Chapter
One
Athena lookedat her class and let out a cheer as one of her students finished reading a paragraph they had been struggling with for a while. She strongly believed in celebrating hard earned accomplishments.
Once she’d led the kids to the gym for their P.E. period, she settled behind her desk and pulled out her lunch to eat while she graded yesterday’s practice spelling quiz. Her phone buzzed in her drawer, drawing her attention, interrupting the audio book she was listening to in the process.
“Hey, my favorite beautiful bitch! Are we still on for The Hen tonight? I so need to have a few drinks after the shit show at work today.”
Athena laughed at her best friend’s text. It was always a shit show at her job.
When she remembered she’d promised Deidra a night out, she cringed. She’d forgotten about the plans and had wanted to go home and drown her sadness in a pint of ice cream and sleep the weekend away.
“Don’t even think about talking your way out of going. You promised. Be showered and ready by seven. I will be there then to help you pick out your outfit, makeup, and hair.”
Well shit. There went her plans for the weekend.
“Fine! I could use a drink or two. Chris is an asshole!”
“What else is new? What does the lazy fucker want now?”
“He’s trying to force me to hitch myself to Rob Maplewood. That fucker creeps me out.”
“Oh, hell no!”
“Right?! The guy is gross as hell. Always following me around saying he owns me because my brother sold me to him.”
“No, the fuck he didn’t! We’ll talk more tonight. I got to run. See you at seven!”
“Laters!”
Athena couldn’t help but chuckle. She knew her best friend would have her back.
Her family wanted nothing to do with her, unless they wanted to use or abuse her. She was an outcast to them because she chose to go to college and be an elementary school teacher.
She had worked her way through college, which is how she’d met Deidra and they became best friends. Even better, they were both at the same college.
Once they had realized that tidbit, they were inseparable, even after college. She had moved to Pelco Grove where Deidra lived and started working at Pelco Grove Elementary School.
Sadly, the move three towns away didn’t stop her mother and brother from trying to control her life. It just made it harder for them to pop up unannounced most of the time.
Deidra knew how her family treated her and had even intervened a few times on her behalf. She truly was lucky to have a friend like her.
Sighing deeply, she restarted her audio book and continued with grading the quizzes and put the rest of the past behind her,where it needed to be. She would go out with her bestie and have a few drinks just for fun.
Who knew where the night would lead. Who the hell was she kidding.
She was a twenty-eight-year-old virgin who was afraid of dating anyone thanks to how her family had treated her all of her life. Her family was trying to push her off on someone who terrified the living shit out of her.
She sighed heavily as she continued to listen to the audio book she was listening to. Why couldn’t she find a man like Xaden inFourth Wing,or Rhysand inACOTAR,or so many of the other men she dreamed about at night when she fell asleep.
She knew she wasn’t every man’s dream woman. She stood five feet, two inches tall with strawberry blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and extra weight in her stomach, ass, and thighs.
While she was a plus-size gal, she was curvy. Deidra told her every day that men salivated at women like her, yet she’d yet to see it. Deidra was proof of that.
Her bestie was beautiful. She was tall at five foot five inches, with a toned body that showed her love for running.
The men salivated at her dark hair and whiskey brown eyes whenever she would grace their presence with it. She was a goddess while Athena was merely her lady in waiting.
