Dio strolled along the shore and kicked another pebble into the water. He was at a loss as to how to proceed with Ariadne. He felt like an ass for how he’d behaved the other night, seducing her after the dinner and then leaving her hanging high and dry—and himself too—when she was about to surrender, when really what he wanted was to take her into his arms and tell her that he knew the truth.
But he couldn’t do that.
Ari had deceived him, manipulated him like the best of them, and now he had to get even. Besides, he couldn’t trust her. What kind of woman would send two goons to beat up the man she cared about? That, he couldn’t condone.
“I’ve never seen you so buried in your own thoughts that you don’t even sense another god approaching.”
Dio spun on his heels and faced his father. Today, Zeus was dressed in shorts and a simple polo shirt, and he made even that outfit look like coming straight from a fashion shoot.
“Zeus, what a surprise.” And not necessarily a good one. “What is it this time? Have you gotten bored up on Olympus, and gone looking for some bootie down here?” Might as well call it by its name.
“My dear son—”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Whenever his father started with that phrase, a lecture wasn’t far behind. “Why don’t you go bother one of your other sons?”
Dio increased his speed, intent on leaving Zeus behind.
Zeus simply chuckled and easily adjusted to Dio’s half-jog. “We are so alike, yet so different.”
Different? No, he was a carbon copy of his father. No wonder he hated himself. “And in what way are we different, Zeus?” He hated calling him father, always had. “Maybe in the way we treat women? You screw them first, and I screw them later? Huh? Tell me!” he spat. “Or maybe you think we’re different because you litter this world with your offspring and I don’t?”
Dio had never gotten a woman pregnant. He couldn’t imagine making a child and then leaving it and its mother to their own devices like his father had done so many times.
Zeus nodded. “I see you’re very angry right now. Could it have anything to do with that woman? What’s her name? Oh yes, Ariadne.”
Dio’s body tensed. “Leave her out of this and get to the point!”
“But she is the point.”
Dio stopped and turned to him. “What do you want? To fuck her too? Is that why you’re here? Don’t you think I’ve screwed her over enough on my own?” His stomach knotted.
When Zeus put his hand on Dio’s shoulder, he almost jumped out of his skin, surprised at the unexpected gesture.
“Son, I’m afraid Hera has interfered again.”
“You’re only just catching onto that?” Dio barked. The mere mention of her name made his blood boil. “She robbed me of my memory!”
“And I helped you gain it back,” Zeus claimed.
Dio jerked his shoulder from his grip. “You didn’t. I helped myself.”
Zeus tsked. “Who do you think sent that invitation your way so you’d find Triton?”
Dio’s mouth dropped open. His father had never helped him before. Why now?
“That’s right. I had to pull that card out of recycling and make sure you found it.”
Recovering from his shock, Dio rolled his shoulders. “Why not just come down and tell me?”
“I couldn’t be so obvious and alert Hera. Luckily, I managed to get her off my back for a short while to talk to you. You’re lucky she’s not aware yet that you’ve regained your memory, but she’ll find out sooner or later. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep her off your tail.” He made a face. “You have no idea about the sacrifices I had to make to keep her occupied so she couldn’t spy on you every minute of the day.”
Sacrifices? His father couldn’t possibly be talking about … “Eww!”
“Now, now. She’s not always as bad; you just have to figure out how to make her purr like a kitten.”
Dio raised his hand. He’d heard more than he ever wanted to know. “Please! I don’t need to know the details.” Just the image of Zeus and Hera, their bodies … eww, he couldn’t even complete the thought.
“Anyway,” Zeus continued. “Hera has been using your pretty little woman to get back at you.”
Furious at the thought that Hera was hurting Ari, he glared at his father. “I’m going to take Hera’s head off!” He clenched and unclenched his fist. “What has she done to Ari?”
“It’s more how has she manipulated Ari into taking revenge on you. You didn’t really think that your sweet girl actually came up with the whole charade herself, did you?”
“But she sent those guys after me to beat me up!”
Zeus arched an eyebrow. “You seem awfully sure about that.”
“Well, all evidence—”
Zeus made a dismissive hand movement. “—can be deceptive.”
Could he have gotten it wrong? “But those guys admitted as much …” Could they have lied? He had to find those guys, question them. “I need to—”
“All in good time. But our conversation isn’t over yet.”
“You don’t understand. If she’s not behind the beating, then I’ve done her wrong.”
Zeus chuckled. “Oh, you’ve done her wrong, all right. But not just about that. You hurt her before that.”
It was true, but Dio didn’t like hearing it from his father. “That’s rich coming from you. When have you ever not hurt a woman? So how can I help it? I’m your son!”
“It’s been a convenient excuse over the years, hasn’t it?”
Dio narrowed his eyes, not liking the direction the conversation was going in. “What are you saying? That I did it on purpose, that I acted out?”
“I’m saying that you’re scared.”
Before he knew what he was doing, Dio pounced on Zeus. They crashed into the sand. “Jerk!” Dio pulled his fist back to strike, but his father caught it in his palm and held him at bay.
“So much like your mother, all hotheaded and full of passion.”
“I’m nothing like my mother!” Semele had been weak. She’d loved Zeus, and it had destroyed her. No, he was nothing like his mother. He wouldn’t allow his emotions to destroy him.
Zeus looked past him into the distance. “Her love was so rich, so all encompassing, and more than I could take. Her heart was too big, and she didn’t know how to shield it from pain.” Then his gaze drifted back to meet Dio’s stare. “Yes, you’re very much like her: the same big heart, the same passion. Only you learned to hide those things.”
Dio jumped up, not wanting to hear any more. “That’s a crock of shit!”
Zeus rose and brushed the sand off his clothes. “Is it? Then why did you make all those rules for yourself?”
“What rules?”
“Your famous one-night-only rule. I get why you had to put that in place.”
Dio snorted. “I’m going to have to disappoint you, but there’s no particular reason behind that rule. I invented it to give the guys a laugh.”
Zeus shook his head. “Stop lying to yourself. You invented that rule so you would never experience love, so your heart would never warm to anyone.” He jabbed his finger into Dio’s chest. “Because you’re scared shitless that you’ll love the way your mother loved: body and soul, no reservations. And it scares you that you could fall in love with a woman who might not feel the same way about you.”
Dio stumbled back a few steps, his stomach lurching, his knees buckling. “No … no …” His breath deserted him. “You’re wrong.”
“I know you better than anybody. You’re my son, but you’re not like me. Yes, you’ve got your charm from me, but your heart, that’s your mother’s. It’s time you owned up to it.”
“I’m a womanizer. I’m unfaithful … I’m not good for any woman … Ari, she’s better off without me.” It’s what he’d believed all his life. He was what he was. “I’ll hurt her, just like you hurt those women in your life.”
Zeus smiled and put his arm around Dio’s shoulders. “Let me tell you something about that. Everybody believes that I left all those women after I’d had my fill and was tired of them. Truth is there were a few who gave me the boot. I just don’t go around advertising it.”
Stunned, Dio gaped at his father.
“And if you ever breathe a word of this to anybody, I’ll strike you down.”
“But you’re a philanderer.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ve got a problem with being faithful, but that’s simply because Hera is not the love of my life. We married because it was an important alliance to make, but if I’d had a choice, I would have married for love.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you think you’d be capable of being faithful if you’d married the right woman?”
He nodded. “I know that I am.”
The words stunned Dio into silence. This changed everything. He wasn’t predestined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Being Zeus’s son didn’t mean that women were better off without him, it didn’t mean that he would automatically hurt them.
Dio blinked. “I can love Ari.” And he could be faithful to her. He was capable of that. But would she love him? He’d made so many mistakes. “But what if she doesn’t love me?”
“That’s the risk we all take. But unless you open your heart and expose your feelings, you’ll never know.”
Then a disturbing thought surfaced out of nowhere. “Is Ariadne still under Hera’s influence?”
“On and off. I try to keep Hera distracted as much as I can, but even I need a breather occasionally.”
“Then how will I know who the true Ari is and which of her actions are because of Hera’s influence?”
“You have to appeal to Ari’s true self, to strengthen her trust in you so Hera’s influence will wane.”
Dio sighed. “Trust? If I tell her that I gained my memory back and know she’s been lying to me, I’ll destroy the confidence she has in me now.” He remembered the moment after he’d rescued that boy in the park and Ari had looked at him with admiration and affection. He realized that if he made her face her deception now, she would pull back. He had to make her fall in love with him first before he could reveal the truth. “She’ll be horrified at being caught lying to me, even though Hera manipulated her.”
“Then don’t tell her the truth yet. A few more days won’t matter.”
He hoped Zeus was right.
~ ~ ~
Dio finally found the two jerks in the same bar they’d been in the night they’d beaten him up. Once and for all, he needed to find out what had made Ari send those two goons after him. It had bothered him ever since he’d gained his memory back. But after his talk with Zeus, he knew he couldn’t delay this meeting any longer. Subconsciously he’d refrained from looking for them, afraid of what they would confirm: that Ari had indeed sent them after him. As long as he didn’t know for sure he could continue in the hope that it had all been a misunderstanding and that she wasn’t vicious. But once his suspicions were confirmed—he shuddered at the thought.
All evidence pointed at Ari being the instigator of that fight. Hell, the two guys had said as much that night.
The two men occupied a corner table, and by the time they recognized Dio, he’d already blocked their escape route.
Dio leaned over the table. “Hello, boys. Let’s have a civilized chat, shall we?”
“What do you want?” The taller one was brave enough not to cower, but the other guy couldn’t stop his flinch in time.
Dio raised his hand. “I’m not in the mood to fight, not right now anyway.” A sign of relief washed over the two men, their shoulders visibly relaxing. “I have a few questions though.”
The shorter one seemed to have regained some courage. “‘bout what?”
“Ariadne.”
Two pairs of eyebrows snapped together. “Leave her alone. She doesn’t need somebody like you.”
Dio glared back at the taller one who’d spoken. “Is that what she told you?”
The guy leaned halfway over the table. “She doesn’t need to. It’s pretty obvious.”
“And you know that because you’re her best friend?” Dio fished.
The man deflated somewhat and pulled back a few inches. “We’re her best customers. And when she’s upset, we’re upset.”
“Customers? At her wine shop?”
Both nodded.
“So what did she pay you for it? A free case of wine?” Was that how little he was worth to her? A case of wine to beat the crap out of him?
“Pay us? We buy wine from her.” Confusion darkened their faces.
Clearly the two weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. “For beating me up. What did she pay you for it?”
The two exchanged a look, then the taller one stared straight at Dio. “She didn’t pay us. We—”
“Ah, I see, you guys owed her a favor. Same difference.” Disappointment spread in his chest. If she had sent those two after him, then Ari didn’t care about him.
“Are you daft, man? Why would Ari pay us? She doesn’t even know we beat you up.”
Dio jolted backwards. Ari hadn’t hired the two goons? She wasn’t responsible after all? Dio couldn’t stop a grin from forming on his lips. “Ari didn’t ask you to hurt me.” It wasn’t a question. “She didn’t tell you to beat me up.” Suddenly he felt all weight lifted from his shoulders. “But … but, why then? I didn’t provoke you that night.”
“We overheard your conversation.” He scratched his head. “But—” He exchanged a look with his partner. “Hell, we’re not really sure why we did it.”
The second guy nodded. “It just came over us. Maybe we had a little too much to drink.”
Dio had a suspicion what had come over the two guys: Hera. She had manipulated them just like she had manipulated Ari. His Ari wouldn’t hurt a fly and certainly not him. She was too sweet and kind. And she still felt something for him. And there was only one way to find out how deep those feelings ran.
Because now that he knew Ari hadn’t tried to hurt him, he could allow those feelings he’d suppressed to emerge. He could allow his heart to speak for him.