Cleansing the House - August 24th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 24
Title: Cleansing the House
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Smallville
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Smallville people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Athena gets rid of an intruder.
Notes: Athena Luthor Part 19 - Links Page
Seasons: S1 “Shimmer”
Characters: Athena, Clark, Lex, Lana
Word Count: 2445
“So what are you planning for Athena’s birthday?” Pete asked as he and Clark descended the stairs.
“Nothing, really. I figured we’d just hang out this weekend.”
Pete paused on the bottom step to frown at him. “Just hang out?”
“Maybe I’ll just play it by ear,” he suggested.
Pete shook his head and kept going. Clark stopped at his locker.
“Whitney,” the school counselor said, “your mother called and she filled me in.”
Clark looked across the hall where they stood at Whitney’s locker.
“She shouldn’t have,” Whitney said angrily, taking a book out of his bag, sending a small white paper bag to the floor.
“Well, Whitney, she’s just concerned,” the counselor told him. “Look, I’m not here to push. If you need anything, my office is just down the hall. Okay?”
“Okay,” Whitney said. He waited until she walked away and slammed his locker. He reached down and grabbed the white paper bag, it had a “Smallville Rx” label.
Clark used his enhanced vision to look through the bag to see “Amlodipine” written on the prescription label.
88888888
“Amlodipine,” Athena said reading over his shoulder. “Calcium channel blocker used to treat high blood pressure and chest pain.”
“Athena,” Clark greeted as he turned to her. They were alone in the Torch office.
“What’s going on?”
“Whitney had a prescription for this drug in his bag.”
“Ah.” She frowned. “But it can’t be Whitney’s.”
“Why?”
“Other than the fact that he’s not showing any of the side effects…he never would have been cleared to play sports after his car accident last month if he needed to take this.”
“Are you sure?”
“He was wearing his seatbelt, the hospital did a full workup because he had bruising and low blood pressure, which could been a heart contusion from the accident.”
“Which means….”
“That if something had been wrong, amlodipine would be the wrong medication.” She considered. “I’m thinking it’s one of his parents.”
“You going to tell Lana?”
She shook her head. “Nah. As you and I both know, everyone is allowed their secrets. He’s not hurting anyone, so none of our business. She’ll understand, once he comes clean.”
Clark nodded.
88888888
Athena sighed, finishing her history homework. She closed the book and leaned back. She needed to corner Lex and talk things through with him, preferably before Victoria got too nosey.
A fissure went up her spine, letting her know Clark was nearby. She grinned. She waited a few minutes, but he did not enter her office. She suspected he was in Lex’s office. Curious, she got up and left her office.
A crash from upstairs had her running. She made it up the stairs and into a master bathroom, Clark arrived at the same time. Victoria’s head was being held under water in the tub. The water was calming, as though she was no longer fighting back.
Athena blindly kicked out at the area above Victoria’s head. She hit something solid. Clark reached in and grabbed Victoria, she immediately coughed up water. Athena secured a robe around Victoria.
Clark got knocked across the room, breaking a large mirror. The pieces scattered around the floor, making a minefield of silver.
“Breath,” Athena told Victoria.
“She okay?” Clark asked.
“Looks like. You?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that eliminates the ghost theory. I hit something solid.”
Clark nodded. “And I’m guessing ghosts don’t bleed.” He pointed to the cracked piece of mirror that had blood on it.
88888888
Athena left Clark to have Chloe look over the bloodied mirror. She had other fish to fry.
“Fordman,” she said.
Whitney stopped and turned to talk to her. She grabbed his arm and dragged him into a classroom.
“What do you want, Luthor?” he demanded, shaking her off.
“I know about the medication,” she told him softly. “What’s wrong with your dad?”
He exhaled, looking away from her. “How did you find out?”
She shrugged. “Educated guess.”
“It’s his heart,” he told her. “He’s been in Metropolis all week, for tests.”
“Which is when you started shutting Lana out.”
“I figured she’s been through enough pain in her life,” he said. “I didn’t want her to have to go through it with me.”
“Lana is a lot stronger than you’re giving her credit for.” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “And so are you.”
88888888
At the Beanery, Athena sat down next to Lex and exhaled.
“So?” Lex asked.
Athena reached into her back pocket and handed him the card.
“So you are officially licensed to drive,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“And I get to pick out a car as soon as I can fit it into my busy schedule.”
“Busy schedule?” Clark asked as he took the other armchair.
“School, paper, figuring out why the mansion has a not-so-Casper,” Athena explained. “Not that I’m rooting for the attempted murderer, but Victoria went to Metropolis…”
“Stop,” Lex told her.
“Oh, we were right,” Athena said. “It’s his dad, pretty bad, though they don’t know exactly how bad yet.”
“How did you find out?” Clark asked.
“I cornered him,” she admitted.
“Was he mad?”
“No, I think it helped to unburden a bit.”
“What are you two taking about?” Lex asked.
“A….friend who was acting pretty nasty all week,” Athena said. “We managed to unravel the mystery.”
“The mystery?”
Athena tipped a shoulder.
“Hi, Lex,” Amy said appeared between Athena and Lex’s chairs.
“Amy, this is a surprise.”
“Oh, well, I just saw your car outside, so I thought I’d come in and say hi.”
“Well, I appreciate the gesture.”
“So now that Miss Hardwick is gone, hopefully things will be back to normal.”
“Victoria will be back in a few days,” Lex assured her.
Athena groaned. “When she comes back I’m going to rent an apartment.”
“She’s not that bad,” Lex defended. “Or are you just taking Father’s side?”
Athena leaned over and smacked his knee. “She’s a harpy, who has been digging around my home. I would rather your…partners not have free range where I live.”
Amy quietly left.
“Not to interrupt, your family argument, which you will need to finish,” Clark said. “But I think Amy may be the Casper.”
Athena and Lex turned to look at him. “What?”
88888888
“I don’t know what to say, Mr. Luthor, Miss Luthor,” Amy’s mother said. “Amy’s been having some trouble at school, but I can’t imagine she would actually try to hurt Miss Hardwick.”
Lex and Athena stood in Amy’s room looking around.
“Troy,” Athena said.
“What?” Amy’s mother asked.
“The first person attacked, I’d seen him bullying Amy, but Jeff - her brother - always stepped in before I could.” Athena explained, “And Victoria isn’t exactly friendly to me, much less the help.”
She pulled open a cabinet. There was an entire shrine to Lex with pictures.
“My watch,” Lex said pulling it from the cupboard.
“We had no i-i-idea, Mr. Luthor,” Amy’s mother said. “Please don’t call the police.”
“I’m not interested in retribution or publicity, but Amy needs help,” Lex assured. “Whatever it takes, just send me the bill. Even so, I think it’d be best for everyone if you left the mansion tonight.”
“Yes, of course,” Amy’s mother assured.
88888888
Athena was not there to see Amy and her family leave. She had retreated to her room, to pack a bag. If Victoria was coming back, she would need to stash a bag at Clark’s or Lana’s until she had a car. She had felt something behind her, then woken up on the floor of the living room.
“Don’t you understand?” a male voice demanded. “She loved you. How could you send her away?!”
“Who are you?” Lex said, groaning.
Athena cracked her eyes open, feeling slightly sick at the swimming of her vision.
“And you!” the voice continued. “The esteemed Miss Luthor, you acted nice to her, but you didn’t care.”
“What was I supposed to do, Jeff?” she asked, her ear pressed to the floor. In her mind’s eye she could imagine him moving around the room as the vibrations moved to her ear.
“Where are you?” Lex asked.
“He’s invisible,” Athena guessed.
Lex was knocked to the floor.
“What have we ever done to you?” Lex demanded.
“Not to me, to Amy,” Jeff hissed. “She loved you and you threw her out like she was nothing.”
“I thought she was attaching Victoria.”
“That was me,” Jeff said.
Athena heard the sword decoration slide out of its holder. She could hear it slice through the air as Jeff moved towards Lex. Athena broke her bindings and grabbed his leg as he passed. Jeff fell hard onto the ground next to her. She pulled him towards her and kicked out, nailing him in the face twice.
“You got him, I think,” Lex told her.
A hammering on the door drew her attention, before she sank back to the floor, unconscious.
“Athena! Lex!” Clark yelled.
“Clark!” Lex called.
Clark snapped the lock on the door and entered.
“In here,” Lex said.
Clark took in the scene.
“Careful, the Invisible Man is between me and Athena.”
Clark frowned at the floor. Sure enough he could see the skeleton sprawled out next to them. He moved to Athena, lifting her head. “What happened?”
“He knocked me out by hitting me from behind, it looks like he did the same to her. She wouldn’t open her eyes.”
“Then how did Jeff get knocked out?”
“Athena did it. She kept very still then just attacked him.” He frowned. “All without opening her eyes.”
Clark pulled his hand away from Athena’s head. Blood coated his fingers.
“Let me loose, we need to find and tie up Jeff and call the police,” Lex ordered. “If she hasn’t woken up, we’ll take her to the hospital.”
“No hospital,” Athena muttered.
“Athena,” Clark said, looking down at her.
“Shhh!” she ordered. “Casper?”
“You got him.”
“Good. Shh.”
Clark let Lex out of his binding and helped to wrap and tie up Jeff. While they waited for the police, Clark moved Athena to her room. She came awake enough to protest a bit more.
By the time Jeff had been transported to the hospital, Athena was sitting up in bed and prepared to answer questions for the police. Then she was left alone with Clark.
She whispered a small spell to take out any recording devices. “I’ll try and find Jeff’s lab.”
“I can,” Clark assured her.
“No you can’t. Ten to one, he used meteor rock in some way.”
“How will you know what you’re looking for?”
“Something to do with roses, the entire room reeked of it when I came to downstairs.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ll figure it out.”
They heard footsteps in the hallway and changed subject.
“How did you know to come here?” Athena asked.
“Chloe ran the sample from the mirror against Amy’s but it came back as Jeff’s.”
There was a knock at her open door.
“Hey, Lex,” Clark said. “How’s your head?”
“Good.” He looked at Athena. “You?”
“Looks like hardheadedness is a Luthor trait,” she quipped.
88888888
Athena found the meteor-rich roses just inside of the Luthor property line. Their petals were green. She grabbed gloves and a shovel and dug up the entire patch, even the ones that looked normal. It was probably an overreaction on her part but Clark aside, creepy invisible people were not something she wanted - anywhere.
She had found Jeff’s lab, taking everything from it.
It was still early when she stacked everything together with wood and a bit of lighter fluid and set it aflame. She sat far enough away to not breathe in the smoke. She smiled as she watched it all burn.
She had not seen any meteor rocks when she had been digging. It meant either it was even deeper than the roots had been, it had been trucked in as fertilizer or filler soil, or had been dissolved into the surrounding soil. Her experiments with Jodi involving the soil around Smallville had been informational. They had done shallow and deep samples. She was still working through them even with Jodi in treatment.
“What’s this?” Lex asked as he stepped up behind her.
“Ritualistic bonfire,” Athena said. “I felt a need to cleanse the image of someone running around naked in the house.” She looked up at him. “Which reminds me, when is Victoria supposed to be back?”
“She’ll be making her way back tomorrow.”
I better stash that spare bag today. “Oh, goody.”
“Don’t you have a car to pick out?”
“I already know exactly which one I want,” she told him.
“Mustang? Camaro?”
“Ford Escape,” she told him. “I like having room in the car for other people or projects. And a vehicle I can use in the winter.”
Lex was clearly disgusted. He loved cars and tended to treat them as an extension of himself, instead of the practical tool Athena viewed them as.
Athena grinned.
88888888
“Thank you for this,” Athena said as she stored her spare bag in the corner of Lana’s closet. “I was hoping Lex would come to his senses, but the knock to the head may have set him back a few weeks.”
Lana chuckled from where she sat on the bed. “Have you tried talking to him?”
“I even sided with my father about her and said I’d throw her out by her hair if I found her snooping. No reaction whatsoever.” She frowned. “I am starting to think he is powerless to his libido, she’s got him under a spell, or there is something going on that I’m not seeing.”
“Maybe he’s just in love with her.”
Athena threw her head back, letting out a deep throated chuckle. “No. No, it’s definitely not that.”
“You don’t think he could love a woman like her?”
“I think he deserves better than a manipulative harpy.” She sighed. “I just want him to have something real. Something that isn’t the sham of love we saw all the time in Father’s circles. And honestly he needs someone who has no interest in his money or name.”
“You should try setting him up,” Lana suggested.
“I can’t, I gave him hell about butting into my relationship with Clark.” She sat on the end of Lana’s bed. “I’d like him to continue to keep out of it.”
“Ah.”
Title: Cleansing the House
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Smallville
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Smallville people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Athena gets rid of an intruder.
Notes: Athena Luthor Part 19 - Links Page
Seasons: S1 “Shimmer”
Characters: Athena, Clark, Lex, Lana
Word Count: 2445
“So what are you planning for Athena’s birthday?” Pete asked as he and Clark descended the stairs.
“Nothing, really. I figured we’d just hang out this weekend.”
Pete paused on the bottom step to frown at him. “Just hang out?”
“Maybe I’ll just play it by ear,” he suggested.
Pete shook his head and kept going. Clark stopped at his locker.
“Whitney,” the school counselor said, “your mother called and she filled me in.”
Clark looked across the hall where they stood at Whitney’s locker.
“She shouldn’t have,” Whitney said angrily, taking a book out of his bag, sending a small white paper bag to the floor.
“Well, Whitney, she’s just concerned,” the counselor told him. “Look, I’m not here to push. If you need anything, my office is just down the hall. Okay?”
“Okay,” Whitney said. He waited until she walked away and slammed his locker. He reached down and grabbed the white paper bag, it had a “Smallville Rx” label.
Clark used his enhanced vision to look through the bag to see “Amlodipine” written on the prescription label.
88888888
“Amlodipine,” Athena said reading over his shoulder. “Calcium channel blocker used to treat high blood pressure and chest pain.”
“Athena,” Clark greeted as he turned to her. They were alone in the Torch office.
“What’s going on?”
“Whitney had a prescription for this drug in his bag.”
“Ah.” She frowned. “But it can’t be Whitney’s.”
“Why?”
“Other than the fact that he’s not showing any of the side effects…he never would have been cleared to play sports after his car accident last month if he needed to take this.”
“Are you sure?”
“He was wearing his seatbelt, the hospital did a full workup because he had bruising and low blood pressure, which could been a heart contusion from the accident.”
“Which means….”
“That if something had been wrong, amlodipine would be the wrong medication.” She considered. “I’m thinking it’s one of his parents.”
“You going to tell Lana?”
She shook her head. “Nah. As you and I both know, everyone is allowed their secrets. He’s not hurting anyone, so none of our business. She’ll understand, once he comes clean.”
Clark nodded.
88888888
Athena sighed, finishing her history homework. She closed the book and leaned back. She needed to corner Lex and talk things through with him, preferably before Victoria got too nosey.
A fissure went up her spine, letting her know Clark was nearby. She grinned. She waited a few minutes, but he did not enter her office. She suspected he was in Lex’s office. Curious, she got up and left her office.
A crash from upstairs had her running. She made it up the stairs and into a master bathroom, Clark arrived at the same time. Victoria’s head was being held under water in the tub. The water was calming, as though she was no longer fighting back.
Athena blindly kicked out at the area above Victoria’s head. She hit something solid. Clark reached in and grabbed Victoria, she immediately coughed up water. Athena secured a robe around Victoria.
Clark got knocked across the room, breaking a large mirror. The pieces scattered around the floor, making a minefield of silver.
“Breath,” Athena told Victoria.
“She okay?” Clark asked.
“Looks like. You?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that eliminates the ghost theory. I hit something solid.”
Clark nodded. “And I’m guessing ghosts don’t bleed.” He pointed to the cracked piece of mirror that had blood on it.
88888888
Athena left Clark to have Chloe look over the bloodied mirror. She had other fish to fry.
“Fordman,” she said.
Whitney stopped and turned to talk to her. She grabbed his arm and dragged him into a classroom.
“What do you want, Luthor?” he demanded, shaking her off.
“I know about the medication,” she told him softly. “What’s wrong with your dad?”
He exhaled, looking away from her. “How did you find out?”
She shrugged. “Educated guess.”
“It’s his heart,” he told her. “He’s been in Metropolis all week, for tests.”
“Which is when you started shutting Lana out.”
“I figured she’s been through enough pain in her life,” he said. “I didn’t want her to have to go through it with me.”
“Lana is a lot stronger than you’re giving her credit for.” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “And so are you.”
88888888
At the Beanery, Athena sat down next to Lex and exhaled.
“So?” Lex asked.
Athena reached into her back pocket and handed him the card.
“So you are officially licensed to drive,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“And I get to pick out a car as soon as I can fit it into my busy schedule.”
“Busy schedule?” Clark asked as he took the other armchair.
“School, paper, figuring out why the mansion has a not-so-Casper,” Athena explained. “Not that I’m rooting for the attempted murderer, but Victoria went to Metropolis…”
“Stop,” Lex told her.
“Oh, we were right,” Athena said. “It’s his dad, pretty bad, though they don’t know exactly how bad yet.”
“How did you find out?” Clark asked.
“I cornered him,” she admitted.
“Was he mad?”
“No, I think it helped to unburden a bit.”
“What are you two taking about?” Lex asked.
“A….friend who was acting pretty nasty all week,” Athena said. “We managed to unravel the mystery.”
“The mystery?”
Athena tipped a shoulder.
“Hi, Lex,” Amy said appeared between Athena and Lex’s chairs.
“Amy, this is a surprise.”
“Oh, well, I just saw your car outside, so I thought I’d come in and say hi.”
“Well, I appreciate the gesture.”
“So now that Miss Hardwick is gone, hopefully things will be back to normal.”
“Victoria will be back in a few days,” Lex assured her.
Athena groaned. “When she comes back I’m going to rent an apartment.”
“She’s not that bad,” Lex defended. “Or are you just taking Father’s side?”
Athena leaned over and smacked his knee. “She’s a harpy, who has been digging around my home. I would rather your…partners not have free range where I live.”
Amy quietly left.
“Not to interrupt, your family argument, which you will need to finish,” Clark said. “But I think Amy may be the Casper.”
Athena and Lex turned to look at him. “What?”
88888888
“I don’t know what to say, Mr. Luthor, Miss Luthor,” Amy’s mother said. “Amy’s been having some trouble at school, but I can’t imagine she would actually try to hurt Miss Hardwick.”
Lex and Athena stood in Amy’s room looking around.
“Troy,” Athena said.
“What?” Amy’s mother asked.
“The first person attacked, I’d seen him bullying Amy, but Jeff - her brother - always stepped in before I could.” Athena explained, “And Victoria isn’t exactly friendly to me, much less the help.”
She pulled open a cabinet. There was an entire shrine to Lex with pictures.
“My watch,” Lex said pulling it from the cupboard.
“We had no i-i-idea, Mr. Luthor,” Amy’s mother said. “Please don’t call the police.”
“I’m not interested in retribution or publicity, but Amy needs help,” Lex assured. “Whatever it takes, just send me the bill. Even so, I think it’d be best for everyone if you left the mansion tonight.”
“Yes, of course,” Amy’s mother assured.
88888888
Athena was not there to see Amy and her family leave. She had retreated to her room, to pack a bag. If Victoria was coming back, she would need to stash a bag at Clark’s or Lana’s until she had a car. She had felt something behind her, then woken up on the floor of the living room.
“Don’t you understand?” a male voice demanded. “She loved you. How could you send her away?!”
“Who are you?” Lex said, groaning.
Athena cracked her eyes open, feeling slightly sick at the swimming of her vision.
“And you!” the voice continued. “The esteemed Miss Luthor, you acted nice to her, but you didn’t care.”
“What was I supposed to do, Jeff?” she asked, her ear pressed to the floor. In her mind’s eye she could imagine him moving around the room as the vibrations moved to her ear.
“Where are you?” Lex asked.
“He’s invisible,” Athena guessed.
Lex was knocked to the floor.
“What have we ever done to you?” Lex demanded.
“Not to me, to Amy,” Jeff hissed. “She loved you and you threw her out like she was nothing.”
“I thought she was attaching Victoria.”
“That was me,” Jeff said.
Athena heard the sword decoration slide out of its holder. She could hear it slice through the air as Jeff moved towards Lex. Athena broke her bindings and grabbed his leg as he passed. Jeff fell hard onto the ground next to her. She pulled him towards her and kicked out, nailing him in the face twice.
“You got him, I think,” Lex told her.
A hammering on the door drew her attention, before she sank back to the floor, unconscious.
“Athena! Lex!” Clark yelled.
“Clark!” Lex called.
Clark snapped the lock on the door and entered.
“In here,” Lex said.
Clark took in the scene.
“Careful, the Invisible Man is between me and Athena.”
Clark frowned at the floor. Sure enough he could see the skeleton sprawled out next to them. He moved to Athena, lifting her head. “What happened?”
“He knocked me out by hitting me from behind, it looks like he did the same to her. She wouldn’t open her eyes.”
“Then how did Jeff get knocked out?”
“Athena did it. She kept very still then just attacked him.” He frowned. “All without opening her eyes.”
Clark pulled his hand away from Athena’s head. Blood coated his fingers.
“Let me loose, we need to find and tie up Jeff and call the police,” Lex ordered. “If she hasn’t woken up, we’ll take her to the hospital.”
“No hospital,” Athena muttered.
“Athena,” Clark said, looking down at her.
“Shhh!” she ordered. “Casper?”
“You got him.”
“Good. Shh.”
Clark let Lex out of his binding and helped to wrap and tie up Jeff. While they waited for the police, Clark moved Athena to her room. She came awake enough to protest a bit more.
By the time Jeff had been transported to the hospital, Athena was sitting up in bed and prepared to answer questions for the police. Then she was left alone with Clark.
She whispered a small spell to take out any recording devices. “I’ll try and find Jeff’s lab.”
“I can,” Clark assured her.
“No you can’t. Ten to one, he used meteor rock in some way.”
“How will you know what you’re looking for?”
“Something to do with roses, the entire room reeked of it when I came to downstairs.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ll figure it out.”
They heard footsteps in the hallway and changed subject.
“How did you know to come here?” Athena asked.
“Chloe ran the sample from the mirror against Amy’s but it came back as Jeff’s.”
There was a knock at her open door.
“Hey, Lex,” Clark said. “How’s your head?”
“Good.” He looked at Athena. “You?”
“Looks like hardheadedness is a Luthor trait,” she quipped.
88888888
Athena found the meteor-rich roses just inside of the Luthor property line. Their petals were green. She grabbed gloves and a shovel and dug up the entire patch, even the ones that looked normal. It was probably an overreaction on her part but Clark aside, creepy invisible people were not something she wanted - anywhere.
She had found Jeff’s lab, taking everything from it.
It was still early when she stacked everything together with wood and a bit of lighter fluid and set it aflame. She sat far enough away to not breathe in the smoke. She smiled as she watched it all burn.
She had not seen any meteor rocks when she had been digging. It meant either it was even deeper than the roots had been, it had been trucked in as fertilizer or filler soil, or had been dissolved into the surrounding soil. Her experiments with Jodi involving the soil around Smallville had been informational. They had done shallow and deep samples. She was still working through them even with Jodi in treatment.
“What’s this?” Lex asked as he stepped up behind her.
“Ritualistic bonfire,” Athena said. “I felt a need to cleanse the image of someone running around naked in the house.” She looked up at him. “Which reminds me, when is Victoria supposed to be back?”
“She’ll be making her way back tomorrow.”
I better stash that spare bag today. “Oh, goody.”
“Don’t you have a car to pick out?”
“I already know exactly which one I want,” she told him.
“Mustang? Camaro?”
“Ford Escape,” she told him. “I like having room in the car for other people or projects. And a vehicle I can use in the winter.”
Lex was clearly disgusted. He loved cars and tended to treat them as an extension of himself, instead of the practical tool Athena viewed them as.
Athena grinned.
88888888
“Thank you for this,” Athena said as she stored her spare bag in the corner of Lana’s closet. “I was hoping Lex would come to his senses, but the knock to the head may have set him back a few weeks.”
Lana chuckled from where she sat on the bed. “Have you tried talking to him?”
“I even sided with my father about her and said I’d throw her out by her hair if I found her snooping. No reaction whatsoever.” She frowned. “I am starting to think he is powerless to his libido, she’s got him under a spell, or there is something going on that I’m not seeing.”
“Maybe he’s just in love with her.”
Athena threw her head back, letting out a deep throated chuckle. “No. No, it’s definitely not that.”
“You don’t think he could love a woman like her?”
“I think he deserves better than a manipulative harpy.” She sighed. “I just want him to have something real. Something that isn’t the sham of love we saw all the time in Father’s circles. And honestly he needs someone who has no interest in his money or name.”
“You should try setting him up,” Lana suggested.
“I can’t, I gave him hell about butting into my relationship with Clark.” She sat on the end of Lana’s bed. “I’d like him to continue to keep out of it.”
“Ah.”