Ares Ugh. Could that woman get any more infuriating. At this point, he was about ready to just say forget it. But, even just the thought of leaving her made him feel ill. But. Gods! She was so full of herself and he just could not deal with it. She didn’t understand where he was coming from. On the flip side, he absolutely did understand her point of view. And she complained that he wouldn’t bend.
Hi kettle, this is pot.
UGH. He was fuming and pacing in his apartment and just wanted to throw something. The only thing he had handy was his phone, though. And he didn’t want to destroy yet another phone because of some stupid fight he had with Aphrodite. So, instead, he just grabbed the glass that had held his drink and hurled it across the room.
Aphrodite She could get more infuriating. She could make it a lot worse. Part of her understood where he was coming from. Caleb had obligations; but so did Arista. The problem was, Arista’s obligations allowed her to do her job from anywhere in the world at any time. She just didn’t understand why he held on so hard to Caleb when he could be Ares again. Gods. She felt sick thinking about their fight. So when she told him she was going out, she went out.
She went out right to his home. It was ridiculous that she even heard his address coming out of her mouth when she got into her car. On the ride to his place, she sat back and fumed. When she entered his apartment, she was mad. When she jammed her finger onto the button for his floor, she was mad. When she stood at the door and heard the glass shatter inside, she was still mad. For a minute, ‘Dite wasn’t sure what to do, so she just let herself in. “Stop all that nonsense. I went out and ended up here. So here I am. If you throw something at me, rest assured, I will throw it back at you.”
Ares He hadn’t even heard the door open when she came into the apartment. Mostly because he was still fuming. Women. This was why he’d never had a relationship before this. He just couldn’t deal with this kind of stuff. He had his gym, his security work, the rare bit of mercenary work. That was all he needed. But now. Now there were all these emotions and things were frustrating.
He turned at her voice and eyes narrowed. “The only thing I’m going to throw again is you. Out of my place.” But he didn’t move to do it. He just glared and went to grab the broom to start cleaning up the broken glass. “Why are you here? You were going out to have all sorts of fun.”
Aphrodite “I am here because I came here to have fun with the man that I wanted to have fun with. But if you’d rather throw me out, I can do that myself.” She felt her cheeks flushing bright red at that very idea.” She’d felt bad so she’d come over and been prepared to apologize, but apparently he didn’t want that. Huffing, she stood up a little straighter and she turned around to leave. This was infuriating. Shouldn’t he be happy to see her? Even a little bit?
“I don’t have to come back, by the way. I can leave your key.” Tossing her head, her golden hair flipped her hair over her shoulder and she started to leave as slowly as she could be. Aphrodite didn’t want to leave. She wanted him to stop her. To take her up in his arms. Like he used to. But this was ridiculous. He was Ares and she was Aphrodite and she wanted him to want her the way he used to. But maybe those people were dead and not to come back.
Ares He huffed a little and swept up the glass, disappearing for a few moments to toss it away. On the way back, he grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses and headed back into the living room. “You sure seemed like I was the last person you wanted to have fun with.” At that point, it was all words. And those words screamed of the actions she seemed to want to take.
“You’re being too fucking dramatic. Get over here and have a drink.” Because he was tired of fighting. Especially over the same damn thing. It was the only thing they’d fought about. It was a boring fight and led nowhere. There wasn’t even any real making up to follow it up. If they were going to fight, it might as well be a knock down, drag out kind of fight. These were just petty arguments.
Aphrodite “I am NOT being too fucking dramatic. I am being just the right amount of dramatic for this situation given that you are clinging to someone who doesn’t exist anymore. You accused me of not holding on to Arista enough, but Arista as I knew her doesn’t exist anymore. I’m both at once. Aphrodite is Arista is Aphrodite. Ares is Caleb is Ares and you have to accept that as much as I had to accept that I couldn’t do anything and can still barely do anything. I can’t do what Aphrodite could do, but I can be who she was. And you can be who Ares was.”
She walked over to him and sat down on the sofa, kicking off her shoes and dropping her clutch on a chair, Aphrodite crossed her legs and her skirt rode up just a little on her thigh. “I am trying to simply take your advice can be both people at once.” Aphrodite waited for him to pour her glass of wine for her and tapped her foot on the floor. “Does Caleb even want to get to know Arista? Ares knows Aphrodite. Ares says he loves Aphrodite. But will Caleb ever love Arista? Can he?”
Ares “I’m not clinging to anything. I am just being the best version of me that I can be.” He uncorked the bottle before filling both glasses. He set the bottle on the table then flopped onto the couch. He watched as she made her way to the couch and when she finally sat, he leaned over to lift both glasses, holding one out to her. “You act like I don’t know this, Aphrodite. I’ve been trying to find a balance, and whether you think so or not, I’ve found a good one.”
He thought he had, at least. She was doing a damn good job in making him feel like he just wasn’t good enough. “I answered that question already tonight. Yes. Caleb wants to get to know Arista, but you need to understand that we aren’t going to just abandon the things we’ve fought and worked so hard for. Because this is who Caleb, and who Ares, is now.”
Aphrodite She took her own glass of wine and sipped, listening to him, shaking her head a little bit. “If I accept that this is who Caleb and Ares are, then why are you so shocked that this is who Arista and Aphrodite are? I haven’t changed. I can’t help that Arista… lived a life very similar to Aphrodite’s. There are reasons that we are who we are. And I am used to going when I want to go. And I miss the Ares that would do just that, too.”
Leaning back, she pouted into her wine glass, because this was not fun. She didn’t like fighting with him. Causing fights between other people? Fun. Lots of fun. This? Not her idea of a good time. He hadn’t even tried to touch her, not that she’d tried to touch him, either. Then again, there had been flying glassware when she’d gotten there so a hello hug had been kind of out of the question. “It seems to me you’re still upset you can’t start wars with a clap of your hands like you once could.”