POV: Skylar

The longer I stare at them, the more unbelievable it becomes. Two gold medals. Two! They shine so nice now, Aphrodite got them cleaned for me. We got a case for them. I could stare at them all day.

"Thought I'd find you here," she walks up behind me and wraps me in her arms.

"I did that," I say.

"Yeah, you did." She kisses my shoulder.

"Feels so unreal," I say.

"You know what's unreal? The amount of time it's been since you and I had some quality alone time." She kisses her way up my neck to my ear.

I giggle and turn to her, "Maybe if someone let me get that new toy I've been wanting, I'd happily give you that quality alone time, give it to you all night long."

"Oh my god, ew!" Oli cries out.

We both flinch and turn to her standing in the doorway.

"My ears!" she runs out of the room.

I sigh.

Aphrodite pouts and looks back at me.

"Just one more day and they are gone." I point out.

"Then I want that quality alone time." She whacks me in the stomach before walking off.

I follow her out of the room and walk over to Oli who is shaking her head and covering her ears.

"Really," I glare at her.

"You killed me," she complains.

"Grow up," I roll my eyes.

"What happened?" Mom asks from the couch where she does her makeup and watches tv at once.

"The vile words shall not be repeated," Oli says.

"Countess do me a favor and claw her face off." I turn to the cat sitting on a bar chair.

She blinks slowly at me, unamused.

"Behave you two," mom chastises us.

"Hey," Aphrodite snaps at me. "You're supposed to be getting dressed, remember?"

I sigh again and walk over to our room to change.

"I hate fancy dinners," I pout and drag myself to the closet.

"My stupid step troll is making us. It's supposed to be to celebrate you." She rolls her eyes and helps me pick out something to wear.

"I'm only doing this to finally meet your parents," I say.

"You'll wish you hadn't by the end of the night." She snorts in amusement.

I shake my head and start stripping out of my clothes to change.

After much prepping we finally arrive at the restaurant right on time. Aphrodite's stepmom is waiting for us, or as she calls her, the step troll, with her gremlin daughter standing right next to her.

According to Aphrodite, her mom and dad have been divorced for a while. But they still keep in touch often and her dad still supports her mom financially. Her dad has a new armpiece every other year she says, this year's edition calls itself stepmom because the woman made her dad propose to her. Of course, her dad learned his lesson with Aphrodite's biological mother and always makes his new girl's sign prenups when they get with him. That way he doesn't have to pay them a dime once he dumps them.

Smart man.

Aphrodite says she's always been closer to her dad than her mom, and that she and her dad are very similar in personality. He likes to keep to himself, never comes out in public if he can avoid it, and he has a particular taste and opinion about everything. She warned me he can be rude and hard to get used to at first.

Aphrodite's new sister is about a year or two younger than her, she really has taken this imitation thing overboard. Aphrodite showed me what she looked like before she joined the family, she was about average, but now... big yikes. The girl is like a clone of Aphrodite. I can see why it creeps her out and annoys her.

"Hey, sis!" The girl runs and embraces her, and if you know Aphrodite then you know she hates that.

Aphrodite is very much like a cat. She'll love on you when she wants to, but if you break her boundaries and force your affection on her, she'll want to gouge your eyes out.

"Hey Anna," Aphrodite forced out through gritted teeth, not hugging the girl back, just staying stiff in her embrace.

"You must be Skylar," Anna turns to me.

"Hi, nice to officially meet you. This is my mom, Hannah, and my sister Olivia." I introduce them.

"Nice to meet you," Her stepmom says. "I'm Sophia, this is my daughter Annabel." Her accent is strong, much stronger than Aphrodite's.

"Where is dad?" Aphrodite asks.

"Fashionably late, as usual, but let's go in," Sophia says.

We walk in and are escorted to a table, people clap and welcome me. I force an awkward smile. We make small talk for a bit and order some drinks and apps, then her dad finally arrives.

Instantly I know where Aphrodite gets her good looks from. The man is freaking gorgeous. He doesn't look a day older than 27, but I know he's just about in his early 50's. It's amazing, he and Aphrodite could be easily mistaken as brother and sister, not father and daughter.

He has a thick head of curly black hair, and bright blue eyes, he looks like a supermodel.

"Daddy!" Anna runs to him.

Aphrodite glares at her.

"Hey, kiddo." He smiles and pats her back.

Aphrodite stands to greet him.

"There she is, my best girl." He embraces her.

"Hey dad," she smiles into his embrace.

I can't help but notice Anna glare at them, is she jealous?

"Hi," I stand.

"This is Skylar, my girlfriend, the one I told you about."

He looks me over, judging my worth, but seems satisfied and smiles.

"Nice to meet you, Olympian." He shakes my hand.

"I have a feeling that will never get old," I say.

He laughs loudly.

"Sit Apollo, sit," Sophia chastises him.

Of course, he has a Greek god name, it all makes sense now.

"Is it true you dated, Jade Tate?" Anna asks me in the middle of dinner to spice up the conversation.

I guess talking about her dad's stocks and business deals was getting too boring.

Aphrodite glares at her.

"Yes, we actually grew up together. We were friends before she was famous." I say.

"Awesome, do you know a lot of famous people?"

"Anna, leave her alone." Aphrodite snaps at her.

"It was just a question," she grumbles.

"I'm an introverted person." I supply.

"Aren't we all, if I could fuck off from the world, I would."

"Dad," Aphrodite giggles.

My mom and Oli giggle too.

"I would." He says.

"Apollo, really," Sophia shakes her head.

"I like to get away from it all, go to my favorite places, and unplug."

"Emm, the lodge in the mountains," Aphrodite says.

"Oh, good one love. That's my favorite, next to the—"

"private island with the trees." They say in unison and laugh.

"Oh, it's been a hot minute since I've visited those places," Aphrodite says.

"Too busy with the states." He comments.

"For good reason." She turns and smiles at me, I smile back.

"Perhaps you should show your new sweetheart the views around the world. Give her a taste of your childhood." He suggests.

"Maybe I will, as a graduation present." She says.

"I'd love that," I peck her on the cheek.

"Why haven't you taken me to the private island?" Sophia pouts.

"Uh oh," mom says light-heartedly before laughing.

"Trying to get me in trouble?" Apollo turns and smiles at her.

"You don't need my help with that," she says.

"Bugger off," he teases, before kissing her.

They both laugh.

I smile.

They are cute together.

Dinner finishes without incident and we head back to Aphrodite's place.

"They weren't so bad," I comment as we get ready for bed.

"Oh please, did you see her? Daddy," she mocks Anna.

I giggle.

"And Sophia trying to drain my father of every cent he has," she grumbles.

"Your dad was funny, I like him."

"I think he likes you too." She smiles.

"Well, it's over and by noon tomorrow we will have this whole place to ourselves." I lay down.

"I can't wait," she crawls into bed next to me.

"Me either," I kiss her.

She deepens the kiss before snuggling up next to me and closing her eyes to sleep.