Apollo (Luna Lodge #5)(20)

"Set the table," she said quietly. "Rem will be over soon."

Val closed her mouth and raised a brow. Jenna turned back to the stove, clearly not wanting to talk about it, but it didn't stop the felling of anxiousness from coming across.

Clearly, she wasn't the only one with secrets.



* * *



"You're late," Rachel said and shut the door loudly.

Apollo frowned and glanced up to the clock on the wall.

"I'm right on time," he huffed.

Rachel crossed the office floor and made her way to the other side of the desk.

"No, you're about four days late," she said. The corner of her mouth turned up a little.

He cringed a little inside. So he hadn't come. It wasn't like he wanted to spend a lot of time talking about the damn chip. There wasn't much he could do. It was stuck, so whatever.

"It has to come out," she said and leaned back in her chair.

"Why?" He knew it sounded more like a pout, but Apollo didn't care.

"Because we don't know what it's doing in there," she said and sat back upright. "You are special, and we need to know why."

"So I can play guinea pig for you?" he spat out.

Immediately he regretted the words. She hadn't done this to him. Rachel had done so much for them, even when he was being a total dick to her. His hand went to the little lump, and he frowned. She didn't deserve his venom.

"What do I need to do?" he asked quietly.

"Talk with Val about this," she said. "At some point I'm going to have to talk with the others. I've held off because it's a … " She stared directly at him. "It's a sensitive issue, but we can't wait forever." 

He knew this. The longer they waited, the more trouble they would be in. And after everything Rachel had been through, he didn't want to be the cause of more trouble for her.

As much as he didn't want to show weakness, he was going to have to. "Maybe it's messing with my nose."

Rachel frowned and shook her head. "Doubtful with where it's located," she said and stared at him for a moment. "Why would you think that?"

Apollo sighed. She'd find out one way or another.

"Something is weird about the way Val smells," he said finally.

Rachel watched him for a moment and then grinned. "She's a Vestal then?"

"Yes," he said and then shook his head. "No."

The smile slid from her face as she watched him.

"Well, what is it?"

He looked down at his hands. This was the worst.

"Both."

"I don't understand," she said and leaned forward. Apollo looked to her concerned face. "How can she be both?"

"She can't," he sighed. "But her smell changes."

"That can't be," she said and stood. He watched as she paced the room, thinking. "We ran a full scan," she mumbled to herself. "There's no way it could be linked to the other."

She stopped and stared at him. "We need to run another scan."

He nodded and had suspected as much. Even Sol had mentioned it. Vestals just didn't work that way, and they all knew it. Unless she was using something. But more and more he suspected that it would be too difficult to actually do that.

"Maybe we missed it," she said and sat back at the desk, flipping through the file there. "We'll do a segmented scan. If it's there, we'll see it."

He had no clue what that meant, but if she thought it was the best option, then it was.

"First thing tomorrow," she said. "And don't fight me on this."

He nodded. Whatever was going on needed to be addressed. Apollo stood to leave but stopped when she called to him. She glanced up from the papers.

"You know I've got to talk with Val about this," she said and lowered her voice slightly. "About you."

Apollo shook his head but stopped when she held up a hand.

"We'll just talk about the chips," she said. "She's got to know why it's so important."

He didn't feel much at ease with that answer, but she wasn't going to take no considering what he had said.

Apollo nodded.

There was nothing left to do but prepare himself for hell.



* * *



Rem grinned through most of dinner, and this really only seemed to piss Jenna off more. If she didn't know any better, Val would say they were in some sort of lovers' quarrel but neither spoke like they were.

Jenna was easier to read. A ton of irritation with a bit of sexual tension.

Rem was another story. He was sly, and maybe because of this, she was never able to get a true reading from him. Still, it wasn't often she ran into this situation, and it felt weird not knowing. Like walking in the dark.

"That was such a great dinner," Rem said. He smiled and leaned back in his chair. A twinkle lit his eye as he watched Jenna clearing the plates, and when he stood to help, Val couldn't help but be surprised he would offer. Most of the men seemed so full of themselves, but maybe it wasn't like that for all of them.