Hermes (Frozen Origin #2) (5 page)

She went to the bathroom to dress leaving him to dress in the bedroom. She hurried putting a minimum effort into looking good. She looked in the mirror, not too bad especially considering she had looked like shit for years to avoid the attention of undesirables. She went back to the bedroom to find Hermes gone, he was in the kitchenette cooking a simple breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs. They ate then loaded up the rental SUV and headed to the room Hermes had stayed in while he was in Washington. He had called it a hotel room but it was actually a room kept by the government in one of their buildings where they kept agents, military visitors
, and others they wanted off the grid. It hadn’t worked well bringing up the question of who knew where they would send him and did they give up the information purposely or just slip up.

Hermes believed his personal items would probably be in the room since he was taken in an alley. She thought he was probably right unless they had needed the room for another purpose.
They traveled to an area closer to Arlington, VA rather than the white house, and he found the building he had stayed in and went to the front desk. He explained he had lost his key and they took his fingerprints with a pad and then issued him another key once they verified his identity. The whole thing seemed too easy since he had been gone several weeks. She waited for someone to jump out of the shadows yelling ‘got you’.

They rode the elevator up to the second floor and walked down the hall to room 210. He opened the door and cautiously stepped inside motioning her in when no threat seemed visible. He placed his hand on her arm indicating she should stay put while he swept the rest of the small suite. They were in the living
room area and it looked like there was one bedroom and a bathroom. He checked out the bathroom since it was closest finding it clear as well. He moved to the bedroom next throwing the door open and stepping to the side in case anyone fired a weapon. There was no sound at all so he stepped through the door only to have someone jump on him as soon as he was all the way inside.

The two men rolled
out into the living room on the floor fighting to subdue each other. She found a vase that was a good weapon and waited for an opening. It came when the stranger rolled Hermes beneath him leaving his head open for attack. She crashed the vase over his head hard enough to knock out an elephant but while he was clearly stunned, he wasn’t knocked out. Hermes quickly rolled on top subduing his attacker only to stare in shock.

“Hades, what the hell are you doing here?”
He said as he stood up and offered hades his hand.

“I was trying to find you, m
ission accomplished. I wasn’t expecting you to have company.” He said with a sidelong glance toward Cher.

“This is Cherish, she helped me escape.”
Hermes said tension evident in his stance.

“I knew she was with you, so don’t get all possessive.”

She saw Hades nostrils flare as he sniffed in her direction while he spoke. She was pretty sure she had Hermes scent on her since she had been in his company almost nonstop, but could Hades actually smell that? It made her wonder exactly how they were different than average humans and if keener senses were part of it. He examined her closely as he talked to Hermes until a low animal like growl sounded and she looked up with surprise as she realized it had come from Hermes.

Hades stepped back and moved his hands out palm side up. “I’m not looking for a female, I have one, remember?” Hermes seemed to relax after that reminder.

A female stepped out of the bedroom with an angry frown on her face. “You could have told me why you came out here. How’d you get back and who’s your friend? You send me to the closet and you just leave me there!”

“You two are here together?” Hermes asked looking from one
to the other.

“Yes.” Hades said.

“No.” The woman said at the same time then they looked at each other and glared. That was clear as mud and Cher could see there was a story there for someone brave enough to go after it.

“We’re both here but we are not together.” She insisted. “I’m Doc and I’ll just introduce myself since these two have no manners.”

“I’m Cherish but you can call me Cher, everyone does.” She extended her hand so Cherish shook it. Hermes growled again, at first it was cute but now it was getting old. “She’s female and we so aren’t together anyway.” They hadn’t even kissed yet and he was acting jealous like she was his new toy that he wouldn’t share. She and Hermes explained how they had met and told them the whole story of their escape. Hermes told them he had offered her the safety of Olympus so Keven or origin if they discovered her involvement, couldn’t get to her.

“You’ll get used to them after a while. Things still come up from time to time, but being around them is an adjustment.”
Doc said to prepare her for living around the gods.

“Are there any children?”

Doc stiffened like she’d been gut punched. Cher wondered if she didn’t like kids or something. “Are you interested in children?” She asked too casually making Cher wonder if there was a problem like gods couldn’t have kids maybe.

“I wondered if Fabian would have anyone to play with. He’s twelve and he hasn’t been around kids his age much.” Doc relaxed instantly which made Cher more curious than
ever, but she would never ask. She would just keep her eyes open until she figured things out like she usually did.

“There aren’t technically kids his age there, but if you ask me these guys act the part. Overgrown kids, everyone of them except for Zeus and he’s entirely to serious.”

Hades and Hermes seemed to be finished with the private part of their conversation and now moved closer to them to include them in the rest of their conversation. “We are planning to stay here for a few days to find out how they knew Hermes was in town. This wasn’t a random grab, they knew he was here.” Hades said as he looked for a reaction, but was it from her, or the Doc that he expected it from? Neither of them said anything.

“We’ll all stay in the suite that Doc and Hades are in now but we need to figure out who rooms with who.” Hermes said finally getting to the heart of the problem. “There are two bedrooms with King beds and I thought Cher and I would share one if she doesn’t mind.”

Did she mind, she wasn’t sure. A king bed was pretty large and she was sure Hermes would keep it friendly because he wasn’t interested in her that way. She realized they were all staring at her waiting for her reply. “Sure, that’ll work. I do some internet work part time. Is there a place I can work and hook to the net?”

“Sure, there’s a sitting area and a small desk space.” Doc said as she avoided looking at anyone since they all knew Hades wanted her to share the other bed with him. Cher was glad Hermes had taken the two of them out of the argument that she somehow suspected would be taking place soon.

They picked up their bags while Hades carried those bags left behind from Hermes last stay. They moved to the suite on the other side of the building. Cher and Hermes settled into their bedroom while they tried to ignore the loud voices coming from the other room where Hades and Doc had gone. Cher took her computer and set it up on the small desk in the corner of the room and hooked in to the internet access. She and Fabian had inherited their dad’s business when he died and Cher used the cover of being a part time internet security consultant to clandestinely check on the way things were being run. She liked the idea of seeing what everyone was doing from an anonymous position that most people overlooked. She occasionally was included in webcasts but she didn’t think anyone recognized the way she looked at home the last few years with the boss’s daughter they had known before his death.

“There’s no reason we can’t share the bed.” Hades said so loudly that Cher couldn’t help but hear.

“There is a reason and it’s why we will never share a bed.” Doc yelled obviously furious, but Cher recognized an undercurrent of pain. What had the big idiot done to hurt Doc so much. Her sympathy was immediately for Doc, Hades could clearly take care of himself.

She got into the company network and ran some random checks. Not liking what she saw, she ran a few more then started digging. She caught a few security leaks, weak spots, and
someone using company funds for personal uses. Someone wasn’t taking their job seriously and the moment she had put off, had just become unavoidable. She was going to have to meet the general manager in person. He had run the company for about ten years now and when Cher had been younger she had had quite the crush on him. Jack Gilbertson was powerful, normally capable, and incredibly sexy. The kind of man she had avoided like the plague since her dad had died.

Tomorrow
, while Hades and Hermes were tracking down leads in his abduction, she would be preparing for a meeting she had dreaded for years, three to be exact. She wondered if there was anyway she could get Doc to accompany her. Jack was a well known ladies man and she didn’t want him to try to distract her by hitting on her. It was the only reason he would, and she would be mortified if that happened. The loud voices had settled down and now the door opened. Doc carried a pillow and blanket out to the couch so it looked like one of them would be sleeping there.

“Hey, Doc, are you going with the guys tomorrow?”

“No, Cher. They may have to go to some places they would be uncomfortable taking us. We’re so delicate you know.”

“Well, okay then. Would you come with me?
I have to get something to wear and go to a business appointment and I could use some company. I always work online but this meeting is important and I have to go in person.”

“Are you sure they’ll want me there?”

“I know the owners well and it’ll be fine.”

“Okay, sounds like something to do while the guys have all the fun.”

“I guess I’ll turn in now. I’ll see you at seven in the morning and we’ll start with breakfast.” Cher said before she went to the bedroom wondering if this would feel awkward. Hermes was asleep when she entered making things easy for her. She grabbed a nightshirt and left to take a shower thinking about later when she would be lying in bed next to Hermes. A shiver ran over her as she imagined how it would feel to be in his bed because he wanted her and not just because there was no other place to sleep. She entered the bedroom again, this time to crawl into the bed and lay awake at the far edge of it. Eventually she fell asleep, but it took a while to calm her heart rate, breathing, and overcome her awareness of the male sleeping only feet away.

Warm and safe, that was what came to mind as she started to wake. She felt good and wanted to stay in bed all day
before the realization of what had happened hit her mind. She was still on her side of the bed, but Hermes had migrated to her side, it was his arms wrapped around her and it was his warm body she was pressed against. She didn’t know what to do, should she just relax and enjoy the few more minutes of being held before it was time to wake or should she get out of bed forcing him to release her from his hold? In the end, she just snuggled in and enjoyed the sense of well being his nearness gave her.

She woke again when he pulled away from her but she stayed where she was as if she was still asleep to avoid the awkward explanations
he would feel compelled to give her. She heard him dress and hurry out of the room. She lay there still breathing in his scent which remained even though he was gone. Just a little while and she would have to get up and get ready for her day. Somehow she fell back to sleep not waking until Doc knocked on the door.

“It’s almost time to get breakfast. I thought I’d check on you since you might be tired.” Doc smirked obviously misunderstanding
the relationship Cher and Hermes had.

Cherish felt the need to correct her. “Hermes and I are just friends. We’ve never even kissed, he’s just not into me.”

“I can’t believe you don’t see the way that male looks at you, Honey. He is so into you that he can’t get his head into anything else.”

“He’s been through a lot which is what he has on his mind, not me.”

“We’ll agree to disagree since these gods are hard to understand. I’ll leave so you can dress and I’ll wait in the sitting room.”

“Thanks, Doc. Hey, do you have a name? I can’t call you Doc at work.”

“You’re right. My name is Gemma, but my sisters call me Gem.”

“Gem, that’s
a nice name, why don’t you use it?”

“Everyone just started calling me Doc after med school so it stuck.” Doc left and Cherish dressed meeting her near the door. Cherish had arranged for a car and driver for the day, the car was waiting at the curb.

“Door to door service, this is nice. Where are we going?”

Cherish gave the address to the driver, slid in the back seat next to Doc who had already gotten in, and
started explaining to her what they would do for the day. “First we are going to eat, then we go to a beauty salon to get fixed up for the day, we’ll go to a private boutique I know of to get outfitted, and only then will we go to the meeting I have with the general manager.”

“Nothing like a busy day, huh?”

“You have no idea, but you will.” Cherish said knowing this would be an unforgettable day for her at any rate.

After breakfast, t
he driver pulled up at a well known beauty salon that catered to a high end clientele. She knew the owner personally although she hadn’t seen Giorgio since before her dad had died. They went in without an appointment, she hoped they would get in because Gio had always told her he would do anything for her. Dad had financed his salon when he first opened it, no one else would give him a chance. She went to the front desk asking for Gio and the receptionist said it was impossible to get to see him without an appointment.