Page 61 of Infinity Chronicles 1
A sour taste fills my mouth. I want to disappear from this room, more importantly, from hearing this conversation. A small smile lifts Mia’s lips at the mention of Ares. “What can I say, he’s lost without me.”
“I’m going to take Laura home,” Dante throws out conversationally.
Mia shifts so I’m back in her direct line of sight, but her eyes land on Dante. “I just left Ares’ room, he said you guys had plans this evening.” She delivers like a subtle reminder.
Dante straightens. “Yeah she needed a ride home from the diner. I promised Maggie we’d help out driving her home since she doesn’t have a car. Ares knows I won’t be long.” My lips tighten into a hard line. I’ve been firmly placed in the same category as the help and I’m an unnecessary obligation to a family friend.
Mia tilts her head, looking at nothing in particular. “I haven’t seen Maggie in ages. Will you tell her I said hi? I’ll stop in and see her when Ares gives me a second to breath.” Her words are filled with exasperation, but her face tells me she loves every second of being needed.
“Sure,” I mutter, wondering why they even brought me here if they were just going to take me back home an hour later.
“Later Mia.” Dante waves over his shoulder, and I follow along behind him expecting to head toward the mudroom where my shoes are. Instead, he trails through the house until I’m in a familiar open hallway. Ares’s door lies closed a few feet in front of Dante. He raps on the door quickly before opening it and looking behind him to make sure no one is around.
He pushes the door open and ushers me inside, closing the door behind us. There’s a dim light coming from a lamp by beside the bed. The textured gray walls seem to absorb more of the light than the small fixture throws off. Most of the room is cast in shadows, hinting at what might lie just out of sight.
I cross my arms over my stomach. “Why am I here?” I can’t keep the contempt from my voice.
Dante’s voice is pitched low when he answers, like he thinks someone might overhear him. “I’ll have to leave for a little bit. I don’t have another excuse for why you’d still be with me when I come back.”
“Then don’t make one.”
Dante looks around, his hands raised in question. “Don’t make an excuse? Then why else would you be with me?”
His words shatter the anger I was feeling, leaving behind only the painful reminder I still don’t belong. Shrinking in on myself I mutter, “Wow, that’s harsh.”
The lines in Dante’s brow deepen, his eyes jumping around. “What? Never mind, we can talk about this later, just wait here. Someone will come for you in a little while.”
Realizing his intent to leave me here I jump into action, grabbing his arm as he turns back for the door. “Wait.” Now I’m whispering. “What if she comes back in here and sees me?”
“In Ares room? She would never look for you here.”
“I didn’t say she would be looking for me.” My hands go to my hips and I glare at him.
Dante shakes his head. “You don’t have to worry about that. Ares must have sent her out for the night, or she never would have been in the kitchen.” Pulling his phone from his front pocket Dante checks the screen. “But it’s late, she just got back to town so she’s probably staying here until they get her sorted.”
I clench my teeth, jealousy warring with anger. “That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t want her to find me in Ares’s room.”
“Laura, she won’t come back here tonight. Ares wouldn’t allow it.” Now I’m the one confused. “Just go sit on the,” he looks around the sparsely appointed room, “bed or something. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He’s gone before I have another chance to object. “Jerk,” I mutter to the closed door. Throwing my hands wide and my head back at the ceiling in exasperation, I fight the urge to scream at the frustration coursing through my veins. I spin instead, looking for something I can throw against the wall. The bed is the only real furnishing in the room, even the lamps on either side of the bed are built right into the wall, so I stalk over to the bed and snatch a heavy feather filled pillow and launch it at the wall of curtains on the opposite side of the room. It thunks to the floor before reaching its destination. I growl then stomp over to pick it up, squeezing it in both hands I bury my face in the dense fluffiness and let out the scream I so desperately need to free.
“What has you all riled upgattino?” Ares’s low voice startles me enough I let loose a real scream. My body wilts, exhausted by the constant upheaval of emotions. One look at my face and he’s walking over, a slight frown marring his features. “What’s wrong?” Ares’s eyes search mine, and I roll my lips to keep the words I want to say from escaping. If they hide me away now, what will they think if they know how much I crave touching them? How I can’t even be in a room with them without wanting to have them surrounding me? And it’s not just one of them. I want all of them in the same way. It’s harder to hide when it comes to Ares, because everything about him screams sensual. It’s like his eyes are begging me to touch him right now.
I spin away from him, letting myself drop to the bed. In that moment I make the decision to tell him some of what I’m feeling. I can’t meet his eyes when I say, “I think our connection, our Infinity, whatever you what to call it, is broken.”
Ares folds himself next to me, his feet bare stretching out much further than my own. My eyes travel up over the light gray pants he’s wearing and past the thin black t-shirt to his face. His hair is wet, curling at the end where the water is still pooling off the tips to land on his shoulders, the dark fabric concealing any of the moisture that falls.
“I really don’t think that to be true,” he holds up his hand to stop me when I would interrupt him, “but tell meCara, why you think it is.”
“I know you know my name is Laura.” Ares hides a grin, smothering it with his hand. “Why do you call meCara?”
Ares sighs, leaning back on his hands. I watch the lines of his torso as he does. He looks up at the ceiling, unaware I’m ogling him. “Did you know my mother was Italian?” He departs the information so conversationally. I shake my head no, even though he must know this information is new to me, but I’m afraid to interrupt him. “Until her marking manifested, she lived in Italy.”
“My fathers were both from America, so it was decided she would come here. She never really got over leaving her family. We usually manifest around sixteen, she was a young girl all alone except for her pair, living in a big city.” Ares turns to face me, his lips tipped up at the corners crinkling his eyes. “She would like you.”
Before I have a chance to say anything he continues. “She said having me made her miss home even more, we grew up speaking both languages.” Dropping back on the bed, his eyes still on me he adds, “Sometimes I slip up, and in ItalianCarais a term of endearment.”
“Where is she now?” I lie back on the bed, turning so I’m facing him with my head supported by my hand.
