Dionysus (Greek God Romance Book 1) (8 page)

Dionysus surveyed the door then agreed, “Good point.”

Dionysus immediately stepped in and doubled over laughing to the sounds of Heph working.

Rebecca noticed a rack with the same attire that the Hestia follower had presented them. She hastily put everything on and followed Dionysus. She was semi-perplexed about why he was laughing so hard as she stepped inside. She waited a moment for him to explain himself then yelled over the noise of what sounded like hammer on anvil. “What is it?”

Dionysus had not heard her but said, “Things never change.”

The room had a few Cyclops hunch over while Heph worked at the anvil. It was small. It was cramped. It had a pit in the middle that a Cyclops’ was manning. It was
exactly
what Heph had worked at on Mount Olympus.

Heph said, “Look who showed up.”

Dionysus said, “Surprise.”

“What do
you
want?”

“A great many things. Hermes said you were working on something for her.”

Heph took a look over his shoulder. “He didn’t say anything.”

Rebecca then recalled Hermes saying Heph had made it
for
her, opened her mouth to say so then closed it shut. Hermes lied. She knew it.
Must be the cunning gods can lie bullshit on display.

She did not remember that trickster gods can lie.

 Dionysus said, “Ah, I see. It was a negotiation he hadn’t negotiated yet.”

“It would appear so.” He limped slightly to grab some tongs and grasped a weapon out of the forge with them.

“Brings you back, don’t it?”

He grunted.

“So you don’t have anything for her?”

“Perhaps. . . where’s Hermes?”

“He’s watching TV at her place.”

He sighed, long and heavy. “That again, huh?”

Dionysus nodded. “Yeah, you still owe me one?”

“Nope.”

“Shame.”

“Go ahead.”

“What?”

“Go ahead and mock me.”

“For what?”

“Hestia took over my shop. I end up with what I had all those years ago. And I’m fine with it. . .
really,
I am.” To Rebecca, to Dionysus, to the world, he was not
fine
with that.

Dionysus thought for a moment.
Her, it had to be.
His thought was that Hera was actually behind this newest assault on Heph. Heph and Dionysus shared an equal disdain for her and she held an obscene hatred for them. “Who told you to partner up with Hestia?” Heph raised an eyebrow and looked to the side, gazing at Rebecca.

Dionysus stared at Heph. “Don’t worry about her, she’s great.”

“I’m super,” Rebecca said at a feeble attempt of breaking the ice.

Heph snorted. “All right. I went to her asking for help with the plans.”

“Before that.”

“Before that?”

“Yeah, I know you well enough, Heph. You like to do your
own
thing. You had an opportunity to sculpt the shop however you desired.”

“Well. . .”

“Yeah?”

“My wife was the one to come to me with the idea.”

Dionysus said, “
Aphrodite?”

Heph’s voice immediately became accusatory and defensive, “Why is that strange to you? Strange to all of you? She is more than a pretty face.”

“Deceptively so, Heph, I wasn’t implying she didn’t have a brain.”

“Then what?”

“Come on, I’m a bit more perceptive than your average god or goddess. She’s never showed any interest in your work besides the hours you occupy.”

Heph’s face crunched up into a snarl but he said nothing. Dionysus continued, “Am I wrong?”

He shook his head, keeping his thoughts and comments to himself.

Rebecca would be alarmed to know that he had a fleeting thought of throwing her in a pit. He felt enough disgrace from his family and the Greek gods alike. He didn’t care for the thought of a mortal thinking the same.

Heph breathed in, threw his tongs to the side. “No.”

“Look, there’s something that went on here.” Dionysus sniffed the air and immediately cringed. He had meant to do a dramatic sequence and felt it was spoiled by the sulfur and heat that burned and swirled around him—a cloud of obnoxious gases. He looked back to check on Rebecca, forgetting she was not as resilient as he. “Are you okay?—he looked down and noticed she wore all the gear the Hera follower had presented them prior—“How did you—?”

“There was a rack with all of this on it. . . uh, before the door.”

Heph grunted. “See. I can keep people safe.”

Dionysus turned back to Heph and said, “No one’s arguing that. If what I dig up is fishy and
she
is involved. . . We have a deal?”

“What deal?”

“Rebecca gets whatever Hermes was about to negotiate for.”

“Ah.” He waved it away with his hand. “Hermes thought he could swipe what I had in-store for the nymphs.”

“For the nymphs?”

He nodded. “To stop all the accidents.”

“Ah. . .” Dionysus scratched at the side of his beard. “Hermes stops those anyway. Don’t you
make
the damn things they drive?”

He shook his head. “They steal ’em.” He pointed to Rebecca. “They’ll steal your car. I’ll have it running in a few days if you still want it. But I wouldn’t drive around Olympus in it, those nymphs would probably try to hijack you. . .”

“Deal or no deal?”

Heph took another deep breath, his hatred for Hera ran just as deep as Dionysus. “All right.”

“Good. Is Aphrodite home?”

“Should be.”

Dionysus repeated, “Should be—”

Heph puffed up his chest and snatched up the tongs he had thrown down, waving them precariously close to Dionysus’ face. “What’s that?”

Dionysus shook his head, frowning. “Nothing worth repeating.”

“I thought so.”

Rebecca waited until they were back outside Heph’s shop and asked, “He got a little defensive there.”

“He works in the dark. He likes to live there, too.”

“There wasn’t much on him in the book besides master blacksmith and Aphrodite being his wife who was known to cheat on him with Ares.”

“That is true.”

“Anything else?”

“It’s more than just Ares, but he is the main squeeze.”

“And the limp?”

“Nasty fall off of Mount Olympus, I got to him in time.”

“Make a lot of deals?”

He shrugged. “Only way to get anything done.”

She smacked his shoulder playfully and bit back an
ouch
. It was as if she had slapped cement. “We going to his house then?”

“Yeah. . . It’s a start.”

I’LL STRAIGHTEN HIM OUT

Walking into Heph and Aphrodite’s home, Rebecca knew without a doubt and needing no other information that Aphrodite ruled Heph. Heph either had no say or did not care and after she had met him—she surmised that it was the former.

Rebecca could not find a fitting word to describe what she behold. It was the embodiment of sexualization as seen by a woman, with a dash of cutesy.

The embodiment of sexualization was displayed by naked women throughout the ages hung everywhere she looked, next to the fireplace, next to her flowing drapes, which intentionally or not, covered an Egyptian woman’s pussy from around 2000 B.C. then fell off as a breeze came through the open window.

The cutesy part was the odd wallpaper in the great room with Hello Kitty decorations and anime where women had abnormally large breasts, a cute face, and often wore school clothes. They blew kisses. They had stars for eyes. They had little yellow birds around them with action bubbles saying,
chirp, chirp. Somehow,
Rebecca thought,
Olympus
has blown my mind again.
She was floored. She was puzzled. She was
slightly
scared for her life. If this was Heph’s doing, he was a serial killer, or rapist, or at the very least, considerably out of his mind.

Rebecca said, “What the fuck is this?”

Dionysus let out a boisterous laugh one that startled Rebecca as she gave him a shocked look in return. “It’s fine. I’m sure she’s not home.”

“Then what are we doing here? And I meant. . . this place. . . it’s—”

“Strange.” He shrugged then seeing her face said, “Don’t worry, it’s all the wife’s doing. . . We’ll find a clue, I suppose. Or I’ll take you to your place and handle this myself.”

“By doing what?”

“Waiting.”

“Waiting?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll wait here. Maybe check out a gizmo or two that Heph’s working on at home.”

“You’re just going to squat in their home? In this?” She waved her right arm, gesturing at all the naked portraits and all the Japanese anime insanity.

“I don’t see any other way to know her whereabouts.”

“Hmph.” Rebecca marched off then halted into another hallway. It was a luxurious dining room table and around it were portraits of more women in the buff. “What the hell?”

Dionysus chuckled. “Have you figured it out?”

“Figured what out? That Heph has never had a say in anything?”

Dionysus nodded off, pointing to the frame of one of the paintings, so that Rebecca could see that too was comprised of a naked woman. “Sure. . . look closer.”

She looked at each painting, scrutinizing them. She strained her eyes trying to find the commonality between the array of women that came in all different shapes and sizes and color tones: White, Black, Asian, Latin, petite, curvy, tall, slightly plump, wide hips, big round tits, small perky ones, long hair, short, hair done up, falling down to the woman’s knees, everything varied but one. . . “They all have the same eyes.”

“Bingo.”

“It’s the same person?”

“Behold”—he gestured with his arms around the room—“Aphrodite.”

Rebecca let her hand run down her face, pausing at her lips.
What the fuck?
She couldn’t imagine eating dinner in here to the panorama of tits and vagina. Or even comprehend that the
same
person would be enjoying a bowl of soup while admiring herself on display. It was inconceivable and absolutely insane.

Rebecca was about to ask Dionysus a slew of questions which may have come out only as sounds when she was interrupted.

“Did someone ring?”

Both of their heads snapped back as Aphrodite leaned against a column that was comprised of a naked woman, her, and framed by the same.

Dionysus smirked. “Aphrodite, how great it is to see you in your
own
home. . . and alone?”

Aphrodite sashayed over. What Rebecca saw in front of her would be the wet dream of many a man in ol’ America. She had what appeared to be natural red hair, an ample chest, long legs and a naturally gorgeous face. Her eyes were ocean blue with long eyelashes for support. She wore a gown that was see-through and showed off her small nipples. Rebecca openly gawked seeing her in the light. She was a
goddess.

Aphrodite flicked her hair. “Whatever do you mean, Dionysus?” She approached him, stopping inches away from his face. She turned her attention to Rebecca who was frowning from how close Aphrodite was to Dionysus. “What a beautiful woman. Are we to play?” She brushed past Dionysus and ran a finger down Rebecca’s chest. So confused by the scene and this goddess, Rebecca merely closed her mouth and made no other motion.

Dionysus cleared his throat then said, “We’re here on a matter of business.”

Aphrodite sighed and turned away from Rebecca. “Business. Business. Business. Is that
all
you men think about?” She ran her hand down his body then grasped his package. “Ah. . . there he is.”

It was Rebecca’s turn to clear her throat. Aphrodite said, “Oh. . .? Are you two exclusive?”

Dionysus said, “Haven’t gotten there.”

She let go of his package. “Then what’s the issue? Let’s have some fun then you can wait around and do your
business
with Heph.”

“We’re here to see you.”

“For business?” Her voice went up to almost a squeak like the word frightened her.

Dionysus nodded. “It’s about when we moved here.”

“Oh. . .?” She was intrigued.

“What deal did you make?”

“Deal?”

“With Hera.”

She gasped, putting her hand to her chest. “Whatever do you mean?”