“You’re not making sense, old friend,” Hyperion said, an undercurrent in his voice. A warning maybe? What he was warning Cronus about I had no idea.
#ICanReadBodyLanguage #Not
The screams increased and so did the anger on Cronus’ face, and when he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second, I did the same, trying to get my heart together. Bitch was beating all over the place and I was worried I might be dying at how painful it was.
#AnyoneKnowTheSignsOfAHeartAttack
When I opened them again, Cronus was watching me, and I could have sworn that for a brief second, a beat of emotion shattered between us, before he tore his gaze away.
“Okay, let’s go with Maisey’s plan,” he said, facing away. “But if anything goes wrong, we get out of there. Being infected by Jealousy is not something any of us should take lightly. People kill for far less.”
Hyperion nodded. “You bring her to the front of the apartment and I’ll cover the balcony. We’ll trap him inside.”
“I’ll pretend I’m a delivery person or something,” I added.
Cronus just grabbed my hand and took off down the alley.
#WhyDoesHeHaveToHoldMyHand #NotStrongEnoughForThis
“He moves quickly. We need to be just as fast,” Cronus snapped as we turned on to the main road and entered the open double doors of an apartment building.
It was a rundown and ghetto place with no doorman, just an out-of-service elevator and a stairwell.
“Bottom floor,” Cronus whispered and yanked me past a row of mail slots and to a hallway of doors. This place smelled like a moldy Laundromat and I curled my lips in disgust.
As we walked down the hall, barely-contained rage began to rise within me. Strife, Sickness, and Turmoil were all rattling my chest as if they felt one of their brothers near.
“Feel that? He’s here,” Cronus whispered.
I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. If I did, I might unleash the torrent of anger I had at Cronus. The sins were pushing my emotions higher and higher, and at some point I was going to explode.
We slowed, and then my eyes fell on a door that was propped open a few inches. There was a deep black inky substance dripping from the knob.
Cronus stilled. He pointed to the door and his eyes widened.
This was it.
I stepped closer, only pausing when Cronus pulled my arm. When I looked back at him, there was a brief sign of worry and alarm on his face, but then it was gone. Yanking my hand from his, I stepped into the apartment, looking around.
“Got your pizza here!” I called out. “Extra ranch.”
People fucking loved their ranch.
There was a skittering sound in the back room. Dread tightened my gut. What if he killed me? I was just waltzing in here with no weapon? Note to self: Buy a gun. #InPink
“You’re making this easy on me,” a deep demonic voice called out from behind me and I spun. When my eyes landed on the inky black humanoid figure, I yelped.
“Maisey!” Cronus cried out.
Jealousy zoomed toward me inhumanly fast, and thrust an arm out, splashing my chest with his inky shit. He did all of this without even touching me. Then he zoomed out of the room and out an open window like a fucking vampire on speed.
A burst of fury rocked me, sliding across my body and deep into my gut. Following it was the need for cold hard revenge. I’d never been angrier in my entire life. And just like that the subject of my anger burst into the room.
Cronus.
Reaching out, I grabbed the kitchen knife that lay on the counter.
“I’ll kill you and her,” I growled.
Out of nowhere, all I could see in my head was Rhea. Fucking Rhea. I hated her. I hated her so much. They had children together. He’d fucked her. Multiple times. This was why he left me; it had to be, because he’d been with her to send her to watch me.
#MadePerfectSenseInMyHead
Cronus took one look at the black mess on my chest and his face hardened. “Maisey, calm down, sweetheart. This is not you. This is Jealousy speaking.”
“CALM DOWN?” I roared, as black smoke began to ebb from my fingertips. “Did you just call me sweetheart? Really? After everything you put me through?” I jabbed my fingers at him and they were as black as the slime on my chest. “I was falling for you. Something real and serious and you had to go and fuck your ex-wife.”
The words coming from my mouth were not rational, but they made fucking sense to me. It was the only thing that made sense. Cronus put his hands out, walking slowly toward me. “I haven’t slept with Rhea in centuries.”
My chest heaved. “Don’t lie to me. How could you? How could you kiss me like that, make me fall for you and then just leave me!” I chucked the knife at him and he barely dodged it, eyes wide.
“Maisey!”
Launching myself toward him, I was fully intending to slap him right across the face, but he caught my arm mid-swing. His fingers touched the black ink that had splashed from my chest onto my arms and his entire face shifted from stoic indifference to something that represented the rage I felt inside. His eyes were like lasers, the blue and gold practically spinning as he swung me around and slammed me back against the wall. His body pressed to mine.
“What about you? I leave you for a few weeks and you’re already whoring around with those fuck boys on the beach?”
It hit me then, in a far-off place in my mind that was still clear—we were both infected with Jealousy. But since I’d wanted to say all of this for so long, I didn’t even care. I didn’t even fight it; it felt good to be this mad, this passionate about my feelings for him and what he did to me.
“Matt is a friend” I growled, as Cronus, still holding my arm,
