Aftermath [malexmale]

Chapter Ten

"Don't wanna." He answered briefly. I looked at him in confusion. Didn't he miss Adrian? And he said the only reason he didn't go apeshit on me for stealing him was because he liked me. Now that I had made certain there was nothing between us, surely there was no reason for him to stay.

"Dorean--"

"Nope," Dorean cut me off curtly as he pulled a piece of bread off the loaf he'd baked, "Staying here."

"Dorean, it's not safe. I think it's just best that, after the baby shower, you go back home to Adrian. He and Malachi can keep you safe--"

"No," Dorean repeated again, this time more firmly and he stepped right up to me, and even though he tilted his head back to look up at me, I felt like a Doberman cornered by a Chihuahua, "Go get ready, go to baby shower, be nice to Persephone and everyone else, then come back here and then we talk. Until then, I don't want to talk to you." I looked at him, bewildered.

"Dorean--"

"I said no," Dorean snapped, backing away from me now, "Just do it!" He left the kitchen before I could get another word in and I was still flabbergasted. What the hell just happened here? I could've sworn that I came in here with the intention to kick him out, to go back home where he belonged, but somehow, he'd cowed me into doing what he said. Any Dorean spoken to any other god in such a tone, they would have killed him on the spot, no if, ands, or buts about it.

And yet, for the life of I could not understand why he didn't piss me off. Not only did he rudely interrupt me, but he was bossing me around like we were already a couple. Like he was the god and I was the imp. I wanted to argue with him, I really did, but I also didn't want to ruin his excitement for the baby shower, so against all the instincts in my body telling me to just take him home now and get it over with, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, I drifted to my room and changed from my casual clothes to something a little more formal. Something that didn't make me look like I'd just crawled out of a Goth club in Styx.

A black button up silk shirt, matching leather pants, buckled boots, and a long black jacket that buckled down the front. I picked up a pair of wrap-around shades and slide them over my eyes, raking my nails through my hair as I made my way out of the room, pausing in the foyer when I heard Dorean's door shut and he came down the hallway.

Dressed in a white turtleneck and black dress pants, with a small little white box decorated in glitter and a white sparkling bow, he looked positively angelic. I had to catch myself before I hit the floor, and much to my surprise, Dorean's expression was smug, like he knew exactly what I was thinking and he was taunting me. I frowned at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't make such a scary face. We going to a party." He pointed out, taking me by the hand. I didn't know what to say to that. Since when had Dorean gotten so bold? Had Adrian put up with this kind of behavior? Had anyone? I didn't know what to say and when Dorean shot me an impatient stare, I had no other choice, but to teleport us to the palace of Hades.

His palace was gigantic and built into the side of a riotous mountain range that separated this realm from the next. It was made entirely of sleek marble that was the blackest of blacks before it faded to an emerald green toward the ceiling. The corridors were narrow and tall, at least by forty feet or something. The floors were made of black marble with the emerald green spider-webbing across the floor, glowing so it lit up the room more powerfully than the black modern lamps that lined the walls and were designed to look like skulls.

Yes, Hades tried his very hardest to seem like the evil lord of doom that most people assumed him to be, but quite honestly, he wasn't all that terrifying. He just portayed the image that people gave him because he didn't want anyone to mess with him, or his family. Despite his complaints about them, Hades was just like any other Greek.