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“Then we do things my way,” Zeus said, smug as ever. “Over.”
He took the remote from the back of the couch and pointed it at the TV to turn it off.
Staring at the screen, where her Heart had just been, she tried not to resent the man in charge for severing the link. There were so many other reasons to resent him, that one seemed petty. He didn’t know how she missed her love or longed to see him. It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to be cruel… she didn’t think anyway.
“Tess,” Zeus said, stealing her from her thoughts. “You can get ready for dinner now. Everyone’s dismissed.”
Dismissed like a soldier or one of his operatives. She wanted answers, needed someone to bounce ideas off. Thank God she’d persuaded Styx to see her again. The next day couldn’t come quick enough as far as she was concerned.
TWENTY
AS PROMISED, STYX DEPARTED her coffee shop just after eleven a.m. Keeping him in her sights, she relied on his super-agent skills, not hers. Following wasn’t so tough, though he’d made her paranoid someone could be behind her. If they were, he would vanish. Trusting that, she didn’t look back… which had also been his advice.
They went up and down different streets, walking an indirect route to wherever they were going. There was so much distance between them that she almost missed his turn into a doorway.
In her haste to catch up, she didn’t think about where they were walking into. It was a lobby, a hotel. Not the most upmarket place, but no slum either. He was at the elevator, waiting with a couple of other people. She timed her walk to ensure arrival after everyone was inside.
Styx was in the opposite corner and when the doors opened, he wasn’t the only one to exit. That made her following less obvious. The others from the elevator went left while Styx went right along the hallway. Using the wall for balance, she feigned fixing the strap of her shoe to allow the others to go into their rooms. Styx unlocked a door and paused to glance at her before going inside.
Only once he was gone did she go after him. The door wasn’t all the way latched, she went inside and closed it behind her. Getting there was a relief. Learning no one was following her was another.
“Not bad for your first time out.”
She passed what she assumed was the closed bathroom door and the closet to enter the body of the room. The bed was made, but that was the first and last nod to neatness. There were food boxes and empty bottles on every surface, clothes were dumped on a chair in the corner. Styx was standing in front of the window facing into the room though his attention was on the open bag on the desk.
The room wasn’t a complete pigsty, though it did put one thought in her head. “My God, you must drive him insane,” she muttered.
Styx laughed. “My boy? Yeah, always better to be on a mission with him. He’s better with details.”
Danny wasn’t as fastidious as Daire. The latter was much neater and more particular than the former.
“Guy doesn’t even trust me to do dishes,” she said, putting her coffee down to take off her jacket.
“Yeah, he’s a control freak too,” Styx said, still looking in the bag. “Which I guess makes sense. Hades puts a lot of pressure on him in the field. He takes his responsibilities seriously.”
She picked up her cup again and exhaled. “Something you don’t have to tell me.”
“Take a seat,” he said, nodding at the bed. “You tell Z about our conversation?”
“Nope,” she said, tossing her hair out of her face as she sat. Resting her back against the wall, her legs stretched across the width of the bed. “When I got in, he, One, and Three were having a secret video meeting with Garrick, Harry, and Daire.”
Styx took something from the bag. When she noticed it was a weapon, she boosted her back off the wall.
He pressed a button to release a clip and checked the ammunition.
“You don’t know if this place is bugged,” he said. “Should never come into an asset’s territory and assume it’s clean.”
“Record me,” she said, more wary of the gun than any listening device. “Everyone knows the meeting happened.”
“I don’t,” he said, pushing the clip back into the gun and putting it on the desk. “Assume I’m the enemy of any of the men in that meeting. How would they feel about you looping me in?”
“You want me to tell you what happened or don’t you?”
“Just trying to prep you, Lady,” he said, leaving the desk to approach her. “You have to be careful who you trust.”
That she knew. “I know all about trusting the wrong people,” she said, pulling her legs up, folding them in front of her as he dropped down to sit at the pillows. “I was thinking about this in bed last night.”
His lips curved. “You were thinking about me in bed?”
