P. Hoover - Solstice

“Shayne tricked you, Persephone.” His hand retreats slightly though, and rubs my thigh again, willing me to relax my legs.

An ache inside me wants to. To let him take me. Like I let Shayne. But Shayne is who I should be with. “No. I want—”

Reese’s mouth moves to mine again, but this time it’s fierce. His lips press on me, and I can’t breathe. But I’m kissing him back all the same with equal ferocity to his own. His hand on my leg begins again, and his other hand moves up my stomach, sliding under my shirt, until it finds my nipple, hard and waiting.

I gasp when he touches it. But I know this is wrong. Why am I letting him do this? It’s so not right.

“I want you to stop.” I don’t want him to stop. I want him to keep going. At least right now I do.

But Reese doesn’t stop.

“I want you to stop.” Louder this time. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.

When he pulls back, it takes every bit of effort I have to not reach for him again. I’m breathing so hard, it comes out in gasps. And my heart is pounding with enough force I can see my eyes beating.

“Oh, gods, Persephone. Please just give me a chance. I can be everything and more to you than Hades. I can make you feel like a woman. To live above the earth. And what does Hades have to offer you? Life in Hell? Torturing and burning. Dead souls everywhere. Is that what you really want? If it is, I can give you that, too.”

I’m dying to be with Reese. To let him have his chance. But it’s all wrong, and my mind screams it at me over and over.

“I love Shayne.”

“Love! He’s lied to you. Tricked you.”

I shake my head. “Shayne wouldn’t do that.” But a fresh wave of Reese’s intoxicating smell enters my nose, and his words shift around and weave into something that makes sense.

“Why don’t you ask him what he’s been doing with Chloe? You think you’re the only girl Hades is looking at?”

“Chloe?” I can’t believe Reese’s words.

But he nods. “Why do you think she’s acting so strangely? She can’t look you in the eye. She’s sleeping with your boyfriend every chance she gets.”

“Not Chloe. She wouldn’t do that.” But I remember Chloe and her sheets. The ones she’d cut to shreds because they’d felt dirty. Not to mention how distant she’s been and her dates she’s told me nothing about.

“She would. Over and over. Why do you think Hades saved her?”

“Because he loves me.”

Reese jumps to his feet. “Wrong, Piper. Because he wanted to have her for himself.”

I get up and move away, turning around so my back is to him. “You’re wrong.”

I hear him coming behind me. His hands are on my bare shoulders, and he leans into my ear. “I’m not wrong. And you know it.” And he nibbles on my earlobe, sending a fresh wave of desire on top of the hurt I’m feeling from Shayne’s lies. The lies which all fit together now. I can see them burning clearly in my mind like a hideous jigsaw puzzle. Reese’s scent gives me perfect clarity.

I lean back into Reese, letting his hands rub me. Explore me. And then he turns me around and kisses me again, and it’s all I can do to not drop to the floor right there on top of him. His breath tastes like wine, and I go after it, trying to draw as much of it into myself as I can. His hands move everywhere, and I don’t stop them. Reese is willing to tell me the truth. And Shayne has lied to me. Shayne is with Chloe. Shayne doesn’t want me.

“Yes, Persephone. Be mine. I’ll love you forever. Protect you from your mother. You’ll never have to go back with her. We can be together always. Side by side.” His lips move to my neck and then farther down, pushing aside the strap of my shirt.

But when I see him, the top of his head, the color of his hair, I know I’m not ready. I moved too fast with Shayne which it turns out was a huge mistake. And I don’t want to make that mistake again.

“I can’t.” I force his aroma from my nostrils and speak the words as flat as I can.

Reese keeps kissing. Rubbing. Ignoring me.

“I’m not ready.”

He looks up, and his hands stop. “Great Zeus. If you’re not ready, then I don’t know who is.”

I shake my head, my brain and my body fighting inside me. Wanting him. Not wanting him. “I’m not ready. I need time to think.”

Reese drops his hands, and his face hardens. “When then?”

I shrug, taking a step backward. Away from his smell. “I don’t know.”

Our eyes meet, and Reese looks hard at me. “Don’t take too long.”

I close my eyes and shake my head. “I won’t.”

And then he moves toward me again and kisses me. I fight to keep the smell from overpowering me, but the kiss is deep and sweet, and I don’t pull away.

But he does. “Something to remember me by.” He steps back, moving toward the door and opening it. “If you need me, just call my name. I am at your disposal.”

When the door finally closes behind him, I fall to the ground, trying to get a hold on the flood of emotions moving through me. I want Reese so badly, yet I want Shayne, too. But Shayne doesn’t want me. It’s Chloe he wants. Not me. Chloe.

I throw the door open once Reese is gone to try to clear the air. As his scent evaporates, I’m convinced I must be crazy. I don’t want Reese. Reese cannot be trusted. He’s drugging me with his scent. That’s all it is, just more lies. It’s an entire world that can’t be trusted, and I’ve fallen into it.

I run back into the school because I have to talk to Chloe. I refuse to believe what Reese said about her and Shayne, but I just have to hear it from her lips.

“meet me in the auditorium,” I text her. They don’t use the eco A/C in the afternoon to cool it, so no one will be there.

“k,” she texts back. Just like that.

I sit on the stage and wait for her. She looks up at me when she walks in and smiles almost like the old Chloe I used to know. The happy Chloe who took me to get a tattoo. The one who tied a present for me with a red ribbon. I try to smile back. My heart knows Reese’s words can’t be true, but lingering thoughts in my mind keep making me think what if .

The curtain’s drawn, and it’s hot as a sauna, but we have the entire place to ourselves. My stomach convulses every time I think about bringing up her and Shayne, about confronting her—especially since she seems so normal now. But I have to.

She beats me to the punch. “So, Piper, is there anything you’re not telling me?” She says it so normally, like we’ve been hanging out as if nothing’s happened. As if the last time I saw her she hadn’t told me she killed Randy Conner’s dad.

It’s a fair question. But in my defense, Chloe has not been in any state to tell anything. I’ve wanted to tell her everything. To have her help me. Give me advice. Things that friends do.

“Like what?”

Chloe reaches behind her head, untying her gray bandana. “Oh, I don’t know. Has anything unusual happened recently?”

She knows. Has Shayne told her who I am? Have they really been together? Blood rushes to my head, pounding in my ears. But I keep my face as normal as possible.

I purse my lips. “Why do you ask?”

Her eyes flash to me, and for a split second, I see the ghost Chloe inside. The one who nearly died at the creek. But then it’s gone, and this new deceiver Chloe is back. “I just heard a couple things, that’s all.”

I try to keep my expression from changing. “From who?”

“That guy, Shayne.” She reties the bandana, but it’s off center. Chloe never ties her bandana off center.