Just For You

Chapter 2: Zeus

"My wife hates me." I pace in Hade's office with a small glass of bourbon in my hand. Hades is sitting at her desk, with her legs coursed over each other on her desk.

          After Hera left, I closed myself in my office, trying to distract myself with a few books my assistant left for me this morning when I showed up for work. It was almost time to return home, but I was too nervous. Dinner isn't for a while, so I won't be late as long as I watch for the time. Some light conversation with Hades won't hurt anything. Hopefully, it will help with the dilemma I've been having.

         Chugging the entirety of the cup, I place it down on Hade's small little bar cart by the door. Her light chuckle drew my attention away from the glass I was pouring. "She doesn't hate you. If she did, she would have divorced you long ago and taken everything from you."

          I finished pouring my glass and started pacing again. "I wouldn't stop her. It just means she can take this company from me, well us." Hades and I despised this publishing house. Our father wanted us to cherish this place and think of it as a blessing, an apology—at least, that's what he said in his will. We knew the truth, he just didn't want his grandfather's legacy to go to waste, and me and my siblings were the way to keep that from happening.

          Poseidon sold his shares equally with Hades and I. He's enjoying a fantastic life with his fiancee and the billions of dollars he now has. Hades and I have talked about selling Tolliver Publishing, but our mother has always objected. We don't know why, but who are we to disobey her?

          Our mother is a complicated woman. She usually always has her reasons for what she does and why she does it, but she never shares it with any of us. I know who she is as a person, and I knew better than to skip that lunch. I should have at least warned Hera. Mother loves Hera, but she shows it in the most obscene ways.

          "Don't tell mother that." Hades said before her attention was pulled away from me and at her phone when it lit up. Her face scrunched up.

          Clearing my throat, her gaze left her phone and up to me. Her dark brown eyes were very telling. A smile spread across my face. "Am I keeping you from someone, big sis?" I ask as I sip from my glass, the burning sensation of the alcohol enough to keep my thoughts away from Hera and how much I've failed her.

          Hades turned her phone over. "No," She's lying. My smile grew wider, and she just groaned. "I don't want to attend Posidons rehearsal without a date. And I already said I would have a date for the wedding, so I contacted a fling from the past."

          Her tanned skin flushed, and my cheeks strained from smiling so hard. "Persephone?" Her ex-girlfriend. I'm unsure why they broke up, but Hades took it hard. I liked Persephone. She lit up the room with her smile. Mother liked her too. Everyone thought they would get married. Hades thought that, too, considering she had a ring.

          "None of your business," She said dismissively. So I'm right. I usually always am.

          Finishing off my drink, I walk to the bar cart to set it down. "Well, if you aren't going to talk to me about my wifely issues, and you aren't going to talk about your almost wifely issues, I'm going to go. I'm already in the dog house with her."

          I turned back to my sister, who was standing up, buttoning her black suit jacket. She must be getting ready to leave too. She combed her long black hair away from her face. She rounded the desk, her heels clicking on the floor. I never liked heels and never learned how to walk in them. Although even if I did, I probably still wouldn't like them.