Big and Tall store right next to the pawn shop. My eyes grazed across his mostly bare chest and the metal plating he wore. Dude looked like he’d stepped right off of a movie set.
Our Uber driver, Minnie, raised an eyebrow at us.
“I’m a method actor!” Cronus declared, and I tried not to giggle. “But remember the bond? I don’t think this will allow for that.”
#TheFuckingBond!
I sighed.
She pulled up to the pawn shop and we both exited the car.
“Stick with me! Don’t talk.” I snapped as I waltzed into the pawn shop and he hung by the door fiddling with something.
As I approached the guy behind the desk, I felt that painful slicing sensation in my gut, and I knew that we were literally on the edge of our tether to each other. I flicked my giant an annoyed look and he shuffled closer to me. When the pain eased, I focused on the task at hand.
Pawn shop negotiations. #IveSeenThisShow
Twenty minutes later, I had seven grand cash and Cronus looked like a super tall American basketball player. He wore Nike shoes, dark denim wash jeans, and a pale blue t-shirt that said Life’s a Beach.
I couldn’t help but grin.
We were now with Minnie on our way to the airport.
He held out a beefy hand. “Give me the small computer phone.”
I unlocked my phone and handed it to him. “Do you even know how to use it?”
He glared at me and started to button mash, pulling up a ticket purchase website.
“Damn, I’m impressed.”
Another glare. “Your limited brain function is barely passable. But I’ve learned enough to adapt.” He somehow managed with his big-ass fingers to checkout with two tickets to Greece, placing them on hold at the airport.
I reached for the phone. “Whoa … whoa, those are first class seats, buddy. That’s going to take all of our money.”
He scoffed. “I’m not sleeping with the rest of the humans in economy.”
Snob!
But hey, if he was buying … I wasn’t going to complain. Let this idiot figure out that we’d need food and hotel money when we landed in Greece and that they didn’t take gold bars he kept next to his dick as payment.
#DickBarsAnyone
We were just getting off the express ramp to the airport when that slicing pain ripped through my stomach. Cronus shifted next to me, his chest rumbling—he was feeling the same.
“Everything okay back there?” our Uber driver asked.
“Method. Acting,” Cronus grit out.
“Mother fudger, that hurts,” I whispered to him. “What the hell is up with this?”
He looked out the rear-view window as if expecting to see Zeus himself right behind us.
“Another god is here looking for me. They’re putting out magical beacons to try and find my location. My wards are blocking it but just barely. Once my powers return, this won’t happen.”
Barely.
“Why am I feeling it?” Because fuck that. This was his family drama, not mine.
He glanced sideways at me. “Something must have happened when our life debt was created. We’re … bound tighter than normal.”
Oh, fabulous. “And how do we fix that?”
He shook his head. “The Fates are the ones who handle life debts, and last time I saw my nieces, they tried to kill me, so I’m not going to ask them.”
Oh my God. Why was this happening to me?
“So about last night…” I looked up at the rear-view mirror to see Minnie’s eyes glued on us. “When we were discussing that movie ... and you told me about the end of the world part … please continue.”
He sighed, rubbing his chest. “As I said, it was the Titans’ job to keep the world safe, but in doing so, we were weakened. Zeus took that moment of weakness and managed to kill my brothers and sisters, but I was too strong. I was imprisoned instead, and I’ve been waiting for my chance to enact revenge. For my family.”
That was all very cryptic and insane. “What were you keeping the world safe from?” I asked. That was really the only part I gave a shit about. He could keep his soap opera family drama to himself.
Cronus took a second to answer, and the tension seemed to build in the car. “The nine deadly sins.”
What the fuck did he just say?
“What movie is this for?” Minnie piped up from the front. “I want to see it when it’s in theatres.”
“Sorry, can’t say. We signed an NDA,” I told her, my heart hammering in my chest. I didn’t even know what to respond to the giant god who