CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

**OLIVER**
I had spent the rest of the day studiously avoiding Carrie, and it would seem she did the same. The events of the day were unable to leave my mind, especially the feeling of her lips against mine. I sat at the table and watched them talk animatedly, watched as they reminisced about their childhood and the people they grew up with, watched Carrie as she talked about all the things she did today, and I thought to myself how she was severely lacking in conscience. I felt my blood begin to boil under my skin, how could she do this?
She was a snake, I thought to myself. Guilt, like a hot spear, stabbed me through the chest as I thought about how that made me a snake too.
Guilt. An emotion that I had become quite familiar with, that I had learned to bond with, to almost not feel.
I had taken the seat next to Gabriel to be as far away from Carrie as possible, only now, I was seated across from her, facing her, her gaze fleeting, did I realize how that might have been a mistake?
I dug into my food, staring at the sumptuous plate that Gabriel had prepared and thinking to myself how on any other day, I would have enjoyed eating this. Not not today. Today, it tasted like sand in my mouth.
My name from Gabriel’s lips pulled me from my thoughts.
“Oliver,” he called out.
My head snapped up to see that chatter around the table had ceased, and I was now the subject of discussion…or ridicule depending heavily on what was being discussed.
“Are you even listening to me?” Gabriel asked, a small smile playing on his lips. “You seem rather lost.”
I smiled at him, my muscles around my mouth struggling greatly to keep up with the command, and nodded, still refusing to look at the woman across the table from me.
“Yes, I’m listening,” I replied, proud of myself for keeping my voice steady. “I was just occupied for a hot minute.”
Gabriel nodded, seeking to buy it. “Well, I was asking you what you did today.”
I nodded and opened my mouth to speak, but was shocked when Carrie beat me to it.
“He spent the day at the river with me,” She said, and Gabriel’s eyes snapped to her, pleasantly surprised. “He told me about the goddess, I think she likes me.”
“Oh?!” Gabriel exclaimed, his eyes moving from one end of the table to the other.
I didn’t miss the double entendre in her sentence, and I swore under my breath, wondering to myself what I had gotten into. Me? I simply sat there and stared at Carrie as she spoke, at the irritating audacity contained in her frame. How could she do that? Just sit there…and lie? It just came so easily to her.
“That makes me happy,” Gabriel gushed. “I’m so happy to see that you’re both getting along fine!”
Carrie smiled at him. “Yes,” she said. “I am too!”
I sighed and continued to eat, making sure to listen in on their conversations and drop contributions when and where necessary. My jaw locked when I felt Carrie’s leg brush up against mine under the table. I looked up at her, certain that what I had just felt was an illusion, a figment of my imagination, but the cunning smile told me that it wasn’t. That it was very real. That it happened. I looked from her to Gabriel, praying that he didn’t notice what his cousin had just done.
He hadn’t.
I continued chewing the food in my mouth, the taste suddenly disappearing and the texture suddenly turning to sand. I froze when her feet brushed up against mine again. I looked across the table and begged with my eyes. She didn’t listen. She simply smiled wider and continued the conversation as though nothing was happening. Her leg went higher, brushing against my ankles, my calves, and my thighs and traveling much higher.
I swallowed hard just as her feet gently rubbed themselves against my crotch, and I began to cough violently as the food went down the wrong pile. Through the watery eyes, I could still see Carrie’s sly smile on her face as she lowered her feet down to my calf.
Gabriel turned sharply to me, and handed me a glass of water, patting my back after I had gulped down the liquid, his eyes filled with worry.
“Are you okay?” He asked as the coughing ceased.
I smiled tautly and nodded. “Yes…thank you…”
“My goodness, be careful. You scared me.”
“I’m sorry…” I muttered and stared pointedly at Carrie who seemed to be enjoying herself a little too much and at my expense.
Carrie’s smile widened. “I’m sure he’s okay,” she said. “The food just went down the wrong hole.”
Gabriel nodded in agreement, looking meaningfully at me. “Yes…yes, it must have. Be careful as you eat, my love.”
I smiled nervously and nodded, ignoring the wink that Carrie had sent my way. I swore off the food and settled for staring at Gabriel as he spoke. Watching his every movement, and loving his features afresh.
That was until Carrie continued her shenanigans. Her leg crept up mine again, bolder this time, more insistent. I stare pointedly at her, my eyes begging her not to go through with whatever plan she had carved out in her unstable head.
Her foot traveled up my leg again, this time not stopping until she got to the apex of my thighs. My teeth ground against each other and I muffled a moan as she pressed her feet against my crotch. My hand reached down to push her foot away, but instead found it laying on her ankle, powerless to stop her ministrations as she began to move it up and down my cock. I looked up at her pleasingly, but the mysterious smile on her face told me this wasn’t ending anytime soon.
I hated how I felt. I hated how it was so easy for her to turn me on. I hated how I hated myself for giving in every time. I hated myself for not being more strong-willed. I hated that I was mostly powerless to stop her. I hated the goddess, this was all her fault. This was her doing. She was the reason for the attraction. She was the reason that all this was happening.
I looked over at Gabriel who kept talking animatedly about anything and everything. I hated how he had not a clue in the world about what was going on, and somehow that made me angry at him. As though hearing my thoughts, his head snapped to mine, sorry dancing in his brown eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He asked. “You’ve stopped eating.”
Maybe because your fucking cousin had her foot on my dick.
But I couldn’t say that, so I rose to my feet, and headed for our room, but not without sending Carrie a death glare. I ignored Gabriel as he called me back to the table, and was only able to breathe fresh air once I entered our room.
“Fuck…”
I paced the room, running my hands through my hair as I wore a hole in the floor. I sat on the bed when I heard Gabriel walking down the hallway and watched as the door opened and closed behind him.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he came to sit next to me on the bed.
I scoffed and looked away. “Do I look like I’m okay?”
“What exactly is the problem, Oliver?” He asked. “I don’t understand you.”
“What don’t you understand?” I ask, my voice colder than I would have liked.
“I don’t know…one second, you’re good, the next, you’re not.”
“Hmm. When is Carrie leaving?” I asked, proud of the calm in my voice.
“Leaving?” He asked, confusion etched into his features. “You want her gone?”
I nodded. “Yes. When is she leaving?”
“I don’t understand. I thought you both were getting along?”
“And did it look like we were getting along tonight?!”
Gabriel recoiled at my tone, and I swore under my breath, realizing that I had come off harsher than I would have liked.
Gabriel took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. “When I saw Carrie on our doorstep, you have no idea how happy I was that she was here,” he said. “That I finally had a piece of my childhood here with me. That I had family here with me. I had hoped and prayed and wished that you both would get along. That I could have it all—“
“Well, you can’t, okay?! This isn’t some fairytale land where all your wishes come true!”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished they would come back. My heart broke at the hurt written all over Gabriel’s face, at the raw pin in his eyes. He slowly rod to his feet, and I rose with him.
“Gabriel, I’m sorry…”
He didn’t reply. He sighed heavily and made his exit.