My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Presents For Pretty Girls (Part 1)

"Great," I said to the empty room. There was nothing to do except wait for him to come back because no way was I leaving without some kind of resolution.

I folded my hands in my lap and sat down on the sofa. My eyes snagged on Kai's bed.

I looked away.

Looked back.

It was a really big bed. Extremely comfy looking. I eyed it, gauging precisely how comfy. Thought about testing it out, since I was stuck here anyway.

I headed over to the kitchen first, grabbed a paper towel and doused it in hot water. I'd been barefoot all this time and my feet were filthy. I cleaned them off and threw the wad of paper in the trash.

Biting my lip, I snuck toward the bed. I paused at its foot, then launched myself onto it, arms outstretched. Yowza, was it relaxing. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too hard, not too soft. It was baby bear's ultimate bed. I rolled over onto my back, enjoying the way I sank into it the perfect amount. It must have been one of those memory foam mattresses because it molded itself around me, swaying gently thanks to the massive hammock.

My, a girl could get used to this.

Shaking dangerous thoughts from my head, I sat up reluctantly and immediately felt a familiar weight knocking me back down against the mattress' fluffy perfection.

Kai lay over me, propped up on one elbow. "I love you." His voice was hard, his eyes burning with intensity. He pressed me into the bed.

I blinked. Stupidly. "I know."

"The ritual is going to work." I heard the absolute conviction in his voice and understood that his anger didn't overpower his love. That we were going to be fine.

Dumb boys and their inability to articulate actual emotions. As much as I would have liked to hear him say that, I could tell from the look on his face that those three words were as much as I was getting out of him. "Are you still mad?"

Kai hesitated. "Yes." He rolled onto his back.

I took it as my cue to leave.

His arms wrapped around me and nestled me into his side. "Stay." It wasn't a question. I would have bristled but he looped his finger into one of my ringlets and tugged gently. "Please."

It was so killing him to say that word. Which didn't endear him to me. But the accompanying tender look dissolved my brain into swoony mush.

Mostly mush. I still felt a core of deep resentment at how he'd treated me the last couple of months. How I'd allowed myself to be treated. It should have been the easiest thing in the world to open my mouth and tell him everything that had been wrong with his behavior. Our behavior.

I tried. I thought them silently. If you'd been mad, you should have respected me enough to talk to me. Not just use me as a hook up. Not make me feel like crap. I even progressed to mouthing the words. Until I finally got the courage to turn my head, look at Kai—and feel my resolve crumble. What if I broke what little connection we'd re-established? What gave me the right to be that selfish when, now more than ever, we needed to be in sync?

Persephone had been selfish and look where it had gotten her.

I was better than that. It could wait.

We lay there, not speaking, not even kissing. Just Kai playing with my hair and keeping me cuddled against him. Which was not great, but at least felt like we'd achieved a tentative level of all right. Maybe not the giddiness of the day we'd declared our love for each other, because there was still too much hurt on both our parts, but hopefully enough new closeness to get us through the battle with the rest of our lives to achieve Hannah-and-Pierce glowiness.

I lay my hand over his heart, feeling its steady beat, and the soft rise and fall of his chest.

"Happy belated birthday, Goddess." Kai kissed the top of my head and my chest tightened. He hadn't called me by my pet name since we'd learned of Persephone's betrayal. "I got you a present, you know."

I rolled over, hoping the delighted grin on my face would extend to real joy in my heart. "Really? Well, hand it over. Don't waste more time."

He laughed and the sound shot straight to my toes. God, had I missed knowing how much I amused him.

"I already did. I let Festos and Theo live even though I wanted to fling them off you while you were dancing."

"That's not a present, you caveman." I smacked him. "I knew you were at the club. Big coward, not facing me."

"I expected you to find me."

I gagged at the stupendous arrogance. That's what I got for dating a god. "I tried." There was a lot Kai didn't know. And I realized that I'd better catch him up.

To say that Kai was displeased—about my visions, me constantly hearing "All You Need Is Love", Festos coming with us to do a cleansing ritual while we held off all the minions in existence—would not accurately describe the glowery scowl of doom that seemed permanently etched on his face.

I decided not to mention my belief that I was no longer the Goddess of Spring and more the Goddess of Bah, Who Needs That Silly Season Anyhow?