough to support the ruse. Anything outside that, he didn’t want to take up any more of my time or energy than he already had to. But that, what he considered to be giving me space, seemed to have become more akin to dismissive neglect in the last year or so. I knew I was losing Frenella’s little boy – and my best friend – but I didn’t know what to do.
A week at ‘home’ with him now wasn’t exactly as exciting as it used to be. It had been a downward slope since the day he met Valen. And now I’d fucked Valen, I was pretty sure it was going to be ten times worse.
“Well,” Florence huffed a laugh to me quietly. “Your holidays are going to be great fun.”
