Page 157 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

I force a smileas I chew.

He studies me with eyes that have narrowed a pinch. After a few seconds, he cuts into his over-rare steak. I can feel the pain of that meat with the blood streaming out from where the blade sliced.

“So how was it anyway?” he asks.

I furrow my eyebrows. “How was what?”

“Banging her? The Grove daughter.”

My frown intensifies. “Banging her?”

Paisley and I certainly “banged,” but it was more than that. Sometimes I can still hear her whisper my name. I see her face all the time. I can even taste her mouth. But the impression she left on me is more than sexual. These days, when I have to make important decisions in regard to product development, I ask myself what she would do or say. I lost a lot when I lost her. I consider her an unexplored treasure chest. I wanted to know everything about her. I always have and probably always will.

“Earth to Herc,” Achilles says.

I shake my head. “Sex was good.”

After a few moments, Achilles puts down his fork and knife. “Listen, Herc.”

I put more steak in my mouth, but I can’t even taste it. I’m looking at him, waiting to hear more of his bullshit.

“I know you’ve fallen for the girl. Personally, I don’t give a damn. The same with Orion and Treasure Grove—I didn’t care. But Mother…” He shook his head. “She hits the roof.”

“And why is that?”

He adjusts in his seat. “Why?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet, Herc?”

“Apparently not. What is there to figure?”

He snorts. “And you’re the smart one. Her…” He leans toward me, his chest nearly perpendicular with the table. “The love of this is the root of all evil.”

My back presses against the chair. “Money?”

He points at me. “Those are the brains I know and love.”

I shake my head adamantly, He’s wrong. “It can’t be money. Who has more money than the Groves? A marriage between the Groves and Valentines would benefit us more than it would them.”

Achilles jerks his head back. “Marriage,” he says as if it’s a dirty word. “You wanted to marry the girl?”

Agitated, I sigh. “That’s not what I said. I’m saying, if money is the only reason why our mother would be so goddamn upset if I’m involved with Paisley Grove, then she would have nothing to be angry about. I’ve seen what Paisley can do in high school and while she worked at VTI. I think she’s the main reason they’re on top. Instead of trying to talk me into marrying that loser, Rain, who’s a crook, she should be breaking her neck trying to make a match between me and Paisley Grove or Orion and Treasure Grove. I just established that her issue with the Groves is not about money, so what is it?”

As if he’s frozen in his seat, Achilles stares at me with a thoughtful smirk until he abruptly readjusts. “If it’s not money, then I don’t know what the issue could between our two families. And I don’t care either.”

“Yeah, you do know.”

“No. I don’t.”

I snort bitterly. I don’t believe him. “You just better hope it never happens to you. Because if it does, I’m going to sit back and watch with a smile.”

He spears a bite of steak with his fork. “If what happens to me?”

“You’re forced to marry somebody you don’t love. It’s all on me now, but I just can’t picture a world where you escape the same fate.”

He glares at me, chewing thoughtfully. I can see it, dead in his eyes—the fear. He knows it can happen to him. I never thought it could, until now.