Page 73 of The Gods Forbid

“I should probably go now that he saw me,” I said to Persy.

“Great! All the more reason to join you,” Nikolas said, clapping his hands together. I ignored him.

Persy stepped closer to me, close enough that our chests almost brushed. “Be patient with him. He doesn’t do that well with sudden loud noises, so try to grab anything before it drops to the floor.”

I nodded. Just because I didn’t find all that much value in being nice to people didn’t mean I’d intentionally set Penn off-kilter.

Persy’s smile settled into a lovely, soft expression. Motherfucker, my chest felt tight.

I jerked my chin behind her. “Go. I’ll see you later.”

Persy didn’t move. “I think I owe you dinner tonight. I’ll bring something from Kostas.”

No freaking out over her chef. “Alright.” Good, that sounded passably agreeable.

Persy looked over her shoulder at Nikolas, who was openly staring at us. When he realized he was caught, he suddenly found a passing butterfly incredibly interesting.

“You’ve done enough today,” she said, voice dripping over me like the softest of fabrics. “Your uncle is kind of an asshole. Fuck him.”

I laughed, unable to stop the sound. “Right you are,” I said, and then because I was sure Penn was bouncing up and down waiting for us to be done, I begrudgingly ended our conversation. “See you later.”

Persy smiled and nodded, stepping away from me and giving Nikolas a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away. Nikolas could fucking wait as I watched her leave, tracking her the entire way.

When I turned back to him, he was looking at me like I’d sprouted a second head. “You made her swear.”

My eyebrows drew together. “What?” It was only then that I realized that she had just called my uncle an asshole when I didn’t think I’d ever heard her use that word.

“She hardly ever swears.” Yeah, dumbass, I know that. “Only when she’s really frustrated or angry.” Nikolas was speaking like he was somewhat in wonder of the whole situation. Honestly, he was the type to try to tease her into saying shit.

I was a fucking bastard, because this whole thing made my chest swell with pride.

That I could rile her up enough to make words like fuck slip into her vocabulary, make her lyrical, sweet voice roll over it.

And rather than resolving to back off, to stop frustrating her, all I wanted to do was find more ways to get her to say it. Different situations where she’d be so overwhelmed, a breathy fuck would slip past those perfect lips.

I didn’t feel an ounce of shame for that, even though I should. I really should.

Nikolas didn’t need to see me grinning like a fiend, so I steeled my expression and jerked my chin towards Penn. “If you’re gonna come torture me, might as well start now.”

It would be … interesting to see how Nikolas acted around me. Nikolas opened his arms dramatically. “After you, Seb.”

I turned to stride towards Penn, conveniently hiding my expression. That was a teenage nickname that I hadn’t heard in years. Nikolas, who’d been arguably my best friend then, had a right to use it. Didn’t mean I was used to hearing it.

We made it to Penn quickly, but he managed to get some serious air on his excited jumps on our way over. “How are you today, Penn?” I asked. I knew how to be nice.

Penn smiled, “I’m really excited.” His voice was shaking.

Shit, I’d never taught someone art. Trying to explain the method behind each individual brushstroke was damn near impossible. I blacked out half the time when I was painting and when I came to, there was something down on the canvas.

I cleared my throat, resetting my shoulders. “Well, let’s get started.”

Penn made quick work of showing me the room that Persy had set up. She had thought of everything. It was fully stocked with all the finest materials, the most considerate details, down to certain chairs that made it more comfortable when you leaned over.

I could barely get a word in edge-wise, Penn was talking so fast. I could see where people may have treated him poorly in the past. Not by any fault of his own. Most people were rather selfish, moving through life at the speed they preferred.

If they only paused to listen, they’d find that Penn was actually an incredibly good story teller, you just had to take the time to tune into the way he spoke. If he wasn’t able to sort through the difference between someone being rude because they were selfish instead of them being rude because he did something wrong … yeah, I could see the hurt there.

And for a kid who couldn’t be over eighteen…