Their Starlet (Heroes of Olympus Book 5) Page 3

  “Right,” Stefan said, sitting back so his shoulder brushed hers. “Your reality, should one of the acolytes grab you and take you to him, would be whatever he deemed it to be. He could make you believe anything even as your soul screamed it wasn’t right. Eventually, even your soul would give in to stop whatever he was doing to you. It would be torture, just not the sort you likely are thinking it to be.”

  “Right.” She found herself leaning into the men that were on each side of her again. “I guess that would explain why I’m feeling so comfortable with the two of you around. Why I am finding myself reaching out to touch you.” Which was so not her. She wasn’t the touchy-feely sort of person, yet she was constantly reaching out to both men.

  “That first spark was the start of the bonding process. Each touch will pull us all closer together. I know this sounds like you don’t have a choice, that it’s all preordained in the stars, but you do have a choice. We can’t make it for you. It has to be yours and yours alone. But we should likely finish telling you the rest of this mess first if you’re up for a little more stretching of your beliefs.”

  “I think that I need more than a five-minute meet and greet. I feel comfortable with you both, I believe that you are both strikingly handsome, and I feel completely at ease. That’s not something easy for me, being entirely comfortable with anyone. It comes with the whole package, that Hollywood package that makes me uncomfortable with touch.”

  “We’re not planning on rushing you, Brooklyn,” Antonio said. “You definitely don’t need to make any decisions right now. What Stefan meant by what he said, is that you call the shots in everything that does, or does not, happen between us. Only you. While we may voice our opinions from time to time, you have the final decision.”

  “Right, sorry if that wasn’t clear,” Stefan said softly. “I know this is all overwhelming, but there is a little more if you’re ready. Or we could get Dionysus in here to prove the gods actually exist.”

  “My cousin?” she asked with a frown. “I’ve known him for years. There is no way that he’s a god. He’s, he’s like a big kid. A playboy who knows how to party.” There was a long pause as she put together what the god Dionysus was all about. “Oh, shit.” She covered her mouth then. “Yes, I think we should get him in here so that I can smack him for lying to me.”

  “Oh, thank the gods,” both men muttered. Stefan got up and moved to the doorway. “Dionysus, we need you to pop in to blow her mind a little. She also has some things she’d like to say to you,” he called out.

  When Dion literally popped into the room with them, Brooklyn jumped. She felt her eyes go wide and swallowed hard. “Holy crap balls, they weren’t kidding.” Brooklyn stood and wrapped the blanket that had been around her legs around her body. She was shaking now, shivering from the chill in the air. She walked up to Dionysus and lightly hit his shoulder. “That’s for lying to me.” Then, because she still loved the big goober, she hugged him. “I still love you, but you are so on my shit list for never saying anything to me in all these years.”

  His arms wrapped around her to hug her close. “I couldn’t tell you, Brook. It goes against the rules we have to abide by until those chosen as yours make themselves known to you. I wanted to tell you,” he said softly. “I never actually lied to you, though. I can’t lie. I did fudge the truth slightly, and only to keep you safe until it was time for these two to enter your life.”

  “But you appeared younger, and then you aged. How?” She shook her head. “Goodness, I’m so upset with you.” But at the same time, she knew she couldn’t be too upset with him because he had protected her. Dion had shown up every time that she had needed him to keep her safe. “And you guys? Are you all part gods as well?”

  “We’re descendants,” Antonio said. “When we were chosen to be part of the program we also got extra training from Ares up on Olympus. This apparently had a few interesting side effects that have started to show up in a few members of our group. The time up there, even though we were shielded, woke up the dormant genes so we’re starting to get some of the traits of the god who happens to be our ancestor.”

  “Ah, and who am I descended from? Is it you, Dion?” she asked with a frown. “Because I have never seen myself as much of a party animal, not like you are. Don’t get me wrong, I adore you, but Jesus H. Christ, can you ever party.”

  Dionysus smirked down at her. “There are very few who can keep up with me, Brook. I am the original, and we all know it’s hard to top the guy who invented it. Plus, alcohol doesn’t affect me quite the way it does a mortal. As to whom you’re related, that would be Aphrodite.”

  “That explains a lot.” How men, and even women, would proclaim their undying love for her. It had always weirded her out how people would constantly tell her that they loved her. “How will I know that what these men might one day feel for me is real? I mean if I am descended from her, it’s tricky, right?”

  “Not really,” Dionysus said. “Because you were paired off long before you were even born they can only feel true feelings. That little spark you felt is the portion of the bond inside of you recognizing the other pieces to complete yourself. It is beyond the control of the gods, and what they bring to the table. Not a one of us can override it, alter it, or change it. Hades is the only one that is outside of our rule book because he’s a grade A asshole.”

  “Yeah, it sounds like it. That explains why I haven’t been able to get into any real relationship in my life, doesn’t it? I’ve never been able to fully trust anyone, and now I know why. I’ve been waiting for these men to come into my life.” She just hoped she didn’t mess it up. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had relationships, just none of them have panned out, and now I understand.”

  “It would never work because they were never right for you, Brook. Without the bond, you were always uncomfortable, and they were too infatuated with your appearance to bother getting to know the real you. Unfortunately, that’s a side effect of your genetics, and one that will always be around. But with the bond, it will be dulled down. Should you go through with it, of course,” Dion said.

  “Of course.” She already felt the pull to both men. She felt the draw of having them close and wanted to have them closer. Just knowing she could reach out and touch them was a sinfully delightful temptation to her. She reached back and let her fingers twine with Antonio’s as he stood just at her back.

  He gave her fingers a light squeeze before his thumb started to stroke over the skin of her inner wrist.

  “I’m going to go keep the joker and his quiet friend company while you three keep chatting. We should likely do lunch soon since the director pushed the meeting up, and we’ll need to bail out of here early, Brook.” Bending slightly, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Dion didn’t say anything else, and turned to leave the room in a more traditional means of getting from place to place.

  Brooklyn turned to look at the men again. “Okay. I need to go upstairs and get a shower and put on clothes instead of sitting here with you both in my bathing suit only. Do you guys want to walk up with me? That way you can start to take notes on what you need and don’t need.”

  “We’ll definitely walk you up,” Antonio told her. “We’ve already started our lists. Thomas, for all his joking around, is meticulous. He’s documenting everything as he goes through the house. We will need to take a look around the back half of the property, but we’ll wait until you and Dionysus are in the kitchen.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Thomas, he seems as if he has something weighing heavily on him. Is he okay? He was all jokes and giggles, but he seemed as if he had something bothering him.” She walked toward the stairs, not surprised when the men followed her.

  “He’s okay,” Stefan said. “Or as close to it as he ever gets. Given what he said to Dionysus earlier it seems he and Lincoln already knew they would be last up on the list. How that’s possible I’m still trying to figure out, but it’s not an immediate concern. He and Lincoln have both been a littl
e off for a time now. Hopefully, they’ll settle back in when it’s their turn to find their key.”

  “We can hope. There was that brief moment of sadness that crossed the man’s features. It was something that twisted a knife in my heart,” Brooklyn admitted. She walked into her bedroom and then looked back at the men. “Give me five minutes to grab some clothes and then I’m going to shower and change. I should be out in fifteen to twenty minutes. You are welcome to look around anywhere you want to.”

  “Go ahead, we’ll be here until you’re out,” Antonio told her. He brushed his hand against her arm lightly before he moved over to the large windows that looked over the back of the property. Stefan also touched his fingers against her skin in a short stroke. He then moved to look around her bedroom.

  She liked the touches, she realized, as she walked into the bathroom. Just the smallest of gestures and she felt those to the center of her very soul. It was a feeling that she wanted, often. While thinking of what was happening to her emotionally, Brooklyn got into the shower and cleaned up. Once that was finished, she walked out with her robe on and a towel in her hair. She had been so caught up in thinking about the way those men made her feel she forgot her clothes.

  Three minutes after walking into her closet she was out and dressed. “Now then, how poorly protected is my home?”

  Both turned to give her a look, and slowly shook their heads. “Oh, honey,” Stefan said before he clucked his tongue softly. “Be glad you have a god with deep pockets. This is going to take some time and a lot of money. Whoever sold you on the idea that this was secure should be shot. It looks it, sure. But it is most definitely not.”

  “Great. Dion rented the place for me. He’s my manager, you know,” she told them with a light smile. “I wanted to live in my home that I have in Texas. I know that it gets hot there, but it’s beautiful. That home better be secure with Dion having arranged for a group to install the latest and greatest toys to it.” Shrugging, she found herself once again reaching for Stefan and brushed her fingers against his. “Sadly, I don’t get to spend as much time back home as I would like.” She was Texas-bred, in and out.

  “Funny, cousin Dion didn’t mention that,” Antonio muttered.

  “Can’t imagine why,” Stefan said. Shaking his head, he moved toward her. “We’ll get this place top of the line for security.”

  “Wait, what? We have certificates?” Antonio asked, sounding stunned.

  Stefan threw him a look and rolled his eyes when he faced her again. “Who do you think did her place in Texas?” he asked quietly. “I knew there was something a little odd about that job. Little did I realize just how strange it would turn out to be.”

  “Wait, you guys did my home? That’s, well, that’s weird.” They had been in a place that not many had been. Her home was her sanctuary, and she didn’t let just anyone in, but if they had done it then she knew that it would be the top of the line everything. “I knew that Dion said that the best did it, and now I understand who the best are.”

  “Not the best, just guys who know what’s needed, and what isn’t. Too many companies go for flashy, and it ends up screwing the whole balance. Sometimes less is more in the best possible way. We actually did it as a favor,” Antonio told her. “And we didn’t even know it was for Dionysus. We really need to have a talk with Ares when we get back. Maybe throw him into Mik’s crosshairs for a couple of hours.”

  “Fucker would likely get off on it,” Stefan said. “We should get you downstairs for lunch, and then apparently we need to head off for some sort of a meeting if I remember correctly.”

  “Yes, crap, I forgot about that,” Brooklyn grumbled. “He keeps moving the meets up and then pushing them back. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that the man has ADD or something. Either that or he needs a new secretary to schedule his days instead of the latest couch costar that he has riding his junk.”

  “Whatever it is, he’ll be sticking to our schedule from now on. He moves a meeting, changes anything without one hell of a good reason and he’ll have us to contend with. Let’s go get you fed so when we get there, we’re all in the right frame of mind to deal with this jerk,” Stefan said. Then he held out his hand for her to take.

  She took Stefan’s hand and smiled up at him. She nodded and took a deep breath. “Thank you. I can’t seem to give up touching you. Both of you. I feel safer, I feel more relaxed, and just plain right when you are touching me.”

  Grinning at her, he pressed a kiss to her temple. He urged her into the kitchen where Dion was unpacking takeout containers from her favorite place.

  Antonio smirked at her and went over to peek into the containers Dion was still digging out. He even got his fingers slapped twice by her cousin.

  Brooklyn took a seat and sat back waiting. “I could have told you that Dion refuses to let anyone touch the food until it’s all out and uncovered. It’s a small quirk of his, isn’t it, Dion?”

  When her cousin just shrugged and continued to pull containers out, she patted the seat at her side. “Sit down. He will finish pawing the food in a moment. He settles it out in alphabetical order. He’s a bit obsessive.”

  “A god with OCD, who’d have thought it,” Stefan muttered. He sat down next to her while Antonio continued to mess with Dion. Whenever the god turned his back, Antonio would rearrange the containers ever so slightly. “Bro, stop fucking with the guy who can drop your ass anywhere in the world without cell reception, and sit down. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can get to this meeting, and get Brooklyn through the day.”

  Wearing a shit-eating grin, Antonio wandered over to the table, and popped something he’d managed to pilfer from one of the containers into his mouth before he dropped into another of the chairs.

  The back door opened to reveal the other two men coming inside with Lincoln ticking things off on his fingers, and Thomas furiously scribbling away in a little notebook, likely jotting down everything Lincoln was listing.

  Once the food was all out Dion passed out plates and told everyone to dig in.

  Thomas sat down still writing in the notebook. He threw her a look and then tore out a bunch of pages from the book to hand over to Dion.

  She took the plate that Dion offered her and started to eat once she was sure that everyone had a plate. They didn’t talk for a while, just light conversation. Once they had finished eating, she leaned back and sighed. “That was delicious, Dion. I think that we are going to have to send you out for food more often.”

  The god snorted and shook his head. He then looked at the clock on the wall. “We need to get moving if we’re going to meet the director. I know you guys want to make an impression, so go and change. I’ll get all the leftovers tucked away. We’ll be grateful for them when we crawl back here later today.”

  Antonio chuckled while wiping his mouth with his napkin. Setting it aside he got to his feet with the rest of the men. “We’ll be ready to go in five minutes.”

  “So how are they to prepare themselves to make an impression?” Brooklyn asked as she watched the men leaving the room. She stood and helped Dion gather the plates and put away the leftovers, waiting for him to actually answer the question, which he didn’t.

  When she and Dion went out to the front hall, it was to find all the men dressed in suits. And these were in no way off the rack. Each was custom-fit to the man wrapped in the high-end materials. They wore dress shoes that didn’t quite look right to her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, and also mirrored sunglasses.

  “Wow, that’s what you meant when you said make an impression.” She walked up to Stefan and found herself straightening his lapel. When she realized what she was doing, she stepped back and blushed, if her visage in the mirrored sunglasses were accurate. “I’m so sorry. I know better than to just walk up and touch someone.”

  He reached out to catch her hand and pulled her in closer. Lowering his head, Stefan pulled the sunglasses off so she could look into his violet-colored eyes. “Never apo
logize to us, honey. You have our permission to touch at any time you want. You’re ours, and we’re yours. There are no rules between us except whatever we decide to put in place privately.” He tugged her in a little closer so she felt the heat of his breath on her cheek before Stefan’s lips brushed against her skin.

  She felt that sizzle and had to bite her lower lip to keep the moan from escaping her throat. She found herself leaning into him even more, her hand slipping into his suit and around his waist so she could give him a gentle hug. She felt the weapons then, and that quickly brought it home that there was danger out there stalking her like a predator would prey.

  After that amazing kiss she was ready to go. “Okay. I have it.” She had her purse in her hands and pulled out her dark sunglasses. Slipping them on, she let the persona of the Hollywood starlet slide over her and went quiet.

  Chapter Five

  At the restaurant, Lincoln pulled the door open for her to exit the SUV. He had his sunglasses in place. Antonio was near the restaurant door while Stefan and Thomas kept an eye on the sidewalks around them. When she, Dion, and Lincoln moved, Antonio stepped into the restaurant ahead of her. Dion pointed him in the direction of the director they were meeting. Brook walked ahead of Lincoln, which allowed her to see Antonio waving the director and his two assistants up for a full pat-down before he gave them a not so gentle nudge back into their seats. He pulled out a chair, set it across the table, and held it for her when she reached the table.

  “Thank you,” Brooklyn said as she slid into the large, plush chair. She crossed her legs and smiled at the men, and, folding her sunglasses, she put them back into her purse and nodded. “Now, Michael, I know that you want me on your next movie, but I need you to know now, I’m retiring. After this film, I’m done. I’ve loved what I’ve done and have accomplished, but I’m ready to live a quiet life out of the spotlight.”