The Wager- BBW Erotic Curvy Paranormal Romance (TOUCH OF THE GODS) (25 page)

             
Washing my hair, I tried the grounding techniques Hephaestus taught me and finally, my mind no longer spun. Hopefully, my mother or sister would be able to help me know what to do. Of course they would, I had to think positive. Yet, as I toweled myself off, I still felt a heavy weight on my shoulders. What was that immortal guy's name? Atlas! Yeah, that was me. Even though I hadn't taken the potion of immortality, I still carried a burden upon me that would crush me if I took the wrong path. What was the right thing to do? Or as the Goddess of Love asked, was I willing to die in the name of love?

*  *  *  *

              Better late than never, we got to my parents' home. Willa's van was parked badly in their driveway, but that wasn't what shocked me. On the large grass yard, my brother's motorcycle rested against the old oak. Graeme rarely came to dinner because my father and he didn't see eye to eye. Last I heard, he was tangled up with some bad folks.

Hephaestus pulled his truck in behind the van, getting out and coming to open my side. The gesture didn't go unnoticed, since he often used his powers to do so. Our fingers laced and I hoped Graeme wouldn't cause any trouble, seeing how he was so unpredictable, but I wouldn't know until we got inside.

At the door, I inhaled deeply before ringing the bell, hearing the loud snort of Hannybal or as Heph had called her, Adriano. I pasted my best smile onto my face when Willa opened the door.

             
“You're here! I thought you two would
never
make it. I told mom you were probably in the middle of something, or on top? Maybe beneath even!”

             
“Please, tell me you didn't, Willa!”

             
“Oh, well you're here, you big baby and I'm glad he finally let you out of bed,” Willa teased.

             
Groaning, I glanced over at Heph, who had the decency to keep his mouth shut, though he blushed.

Willa pulled us inside the humble abode and though we kids had been long gone, the interior of the house was still the same. On the living room door frame was our growing marks my father had scratched into the wood. We entered into the vibrant yellow of the dining room, the familiar glass table adorned with plates, cups and utensils. The memories of my childhood flooded me with emotions I thought I’d forgotten, but after the bomb Hephaestus dropped on me earlier, I didn't think I'd could leave where I had come from and loved my entire life.

Hephaestus pulled his hand from mine to help my mother carry a large pork roast to the center of the table, and though he had grown weak, he still dwarfed us and the items in the room. He didn't belong in our world.

It was unjust and totally unfair!

              “Hello, baby girl. Glad you made it, and there he is! How are you doing, Heph?”

             
“Brian, sir, good to see you again. I'm doing well, thank you, and yourself?”

             
“I've been working on my old Buick in the back. But, damn it, if I can't seem to get it to run. I have all the parts, so I can't understand what's wrong with the old girl.”

             
“I could take a look for you, if you'd like.”

             
“Really? That's great! Ginny, girls? I'll bring him back in time for dinner. C'mon, son.”

             
“I told you I could have fixed it, Dad.” Graeme, stared at my Dad with a mixture of hurt and anger on his face.

             
The awkward silence stretched as we all turned to look at my brother. It had been months since I’d seen him last, the man who stood before me was not the one I remembered. His wine red hair, was longer, shaggy and unkempt, his once clean shaven face covered in a goatee. Graeme's right arm was decorated from the wrist in a black tribal design that spiraled up his heavily muscled arm, to his throat. But what left me cold with concern was how tortured his eyes looked, hazel like mine, but empty and lost. My brother was dressed similar to how Ares had dressed. I wondered if maybe he was hanging out with the War God's minions without truly knowing it.

Graeme's shattered gaze was now focused on Hephaestus. If it were physically possible, he would have turned green with envy. Arms crossed over his chest, he sneered which was something my brother usually did when he was really upset, mostly because he didn't want to appear weak. If only he knew his lack of emotion was why our father treated him with such a tough stance in the first place.

              “Graeme, Hephaestus here is in the profession of fixing things,” Brian piped in.

             
“I've worked for a mechanic as well. I know what to do.”

             
“The operative words being ‘worked for’, boy. Just stay in here with the ladies, I don't need you right now.” Brian turned toward Hephaestus. “Come along, son. I hope you like 'em old, because my girl is a '49!”

             
Whatever response Hephaestus would have given was lost as both he and my father walked out to the garage.

  None of us missed the flinch from Graeme when he heard the word
son
being directed at Hephaestus instead of himself. Not one to express his feelings in an open, positive way, he stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge and flopped into a dining chair, his demeanor icy.

The three of us wanted to reach out to him, but had learned after the many attempts to reach him before, that it would only lead to a shouting match, tears and him driving recklessly away.  He would disappear for months, while stressing both my parents out.

Even now, my mother's lip quivered and she hurriedly turned away to keep from losing it as she rushed into the kitchen.

Willa tore her angry stare from my brother's back, grabbed my arm and led me up to the room we shared as young girls. Softly closing the door, she hopped onto her peace sign covered bed and patted the spot next to her, a wicked smile on her face.

Rolling my eyes, I joined her, knowing that this conversation was probably going to have me blushing to my roots by the end of it.

             
“I am glad to see you can still walk, Nessa.”

             
“Oh quiet, you!”

             
“Sorry! Okay, I'm not, but really, I'm so happy for you. You're glowing.”

             
“It’s been great. Who would have thought someone like me would have a god loving her? It's surreal.”

             
“Yeah, but you deserve it, Nessa. So, what naughty secrets do you want to tell me? How big is he? I bet he's
huge
!”

             
“Oh God, Willa! I'm not telling you about that. Just know that he keeps me very satisfied, physically, mentally and emotionally.”

             
“I'm glad, sis. You're my inspiration to finding my happily ever after!”

             
We hugged, but inside the reality of how all my happiness was coming to an end tonight, crashed against my soul. I could have easily spouted out my sorrows to my sister, but I also didn't want her to be a voice of reason I was unwilling to listen to at the moment. So, false joy in place, I accepted her congratulatory embrace.

We separated when we heard Mom calling us from below. Gesturing for her to lead the way, gave me time to swallow my tears, and heading down to make the most of the last night with the only man I had ever loved.

  My Dad and my lover had returned, while Brian already sat at the head of the table, Hephaestus stood to pull out my chair, then my sister's and finally my mother's, once she placed the last dish down.

She gave him a beaming smile and lightly slapped my father's arm. “You used to do that for me, Brian!”

              “Once!” He laughed. “And when I did, you threw your bra at me, screaming that I was trying to destroy equality in the feminist movement.”

             
“That’s true, but you can do it now, you know?”

             
“Will you throw your bra at me again? Because you do remember right after you did that, we ended up married and having Vanessa.”

             
“Can we please not have this discussion in front of my boyfriend, and my dinner plate?” I interjected.

             
“Oh, Vanessa! Considering how occupied you've been lately, I'm certain you're not disturbed by the idea of your father and I being together. I’m like you are, with your fine young man here, left with a smile on my face every night!”

             
“Mom!”

             
Waving her hand dismissively, Ginny first served my Dad, and then gestured for us to dig in. With my mother's fabulous talent for cooking, we all did with gusto! Well, all of us with the exception of Graeme, who seemed to be trying to stare a hole into Hephaestus's head.

Hephaestus was either ignoring my brother on purpose, or he didn't feel the angry gaze.

Whichever, the longer Hephaestus kept filling his plate, the more irritated Graeme became, until he loudly cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. “What are you? You feel odd, like some of the guys I ride with.”

             
“Boy, you're at the table, ready to eat. Leave Heph alone.”

             
“C'mon, Dad. You maybe blind to the supernatural, but I know Mom and Willa feel what I do. Sheesh, Ness, you sure know how to pick 'em. Like the dude from the restaurant, huh?”

             
Before I could feel hurt by his words, Hephaestus growled and stood up and was taller than I had ever seen him. He held out his hand, which trembled with exertion, as my brother levitated in mid air.

My father stared without blinking, my mother and sister seemed completely unimpressed, and Graeme, well he sputtered, his skin paling several shades.

I may have tinkled a little, but knew if I didn't stop my protector, he'd expire on the spot, as his entire form trembled with the effort he was using. Not to mention, I feared for the safety of those living in parts of the world, where volcanoes resided. Keeping my cool I stood, and then laced my fingers through his, I swallowed the bite of pain from the heat emanating from them, but didn’t go.

His pulse flickered under his skin, intense just as he was, but finally after what felt to be an eternity, he slowly dropped my brother back to his chair, our joined hands falling to his side. Then, as though nothing unusual had happened, he sat, with me following in my own seat.

We waited for the shit to hit the fan, but of course, I forgot that my family was kind of crazy.

             
“Well, I guess you truly are more than meets the eye, son. But hey, you fixed my Buick, so you're all right with me.”

             
“What do you call yourself, Heph?  I want to say alien, but from the look on Willa's face, she's already gone down that road,” Graeme nearly growled out the insult.

             
Beside me, Hephaestus sucked in large gulps of air and he looked at each of us in turn, finally settling on my Mom, and I saw that he didn't hide his eyes from her, the little flames blazing in his pupils. The room grew warmer, and smelled like the inner halls of a blacksmith's forge. “This is not normal protocol. We are supposed to be hidden, but I've obviously broken most of the rules for my kind by now. So yeah, I'm a God of the Greek Pantheon.” He gazed directly at my brother. “Graeme, if you ever speak to Vanessa that way again, there will be no where for you to hide.”

             
“You don't scare me, freak. I've seen too much for you to cause me anymore pain.”

             
“Graeme, what are you talking about?”

             
“Don't worry about it, Dad. Matter of fact, I'm going to go. Thanks for dinner, Mom. Later, Will and Ness.” Standing, the chair scraping along the wood floor, Graeme grabbed his denim jacket and headed for the door, my mother chasing behind him.

Her voice faded as she pleaded with him to stay, that it was a misunderstanding, but her words fell on deaf ears. The roaring of his bike before he screeched down the road was the only reply she got from him. When she reentered the dining room, my father went to her side, pulling her close and took her up to the room to cry in private.

It was then, I knew dinner was over.

Hephaestus, Willa and I set to work, putting the food away and cleaning up the table.

I filled the dishwasher and once we were done, we made our way to the door, stopping as my father met us on the bottom step.

The toll of my brother's behavior was apparent on his aging face and though he tried, the smile he gave didn't quite meet his eyes. “Well, that didn't go as planned, but it's not surprising. Anyway, thank you, Heph for coming. Maybe we can do this again in a few weeks. Unless, you have busy god work or something!”

              “As much as I'd love to, as you all are the closest thing I've had to family in a long time, I have to decline. This is my last night here. I must return home.”