Oh shit.
I froze as tiny hairs all over my body stood, and under me, Josie stiffened. Nothing killed an erection faster than Apollo popping in while I was dry-humping his daughter.
Gods, his timing was always epic.
Lifting myself up, I opened my eyes and stared into Josie’s wide, startled ones. I knew I was so dead, like deader than dead with my balls not intact, but right now, it was only me between her and seeing her father for the first time.
This…this was going to get messy.
Apollo sighed loudly. “Any time now, Seth.”
Confusion had already begun to fill her expression, and I tried to smile for her as I touched the tips of my fingers to her cheek. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered to her.
Her eyes remained latched to mine as I rolled off Josie, positioning myself so that I was in front of her, giving her time to get it together. When I saw Apollo standing in the doorway, all I could think was what the hell?
Apollo didn’t look like himself—not like his true self. His hair was dark brown, cropped close to the skull, his features slightly different, and his eyes the same as Josie’s. He looked like Leon had—the way he’d made himself look when he’d been at Deity Island, pretending to be nothing more than a Sentinel.
“What is up with this?” I asked, standing.
He was staring at me like he wanted to castrate me old-school style, but his gaze shifted beyond me as Josie sat up. Putting a hand on the edge of the bed, she stood, her face pale and eyes so incredibly wide as she stared at him.
Apollo, disguised as Leon, smiled at her. “Hello, Josie.”
She took an unsteady step forward, her shoulder brushing mine. “Bob?”
“Bob?” Seth repeated.
The man I was staring at—the man Seth had called Apollo, my father—was familiar to me. I knew him. I’d known him as a little girl.
“Wait a minute,” Seth said, stepping forward. “You’re calling yourself Bob now? Really?”
He glanced at Seth. “Why are you still here?”
Seth folded his arms. “I’m not going anywhere.” Pausing, he glanced at me. “Unless you want me to go.”
“No.” I shuffled closer to him as I stared up at the tall man. “I want you to stay.”
“Great,” muttered the man I knew as Bob.
I shook my head slowly, trying to get my brain cells to function. The dizzy, pleasant rush of sensations from Seth’s kisses and from the weight of his body on mine, pressing into the best possible places, had quickly faded, but I felt like I was in a dream.
“You…you used to visit me when I was little,” I said, and it sounded crazy. “By the lake. You brought me candy and dolls.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy at all,” Seth muttered under his breath.
I ignored him. “I don’t understand.” Maybe I did and just didn’t want to comprehend it. “You’re my…”
“I am your father.” He glanced at Seth and smirked. “That’s the second Star Wars nod. Keeping track?”
Seth rolled his eyes.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
The air shimmered around the man I knew as Bob, and then he…he wasn’t Bob at all. In his place was a man who shared some of the same features, but was taller and broader, with a head full of blond waves and eyes that still matched mine.
“Holy crap.” Heart pounding, I stumbled back, and then looked at the painting that was facing the wall. “Holy crappers.”
Seth reached out, but I shook my head. “I’m okay. I’ve just never seen someone do a live Photoshop on himself.”
The man—who was so obviously Apollo—smiled again, and it made my stomach tumble. “I was never supposed to know you. Not unless we needed you. That was the deal we made when we created the twelve demigods,” he explained. “But…you were my child. I wanted to know you.”
I had no idea what to say, so I just stared at him as my heart raced.
“We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together, and I understand if you feel like I abandoned you, but I’ve always kept an eye on you, one way or another.”
I still had no idea what to say.
Apollo tipped his chin up, and a long and awkward moment passed. “I am sorry about your grandparents. They’re at peace now, in paradise. I hope that’s a comfort to you.”
Air caught in my throat as I took a step to the side and sat down on the edge of the bed without falling off it this time. Was that a comfort to me? Yes. No. “My mom?”
“She’s safe. I cannot tell you where she is, but she will remain safe until the threat is over,” he replied as his gaze moved over my face. “I am proud of you.”
My mouth opened, but no words formed. My breath hitched again, and I felt that damn knot in my throat expand.
“You’ve shown remarkable strength, and you have held it together in an incredible situation,” he continued, doing something akin to putting my heart in a juice squeezer. “Instead of doing nothing, you’ve opted to train, to defend yourself. I’m proud.” There was a beat of silence as he glanced at Seth. “However, your choice in males concerns me.”
“I think my choice in males is quite good, thank you,” I snapped back before I could stop myself.
Seth’s head swung toward me, as if he was surprised that I would defend him, which would make him an idiot, considering I’d just had my mouth on his.
Apollo’s smile reappeared and spread, softening the cold, eerie beauty of his face. “Well, then…” His gaze shifted to Seth. “I guess she told me.”
For once, Seth had nothing to say, and when I looked at him, he was still staring at me, his golden eyes wide and his face a shade paler.
“I cannot stay long. Being in your presence… Well, it drains me, but I…” His brows furrowed and he shifted from one foot to the next. “But I felt your pain earlier. I had to see you.”
There. That juice squeezer was working overtime in my chest. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You do not need to say anything.”
“No…I do. This…this is a lot. All of this is a lot. You don’t even look old enough to be my dad.” I laughed, and it sounded a little crazy. “And I knew you at one point. Your were my friend— my only friend, and you…you just walked in on me making out with a guy, so I feel like we just covered the teen years I never had with you.”