RUMORS AND REALITY 2

Apollo was seated on a chair, his head dipped on the headrest, his eyes closed, and a woman between his thighs. His eyes flared open when he heard the noise from the door and the blood drained out of his face when he saw Cassandra standing there. The girl that was giving him a blow job turned and scowled at Cassandra, but Apollo pushed her off and stood.

Cassandra felt like her legs were glued to the ground. She fought to look as neutral as possible just to hide that they had anything going on.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I came to... I will just come back later." She spun to leave but Apollo caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

"Cassandra, wait."

Cassandra looked at the girl who was staring at them in confusion and disgust, her arms folded across her chest. Apollo turned to the girl.

"Leave now."

"What?"

"Leave!" Apollo yelled.

"Are you fucking the same woman with Eros?" the girl scoffed.

"This is not what it looks like. I...I came here to get my necklace...er...have you seen it anywhere?" Cassandra was trying so hard to control the tears that were threatening to pour.

The girl sighed and stormed out of the room, leaving them alone.

"Let go of me," Cassandra said slowly, trying hard to keep her voice firm.

"Cassie, I can explain..."

"You can? I walked in on you getting a blowjob from a woman and you say you can explain?"

"At least I wasn't fucking her," Apollo defended.

"Excuse me? What does that even mean?"

"Cassie, you are being hypocritical right now. The whole mansion is talking about how you fucked Eros well enough to let him pardon you after slapping him. You don't have to come here blaming me for getting the tension off."

"Jesus Christ, Apollo, even you too?" Cassandra fought the urge to give him a dirty slap, she folded her hands into fists. No matter what happened she shouldn't raise her hands at him. Tears stung her eyes.

"Cassie, everyone knows..."

"Damn you, Apollo! Damn you! You put me into this. I would have gladly endured that man's torture because I respect what we have. I respect you and I love you so much. I can't believe that you don't trust me even after all these years!" Hot tears were running down her cheeks now, she couldn't contain them anymore. "I took a damn bullet for deciding to remain chaste." She pushed his chest. "Do you know how much of a temptation Eros Castillo is?! Aside from wanting me to succumb to him by torturing me, do you know how much sex appeal that man has?!"

"Cassie..."

"But I stood my ground because I always had you at the back of my mind! It was always about us!"

"Cassie, you are screaming and you might give us out."

"You didn't think of that when you were shoving your dick into her mouth!"

Apollo ran his fingers through his hair. "I was frustrated, okay? I was horny and there are a lot of girls here and I kept hearing them fuck. I wanted you but you pushed me away..."

Cassandra was really, really fighting now not to raise her hands on him. "Pushed you away?! Apollo, you wanted to sleep with me without my consent! I am your fiancée for crying out loud and all you had to do was ask me. When you found out about my virginity, you were the one that said I should keep it and I have kept it even to the detriment of my life! You believe I fucked Eros? You want me to prove that I am still pure?!"

She started to pull down her blouse. Apollo stared at her in bewilderment.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving you prove!" she yelled. "That's what you need, right? Come and fuck me and find out yourself."

"Cassie, please, calm down. I don't want you to spoil things out of anger. Please, try to understand from my own part."

A simple 'sorry' would have pacified her. She already understood his frustration as much as she hated to admit it and she was still grateful that he was risking his life to get her out of this place, but he hurt her, and saying sorry won't kill him. "I understand you, Apollo, but a simple 'I'm sorry' won't hurt anyone."

"Okay, I'm sorry, it won't happen again. If you keep crying, Eros will want to know why and he might find out that you came here. I love you, Cassie and you know that, right?"

That reminded her why she was there. Her heart was heavy and too broken and Apollo didn't even look like it was much of a big deal. He walked up to her and took her in an embrace.

"I am really sorry, Cassie. I believe you now, but we can't have sex here or anywhere in this mansion."

"Why? People have been doing it."

"We are different from people, Cassie. Eros has his eyes on you and so does everyone else. All your movements will be monitored from now henceforth, so we can't risk that."

"I came to warn you about Eros. He is investigating you and I don't know, it might be best for you to leave."

Apollo shook his head. "Don't worry about that mi amor. I know everything. Do you think I didn't come prepared?"

"What if he finds out about us? What about your parents?"

"I covered every track and I have someone else helping me from outside, someone that throws him off track, so don't worry. I am not dumb. I have Eros watched in his own house, the only place I don't have a camera yet is in his bedroom. Just keep doing your own part. Get him to fall harder then I will strike."

Cassandra wanted nothing to do with Eros, but does she want him dead? The answer was no. And if she was being honest with herself, she was doing nothing to get Eros to fall for her except proving stubborn. All she wanted was to get out of there with her lover alive. She didn't want anyone dead.

"Now, you have to leave before anyone suspects you." He removed his necklace from his neck and gave it to her. "In case you need to show proof."

She smiled and took the necklace. Of course, she has forgiven him. He was only human and was bound to make mistakes. She wasn't going to judge him with one mistake or two. Coming here, into this lions' den, risking his life, job and family, nothing was more romantic than that.

She left him and started back towards the main house, hoping Eros Castillo was not back yet. She could handle Bully, but Eros unnerves her. She met Lucia still seated in the kitchen when she got back. She was drinking a glass of wine.

"What took you so long?" Lucia asked putting the glass down.

"Oh, I realized I was missing my necklace." She raised the necklace. "So I went in search of it. Thank God, Apollo found it. It has sentimental value." She turned and found Lucia staring at her.

"Wow," was all Lucia said and downed the wine in the glass. It didn't sit well with Cassandra.

Has her face given her away? She needed to sound convincing enough.

"Yeah, my mom gave it to me before she died." Lucia nodded. "What did I miss?"

"Cassie...is there something you want to tell me? Something you feel like you need to talk about?"

A frown perched on Cassandra's brows. "Something like what? Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?"

"Because I can see the mark of tears on your cheeks. Are you okay? Did Apollo do something to make you cry?"

She cringed at the mention of Apollo and the memory of what she saw came rushing back. She needed to talk to someone else about it, she wanted some advice from someone else, and she wanted comfort, but she couldn't risk it. "No, he won't dare," she said with a chuckle and changed the topic immediately. "So, are we even allowed to drink wine here?"

"The question should be; am I allowed to drink wine here? not you, you are already dama of the house."

Cassandra chuckled. "Well, don't flatter yourself. Eros just wants my virginity, trust me when he gets me laid, he will discard me like everyone else. Haven't you seen Dimitra? He has frustrated that girl. I feel sorry for her sometimes."

Lucia scoffed. "She is a major threat to you and you feel sorry? I bet she won't do the same if she was in your shoes and she deserves what she is getting. Eros Castillo is for everybody and no one, but she holds him like life."

Cassandra smiled. "That's the power of love. She loves him so much that it has damaged her. Sometimes, it's not very easy for your heart to let go when you love someone, no matter how much they mess up."

"Mmh, I see," Lucia said nodding her head. "I see."