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Thalia
“Are you sure?” Vinny asked, but he was already setting up another shot.
“I just dumped the first man I ever wanted to think about marrying, Vin. Let me drink my feelings in peace.”
She’d chosen the bar that wasn’t crawling with college students, but it wasn’t long before she realized her mistake. Vinny, the bartender, had been her best friend in third grade, and the rest of the bar filled up with her fellow alumni not long after she parked herself on a stool. She tried to keep her head down, but she was pretty sure one of the guys playing pool was Josh Andrews, and she wasn’t sure she’d had enough to drink to face him yet.
“You’re not planning on driving back up that hill, are you?” he asked, sliding the shot glass toward her.
“Nah.” She downed it and grimaced. “Might just sleep in my car.”
“I’m sure if you called Maria she’d let you crash at her place.”
“And then Maria can call Nikki and Nikki can tell Alex, and now I’m waking up to a lecture on irresponsibility and assigned some extended family chaperone. Thanks but no thanks. Another.”
He poured it. “So is this about that big guy everyone says they’ve been seeing you with this last week?”
She let her forehead thunk against the bartop. “You too?”
“I’m the bartender, baby. I hear all the best gossip.”
She grabbed a handful of his shirt. “If you tell Nikki, I swear to God I will tell the whole world what you were really doing with Sofia on the bus back from Hershey Park.”
He laughed, unlocking her fingers from his collar. “It’s a little late for that to be earth-shattering news. Don’t worry, though. Tom swore us all to secrecy.”
“That little rat!” She downed the shot. It didn’t taste nearly so bad this time. That was probably a sign she’d had too many. “I swore him to secrecy.”
“You know how he talks.” He scooped some ice into a glass and filled it with water, setting it in front of her on the counter. “Tell you what. Keep your eyes open until we close and you can crash at my place if no one else will take you in. Provided you swear on your life you never breathe a word of it to your brother.”
“Cross my heart.” She eyed the water with distaste. “One more?”
“Drink that, then we’ll talk.”
She drank the water in slow sips, keeping her hair down and her hand up to hide her face from the pool tables. Vinny served his other patrons their next rounds before coming back to her, and by then her bladder was going to burst.
“Are you sure you’re going to make it to the bathroom?” he asked, when she slid off the stool, catching herself on the bar before she lost her balance. There was a pleasant feeling of disconnect between her feet and her head, and her fingertips tingled. “Thalia?”
“Hm?”
Vin sighed. “Hey Josh!”
“Shhh!” She practically threw herself over the bar to clap a hand over his mouth. “Don’t tell him I’m here!”
Vin caught her and eased her back to her feet, pulling her hand from his face. “Sweetheart, he’s been losing at pool for the last two hours staring at you.”
Josh put an arm around her waist. “I’ve got her, Vin.”
Vin let her go carefully. “Our Greek goddess needs an escort to the bathroom.”
“I do not!” She shoved against Josh’s chest until she stumbled free and he caught her by the elbow just before she fell into a stool. She started laughing, though she wasn’t sure why. “Oops.”
“Yeah,” Josh said. “Oops. Come on, just wrap your arm around my waist and we’ll get you where you need to go.”
“You can leave me at the door.” Now that she was moving, she felt a little bit more in control. At least her feet were going where she wanted them to. Josh gave her a long look, but didn’t argue beyond holding the door while she careened into the frame on the way in.
“Careful, all right? The last thing we need is for you to crack your skull open on the floor.”
“Please!” She shut the door in his face and locked it for good measure. Not that peeing while someone was standing outside the door listening was an easy feat. But she managed to take care of business and get back to her feet without overbalancing.
Thalia washed her hands, then leaned against the sink, staring at her reflection. She pressed her fingertip into the hickey at the curve of her neck. Pirithous. He hadn’t even tried to stop her. He could have. He could have picked her up with one arm and thrown her over his shoulder, if he’d wanted to. Bastard. Then she laughed, because he really was one. The bastard son of Zeus.
“Thalia?” Josh called, knocking.
She covered the mark on her neck with her hand and stumbled over to the door, twisting the lock. Josh opened it from the outside. “Hi,” she said.
He frowned, searching her face. “Are you all right?”
“I think I might be drunk.”
His lips twitched, the frown fading. “You think?”
“You know what would be good right now?” She let him help her back to her stool. Funny, she didn’t remember it having a back before, but now it was one of those super tall chairs. She grinned at Vin once she was settled, spinning the chair side to side. “Ice!”
“Ice?”
“Please!”
Vin raised both eyebrows, glancing at Josh, who shrugged. “Better than shots.”
A plastic cup filled with ice appeared in front of her and she smiled. “Thanks! Um. Maybe also a beer?”
Vin slid the half-full glass of water back in front of her. “Finish that, then we’ll talk.”
“Killjoy.” But he was already back down the bar, pouring someone else a drink.
***
HER HEAD POUNDED. SHE groaned pulling the pillow over her eyes to block out the light and the sound of some jerk mowing the lawn. Mowing the—she sat up so fast her stomach almost didn’t make it with her, but the fear that Pirithous was fooling with the lawnmower was replaced by an acute sense of embarrassment. This was not her bedroom. And it was definitely not her lawn being mown.
“Wha’s wrong?”
She closed her eyes and fell back, drawing the pillow over her face again. Josh’s bedroom. Josh’s voice. Josh’s bed. She wasn’t sure if she was impressed that he’d had the guts to make a move, or disgusted with him for taking advantage of the fact that she was so drunk she couldn’t walk. Either way, she didn’t remember it, and if she didn’t remember it, it didn’t happen.
“Thalia?” His weight shifted beside her on the bed and he tugged at the pillow. “Are you all right?”
She took a deep breath and pulled the pillow down. “Hi.”
He propped himself up on an elbow, studying her face. “There’s the garbage can next to you, if you’re going to be sick.”
She flushed. “Just the headache of doom, thanks.”
“I’ll get you some water.” He threw the sheet off, and she couldn’t help but glance down. Boxers. That was something. He sat up, pulling a shirt over his head. “Aspirin?”
“That would be amazing.”
He slipped out of the room, and she sat up carefully, drawing her knees to her chest. She was wearing boxers too, and a shirt that definitely wasn’t hers. She rubbed her face. What the hell had she done last night that she’d wound up dressed in someone else’s clothes?
Josh returned with the water and the drugs and she thanked him, using the excuse of hydration to put off asking.
“So are you going to tell me what happened?”
She froze in the act of setting the glass down on the bedside table, her heartbeat kicking up a notch. They couldn’t have both been that drunk, could they? Though, that would explain where he’d found the courage to make any move at all. “Um?”
“With the bleeding dude?”
“Oh.” Her stomach twisted. No way she was going to rehash that now. “Actually, I was kind of wondering what we did. First.”
“You spilled your beer and started crying. It was still an hour before last call, so Vin sent you home with me.”
“Ah.” That explained the new clothes, and if she’d thrown herself at him and he’d refused, he was too polite to mention it. There was definitely such a thing as too considerate. Probably for the best she didn’t remember, or she’d just be annoyed. “Well, that’s not so bad.”
“So?”
“So...?”
“Shot by an arrow ring any bells?”
She swallowed and looked away. Pirithous. Her heart felt hollow just thinking his name. How could she have fallen so hard for him so fast? Unbelievable.
“Look, I just want to know if I have to worry about getting beat up or not.”
“You’re something else, Josh.” She slid off the bed and went in search of her clothes. Even if they smelled like beer, it was better than staying here. Why she had ever thought he might make a good rebound, she didn’t know.
There. Her top was hanging from the curtain rod in the bathroom, and her shorts were draped over the edge of the tub. The tank top had taken the worst of the beer, and it was still damp. She wrinkled her nose. Well. She’d just have to borrow his shirt.
“How far do you live from the bar?” she called over her shoulder as she changed back into her shorts.
“That’s it? You’re just going to take off?”
She turned. It wasn’t even worth getting annoyed that he’d been watching her. He’d never do anything about it. “I appreciate the fact that you took care of me, but yeah. After the show I put on last night, I have a feeling my brother will be on his way, and I don’t think either one of us wants him to find me here.”
“At least let me give you a ride back to your car.”
“I’ll owe you one.”
“Sure.” He pulled some pants on and grabbed his keys, ushering her out the door.
By the time she got to her car, Thalia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. After Josh drove off, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel and closed her eyes. Why was it that all she’d managed to do last night was make herself miss Pirithous even more?