From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(91)

“’Sup, ladies?”

They waved, and Dionysus motioned to the turntables off the living room.

“Hey, Panos. You can set up over there.”

“Word,” he said with a smile.

Dionysus set his tray on the coffee table, took a seat next to Dita, and handed her a drink, passing another to Perry. He picked up one of his own and held it up. “Here’s to the mantra that should be repeated whenever things get stupid. Fuck it.”

“Fuck it!” the goddesses cheered, laughing when their glasses clinked together.

They knocked the shots back.

The cinnamon whiskey lit a trail of heat down Dita’s throat and into her stomach, spreading out like wildfire. She reached for another.

“That’s the spirit.” Dionysus raised another glass.



An hour later, Dita was properly foxed, as was Perry, who cackled at Dita’s reenactment of Ares getting knocked on his ass during the Trojan War. Dita’s tongue hung out as she crossed her eyes with her head lolling, and she made a choked gluh sound before flopping down on the couch, giggling.

“Ugh, what did I ever see in that asshole?” Dita’s cheeks were hot from all the laughing. And maybe the whiskey.

“That question is more loaded than you are,” Dionysus said before he slammed another shot.

Dita laughed. “I can handle it. I’ve found a new perspective,” she said cheerily.

Dionysus wailed the chorus of “New Attitude” by Patti LaBelle in an epic falsetto, and Perry giggled as she reached for another shot. Dita held her hand out for one, and when it made its way into her waiting fingers, she kicked it back.

“I do have a new attitude. I think I’m over it.”

Perry shared a look with Di, and they burst out laughing, heartily and with no remorse.

“What? Look, I’ll prove it.” She stood up too fast and stumbled as she tried to get past Dionysus and Perry. “Whoopsie.” She giggled again as she walked around the coffee table. “Okay, okay. So”—she put on a serious face—“I have realized something very important.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Ares is a dick.”

“And the sky is blue and Zeus is a whore. Tell us something we don’t know.” Di snickered.

“I’m getting to that.” Dita waved her hands at them. “What I mean to say is that I can’t find any redeeming qualities in him anymore. Aside from his giant hammerhead cock.”

“Hear, hear!” Dionysus cheered with his glass held high.

“He’s mean and cruel. He’s a baby. He’s a liar.” Her smile faded. “He has no respect for anyone else because he only cares about himself. He never cared about me, not really.” Her voice dropped. “It’s the cruelest kind of love, the kind that takes and never gives. But that’s what he does, and I won’t play a part in it any longer.”

She sat back down and reached for another shot in the quiet room as Perry and Dionysus sipped their drinks with their eyes on her.

“Don’t worry,” she said with the shot glass at her numb lips. “I’m not going to flip out or anything.”

Perry laid a hand on Dita’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re figuring it out.”

She lowered the still-full glass, staring at a spot across the room. “I still can’t believe how much my life has changed in the last few months. On the one hand, I’m grateful for the truth, but my heart feels like it’s been run through a meat grinder.”

“What are you gonna do?” Dionysus asked.

“The thing I don’t want to do,” Dita said. “I’ve got to face Se?or Cocko de Vulvus.” She knocked back the whiskey and set the empty glass on the tray with a clink.

“Are you sure you’re ready for that?” Perry’s eyebrow was up.

“It’s like trying to give yourself a Brazilian. You can’t think about it, just have to rip that motherfucking wax off and scream about it afterward,” Dita said with a shrug as she sank into the couch. “I just want it to be over, and this is the last thing I can do that’s in my control. If I don’t face him, I’ll just be waiting for it, waiting for him to confront me or corner me or whatever he plans to do. I need to just take the reins and fucking do it.”

“So, what are you going to say?” Perry asked.

“Dear Ares, you slimy piece of shit, I hate you. Go away,” Dita said gleefully. “Do you think that’ll work?”

“Sure, sure. I’m sure he’ll be like, Gee, I sure am sorry. I’ll just go now. Hope I didn’t inconvenience you! Problem solved.” Dionysus gave a thumbs-up with a cheesy grin.

“Ha, ha, ha, and-a fuck you, too,” Dita sang.

Dionysus tried to hand her another drink, but she put up her hand to stop him.

“And what’s next for you?” he asked.

“I need to learn how to be alone.”

Dionysus burst out laughing but stopped dead, eyeing her. “Oh, you’re serious.”

Dita gave him a look. “Yes, I’m serious. I’ve been fucking up my relationships for millennia. It’s time to get it right, but I’ve got to fix myself first. Number one rule of love is that you can’t find it if you’re broken.”