“A fantastic thing.” I look over and find Ares leaning against the doorframe, his ankles crossed, and he looks utterly relaxed. My cheeks go hot just seeing him. How did he sneak up on us without me hearing him?
“So, the eye thing?” I wave my hand near my face.
“Might have just been part of the process, or it could be a physical manifestation of our combined abilities.” Ares runs his eyes over me, stopping at the side of my neck. I almost raise my hand to cover the bruise he left behind. “I’m more than happy to test out a few theories.” His voice goes husky. At least I know he’s feeling better.
Ollie wraps his arm around my neck and mock whispers in my ear, “See. He’s impossible—a total gloater.”
I hide my smile by pinching my bottom lip between my teeth at Ares’s expression. He looks both smug and irritated at the same time. Ollie chuckles, lying back on the bed, dragging me with him. I curl on my side, my head pillowed on his shoulder, it’s been a long day. “Should I do everybody?” Ollie stiffens, his head lifting off the bed to look down at me.
“Say again?” he asks.
Now Ares chuckles, his sounding much darker. “Yeah, what was that?”
“Bond with everyone, or do I wait? How does it work? I’m not even sure what I did with Ares.”
Ollie’s head slams back down onto the bed. “I’m gonna die,” he mutters under his breath. “Why don’t you tell me about what you guys were doing, and I think we’ll figure it out.” Ollie offers. I feel a breeze as Ollie lets out a low grunt, laughing the next second. Ares is standing at the end of the bed, the evidence of the pillow he hurled at Ollie falling off the side.
Sitting forward, I cover my face with my hands. “Wait, just wait a second. It was because we were…” I can’t bring myself to say making out, it seems way too juvenile, but I don’t know what else to call it. “Kissing and stuff,” I finish.
Ollie sits up next to me, all traces of laughter gone from his voice as he says, “It’s more than that, you have to have a true desire to connect, to bond, but yes, part of the process is physical.”
I peek through my fingers looking at Ares when he asks, “Do you regret it?” He looks down, his eyes going back and forth like he’s seeing something I can’t. He sounds hurt.
I drop my hands, letting him see my face. “Ares, I did something to you without even understanding what it was. I was terrified that I hurt you and that you would hate me. I don’t regret it—couldn’t if I tried. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a little scared.”
Ares comes over and crawls into bed. “I can deal with that.”
When Dante and Milo come in a few minutes later, they pause at the doorway. Milo’s eyes jump around, avoiding the bed. It almost feels like we walked in on them in the middle of a conversation. “Hey,” I call out, hoping to ease the tension.
Dante walks into the room, a big bowl of buttery popcorn in his hands. “Movie?” he offers, and I nod, grateful for the normalcy.
Milo shuffles his feet like he doesn’t know what to do. “Thank you for helping cover my shift, Milo.” He looks up at me then, his blue eyes watching me.
After a long second, he nods. “No problem, it was nice to see Gran and Gus.” He’s here and talking, but something feels off.
“Oh, good.” I fold my arms over my stomach and look away from him. Maybe he’s mad at me for the Ares situation. There’s a distance between us, and remembering this morning in the car, I turn to face Ares.
“Gloria knew about us.” It’s not a question.
“Yeah,” Ares answers anyway.
“Well, if she knows, and Maggie knows, why can’t we tell Milo’s parents?” My eyes move over to Milo who has finally made his way into the room. His steps halt, and he turns to look at me with an expression of downright shock on his face.
Ares's head follows my line of sight. “I guess we could tell all our parents.” Ares holds up his hand when Ollie makes a whooping sound. “But we need to make sure they understand that this isn’t something we can celebrate.” My neck snaps in his direction. Ares sighs and corrects, “I didn’t mean