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Thalia
Thalia prayed to God that Nikki wouldn’t notice the flush in her cheeks or the smell of Pirithous all over her body. “Gotta pee,” she mumbled before she dodged into the bathroom to buy herself a few minutes.
Thank God she’d had the presence of mind to put on her pajama shirt, and not just a tank top from the day before. She checked the mirror to make sure her hair covered any hickeys on her neck. The shirt hid most of it, and the rest would be gone in a day or so. None of them were very dark, but the things Pirithous could do with his mouth...
No. She didn’t have time to think about that, and it was only going to make her face redder than it already was. Thalia splashed cold water on her cheeks and wished she had time to shower. Nikki was pretty quick on the uptake and Thalia’s hair definitely smelled like sex. If she kept it down, Nikki would notice when they hugged. If she put it up, Nikki would see the marks on her skin.
Ugh! Why had she taken him to bed last night? She hid her face in her hands. For God’s sake, Thalia. You’ve only known him for what? Thirty-six hours? But if she hadn’t taken him to bed, he’d be on the living room couch, and Nikki would definitely have noticed that. Then she would have made damn sure that Thalia didn’t have a chance to go to bed with him at all.
Having experienced exactly what Pirithous could do, she could safely say missing out would have been much, much worse than getting caught. He had been so focused, so intent on her, and so skilled... She didn’t even want to think about where he’d learned to do the things he did, or how many other women he’d been with.
Thalia groaned. She should have made him get tested or something. She should have at least made him use a condom. Birth control was all well and good, but if he had some kind of STD from the past, she was going to hate herself. With her luck it would be something that the medical community had declared dead for a thousand years, and how was she going to explain that to her brother?
Alexandros was going to kill her when he found out. But if she could just get Nikki out the door and on her way back to the city, he wouldn’t have to know anything. Nikki would tell him they’d picked up a stray, given him a place to sleep and some food, and sent him on his way. That’s all. Thalia had made her swear not to mention the one kiss she knew about. Alex would be annoyed, but since it had all turned out harmless, he’d probably leave it alone until she did something else that brought it to mind. Or someone broke into the house while they had it shut up. He would definitely blame her for that, if it ever happened.
She took a deep breath, smoothed her hair down, and resolved to make her goodbye-hug as brief as humanly possible. Then she could deal with Pirithous. Ugh. Her face was red again. Do not think about Pirithous. Think about Nikki leaving. Having the house to yourself—and not what you’re going to do with Pirithous in the house by yourself.
Condoms. She should go to the store and pick up condoms. Although at this point, it was probably closing the barn door after the horse had already gotten out. She would need to wash the sheets. Thank God she’d gone with the white ones and not the blue. Yes, see. Sheets. Laundry. She had laundry to do. Clothes to wash.
Thalia flushed the toilet for appearances and opened the bathroom door. “Hey, Nikki?”
“Yeah?”
Thalia followed her voice to the kitchen, and took up residence on the opposite side of the counter with the excuse of grabbing a banana. The more space between them the better.
“Are you leaving right now?”
“Yeah. I just have to take my bags out to the car.” She was making a sandwich for breakfast, even going so far as to break out the pickles Thalia had gotten for Pirithous. Maybe she meant to eat it in the car. “I barely even unpacked, so that was helpful. Alex said to tell you not to do anything he’ll regret.”
Thalia rolled her eyes. “If he has something to say to me, he can call me up and say it himself. You shouldn’t be playing operator for him.”
“Give him a break, Thalia.” She took a bite of the pickle and Thalia grimaced, leaning back to look at the clock. Maybe it was later than she thought. Pirithous had kept them both up longer than she’d really anticipated, and they hadn’t exactly started early to begin with.
All that vinegar on an empty stomach at nine in the morning. Just the thought of it made her feel a little queasy.
“You know he’s just worried about you.”
“Well he can worry about me directly instead of using you as a conduit, all right?” She couldn’t even bring herself to eat the banana anymore, though maybe the smell of the fruit would overwhelm whatever else was clinging to her. She peeled it, and forced herself to take a bite. “I don’t need another mother, and he has no business turning you into one.”
Nikki’s face turned red. “Alex isn’t turning me into anything. This is who I am, and thank God for you that at least one of us thought about consequences once in a while or you probably would’ve ended up pregnant in high school! That you made it through college without picking up some kind of disgusting STD is a miracle.”
The words were worse than a slap, the sting branding across her heart and pricking her eyes with tears she absolutely refused to shed. The blow was too low, too cruel to give Nikki the satisfaction, but it was all she could do to keep her voice even. “That’s really what you think of me?”
“You make it hard to think anything else!” Nikki grabbed her sandwich, half-wrapped in a paper towel, and slung her purse over her shoulder, making for the door. “Honestly, Thalia. Why can’t you just grow up?”
And then she was gone, the front door slamming behind her and the sound of her suitcase thumping down the stairs. Thalia stood frozen at the counter, banana in her hand, until the car started, and she realized Nikki wasn’t coming back in to say goodbye.
She dropped into a seat on one of the barstools and stared at the fruit in her hand, but it blurred and swam.
Nikki was gone, and for the life of her, Thalia had no idea what the hell had just happened.