Game of Deception

The Present

Once Skylar left to meet up with Johnny, Kai calls Blaze to make a report. “His plan failed last night, some stranger drugged his drink so he was completely out of it.” Kai explains when Blaze asks him for updates.

“Sucks for him but at least you were there to prevent him from getting harmed. Madame Aphro is gonna freak out if she finds out.” Blaze says. “Anything else?”

“He trusts me more after last night.” he replies. Kai decides to leave out Skylar and his activities during the previous night.

“Okay good. Were you able to get anything out of him last night?” Blaze asks.

“He nearly slipped up. I asked about Johnny and he mentioned something about not needing Johnny’s help.” Kai mentions.

“Try harder, Kai. You can’t stay there forever. Hermes keeps nagging at me because you’re taking too long. The other gods wants this problem to be settled soon.”

Kai sighs. “Skylar is a tricky one but I’m getting there. Give me three more days at max.”

“Keep your word, Kai. Skylar is already a hot topic at camp nowadays, you can’t disappoint anyone.” Blaze reminds.

“Don’t underestimate me. I’ll have him soon.”

“I gave you restrainers, make sure to use those on him when you bring him here.”

“Got it.” Kai nods and Blaze ends the call.

“Mister Hernandez, I found this underneath your assistant’s bed. Please check if whatever is inside is important, if not I can throw it out as I leave.” the cleaning lady says as she hands him a box.

Kai eyes the box and he quickly recalls about Blaze telling him about Johnny purchasing something from the black market. “I’ll take this, it’s an important gift.” Kai says.

“He shouldn’t put important gifts under his bed.” the cleaning lady says. “His room is all clean now by the way. Please call me if you need anything else.”

“Sure, thank you for your service.” Kai sends her off.

Once he was alone he enters his room and opens the box to check what was inside. “Oh Zeus…” Kai’s eyes widen in interest. He expected to see something weird weird but not kinky weird.

He lifts the provocative garment out of curiosity. The last time he saw something like this was when he was fooling around at camp with a daughter of Eros and when Chad jokingly sent him porn instead of the files he needed for some paperwork.

His mind was quick in processing images of the son of Aphrodite wearing the girdle and it all goes straight to his loins.

Mother of Zeus, was Skylar planning on using this to seduce him? Was Chad right when he said that Aphrodite’s kids were all kinky? Skylar is a virgin though, he’d never attempt anything this bold. Johnny could have given him the gift as a prank.

That still doesn’t change the fact that Kai wants to see Skylar wearing it though.

He puts the garment away to avoid further provocative thoughts. He could use it against Skylar, there’s a high chance that he might slip up and all Kai has to do is tease him about it.

He checks Skylar’s room while he’s at it. Some of Skylar’s stuff were familiar to him since those were reported to be stolen items from his previous targets. He keeps them like a badge of honor.

They know about Skylar and Johnny’s records. They know about their targets and the things they stole but they don’t know their motives. Was Skylar doing it just for fun? Is he just taking advantage of his powers? Is he doing it just because he can?

It’s not a part of his mission but Kai is set on finding out.

He looks through the rest of Skylar’s stuff but there was nothing else he could find besides a picture inside his bedside drawer. Kai takes a look and he sees a younger version of Skylar with a man, probably his father.

Skylar had a huge smile on his face on the photo and he was hugging his father. Skylar was probably around sixteen when the photo was taken. Even back then he already looked beautiful.

Kai just can’t fully believe that he’d turn out to be a thief. Of course Kai doesn’t fully know Skylar yet and Skylar might just be faking his personality but that’s not what he thinks.

“Sometimes I think I deserve it.”

He recalls the sullen expression on Skylar’s face when he said that and Kai kind of felt bad. Why would he even think that he deserves to be taken advantage of in the first place?

Kai returns to his room and dials Chad’s number. He picks up after a few rings. “Hey, are you with Blaze?” Kai asks.

“Excuse you, my world does not revolve around Athena’s most gifted son, I have a life too.” Chad huffs.

“You sound whipped.” Kai snorts. “Anyways I have a question to ask. Don’t tell Blaze or Hermes about it.”

“Oooh, are we rebelling? Sounds fun.”

“It’s not like that, I just need to know something.” Kai says.

“And that would be?”

“What will happen to Skylar once I take him there? Is he going to jail? Will he be punished? Are they throwing him to Tartarus?”

“Whoa there, Tartarus is too extreme. Remember when Blaze said that he never harmed anyone? I don’t think the pretty boy is going to get an extreme punishment. He’ll probably do some community service or spend a few weeks at Hades’ place. It depends on the gods. I heard Madame Aphro isn’t too pleased with his actions so I don’t think she’s letting him off the hook so easily.” Chad explains.

“He can’t go to the Underworld, that’s too much for him.” Kai winces.

“Hey, you sound concerned. Is his magic working on you?” Chad chuckles.

“I’m immune to his charms, Chad. I just think that he’s not as bad as the files about him say.” Kai clears up.

“What makes you think that?”

“He was with me last night. He was drunk and he even got drugged by some stranger. I kind of expected his true personality to come out but not much changed. He was truthful and told me some things, I just think he’s not that bad.” Kai says.

“It’s weird to hear the son of the god of war saying that.” Chad laughs.

“I know it’s weird but I assure you that I’m not hexed.” Kai grins. “I still have three days, I’ll try to get to know Skylar more while I’m at it.”

He hears Chad sighing from the other line. “Okay, I’m not supposed to tell you this but it looks like you’ve taken a liking on the boy so I guess I’ll help.”

Kai’s ears perk up at that. “What are you talking about?”

“I overheard Hermes talking to Blaze, they already sent someone after Skylar’s friend and I think they’re following them around already. If they get the son of Eros first, they’re taking Skylar by force after.” Chad lowers his voice.

“What? But I am assigned on this mission. Why would they take Skylar by force?” Kai asks.

“Like I said, Madame Aphro isn’t happy with his actions and I heard that it’s bad for her name so she wants Skylar to stop as soon as possible and she also isn’t happy about Hermes assigning a son of Ares to take him back too.” Chad explains.

Kai rolls his eyes. “Wait till she finds out that I’m so close to sleeping with her son.”

Chad chokes. “Whoa what? Are you for real?!”

“That’s something for us to talk about some other time and Madame Aphro needs to move on from her and my dad’s affair for goddess’ sakes. Their kids have nothing to do with it.”

“This situation is so dramatic, I’m living for it.” Chad snickers.

“Just give me updates too, okay? It seems like I’m going to have to rush things with Skylar.”

“Tell me the details soon. Good luck.” Chad says as he ended the call.

Great. No wonder Blaze was rushing him. Someone else is after Johnny and Skylar right now. He’ll need to catch Skylar off guard if he wants to be a step ahead of whoever Hermes sent.

After a few hours of thinking and idling, he calls Blaze again to make a report. He needs to know that there is progress. This is his mission and he doesn’t want anyone interfering.

“You called again,” Blaze starts.

“I found the item that Johnny purchased.” Kai says.

“What is it?”

“It’s… Lingerie, I think.” Kai answers. “With stockings, garter belts and all that shit.”

Blaze chuckles from the other line. “Oh wow, he’s gonna pull a Hera on you. He’s even bolder than I thought.”

Kai immediately understood what Blaze meant. But will Skylar do it? Was he the master of the plan?

“Kai you’re going to get it good.” Blaze snickers. “I’m willing to give you an extension as long as you get laid. Kinky s*x with Madame Aphro’s kids are the best based from what I learned.”

Kai grimaces. “f**k off, I have a mission to do.”

“Well you can do Skylar too.” Blaze smoothly comments.

Kai nearly chokes. He was about to make a retort when he catches a whiff of a familiar scent. Skylar’s back. “I gotta go, I only called to give you updates.”

“Kai, I’m telling you this… If you have no plans on sleeping with Skylar just get your mission done quick and I’ll sleep with him instead.” Kai can’t believe that Blaze’s actually serious.

“Dude… aren’t you and Chad a thing?” he groans.

“To be fair, Chad wants to sleep with Skylar too so it’s a win for both of us.”

Kai rolls his eyes in annoyance. “None of you are sleeping with him. Chad is the son of Heph, Madame Aphro would never allow it.” he points out.

He hears footsteps indicating that Skylar has entered the apartment. “Anyways, I’ll call if there’s more progress.” he tells Blaze and picks up the box.

“Sure thing. Have fun son of Ares. You’re good at tactics and you have the best stamina, you better use it.” Blaze suggestively says.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that Blaze is the most skilled son of the goddess of wisdom on camp.

“I’ll call you later.” he says as he left the room. Skylar happened to just exit his room as well.

The look of surprise on Skylar’s face when he saw the box in Kai’s hands is priceless.

“The cleaning lady found this under your bed, she was about to throw it out but I thought it might be important.” Kai steps towards him.

Skylar looks like he’s close to panicking.

Kai playfully smirks before returning the box to him. “I didn’t know that you were into those kind of stuff.”

Skylar was frozen for a moment. He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times as he finds the right words to say. “Actually, this is a mistake. Johnny jokingly gave it to me.” he explains.

“No need to explain, I won’t judge.” Kai shrugs as he takes a seat on the couch.

“I’m telling the truth.” Skylar chases after him. “You… know a fact about me, I’m not the type to be into this.”

Kai looks up at him. “That’s a shame.” he says.

Skylar blinks in confusion. “What?”

“It’s a shame,” Kai repeats. “I thought I’d see you wearing it.” his smile was dangerous.

Skylar cheeks turn red. “W-why would I? It’s not something that would look good on me and why would I even wear such a thing in the first place?” he blubbers.

“You haven’t tried,” Kai points out.

“I’m never going to try.” the younger grits before marching into his room.

Kai chuckles in amusement. A few minutes later, Skylar steps out of his room and acted as if nothing happened. It amused Kai to no end.

“So… what do you want for dinner, sir?” he asks.

Kai was so tempted to reply ‘You wearing that girdle’ but he didn’t want to scare Skylar off. “Let’s eat at the restaurant downstairs, I haven’t had a decent meal for days now.” he answers.

“Should I accompany you?” Skylar asks.

“Of course, you’re my assistant. Shall we?”

Skylar nods before opening the door for Kai. They head to the restaurant at the ground floor of the apartment penthouse, it looks expensive but Skylar knows it’s nothing for a corporate heir like Kai. They order their food and eat dinner in comfortable silence.

“How was your day with Johnny? You spent hours with him.” Kai inquires.

Skylar looks confused on why Kai was asking in the first place. “It’s fine, we just hung-out like usual. He got so worried about me last night so he demanded that I catch up with him today.”

“You smell like him.”

Skylar’s brows furrow in confusion. “I do?”

Kai’s jaw tightens. Careless mistake. He couldn’t help it though. Skylar smells like a mixture of both his and Johnny’s pheromones. He didn’t notice at first but the longer they stay together, the more he could smell.

“His perfume, I smell it on you. It was how you smelled back then too when he drove you to the office.” Kai lies.

Skylar grabs his shirt collar to give it a sniff, Kai notices the hickeys he left by Skylar’s collarbone. “You must have a good sense of smell then, I never notice.”

Johnny probably kissed Skylar because his pheromones wouldn’t be that strong on him if they just ‘hung-out’.

“About last night…” Skylar halts when Kai speaks.

“It’s a blur,” Skylar murmurs.

“It’s fantastic.”

Heat rises to Skylar’s cheeks. “Yeah? That’s cool.”

“You even asked me about the rules in regards to fraternizing with your boss.” Kai says.

“I must’ve been so drunk, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not going to fire you for it, you’re too tense.” Kai laughs.

Skylar scratches his nape and hesitantly makes eye contact. “I’m still a bit embarrassed,” he awkwardly laughs. “I mean, you’re my boss but you ended up babysitting me last night because of my stupidity.”

“I got a wonderful reward for it though.” Kai’s tone was suggestive. Skylar looks at him with a questioning look, cheeks flushed.

“Would you want that… Again?” Skylar asks as if he’s testing the waters.

“I’d like to have s*x with you.” Kai bluntly says.

It takes half a minute for the words to process. Skylar ends up coughing loudly.

“Are you serious?” he exclaims, looking scandalized.

“Wow, you’re such a virgin.” he snickers. “You’re the one that asked if I’d want it again, you got your answer.”

“Well I was just--”

“You want it too, don’t you?” Kai drawls. “Your body was so honest with me last night, Seth.”

Skylar gulps and looks away. Kai takes a couple of bills from his wallet and places them on the table.

“I’ll be waiting for you upstairs. Come up when you’re ready.” he says as if it’s a challenge.

Skylar stares at Kai’s figure as he left the restaurant. He was dumbstruck. He tries to recall more of what happened and he was slowly recalling a few moments.

He remembers Kai’s body against his. He remembers Kai touching him. He recalls moaning in pleasure but he somehow can’t recall whatever Kai told him after all of that.

Although despite that, Skylar knows one thing. He does want it. The thrill, the adrenaline, the pleasure… Kai gives it all to him and he wants more of it.

He knows what’s waiting for him if he ever returns to Kai’s penthouse apartment. If it was any other target, he would’ve just taken the money on the table and ran away but Kai isn’t just any other target. There is something about him that just draws Skylar to him.

Skylar calls a waiter and tells him to keep the change. He looks at the building exit and the elevator.

“I must be crazy.” he mutters to himself before entering the elevator.

Once he enters Kai’s apartment, he sees his boss sitting on the couch. It was as if he knew Skylar is going to come the whole time.

“You’re sure about this.” It was supposed to be a question but Kai sounded so sure of it.

Skylar tries his best to put up a confident facade. “Are you hesitating, boss?” he asks.

Kai’s smile widens. “Not at all. I have some wine at the kitchen, let’s have a few drinks first. Shall we?”

Skylar obediently nods before going to the kitchen. He takes two wine glasses and he takes the bottle at the counter. Skylar is actually quite relieved that Kai asked him to get some drinks, it makes his job easier.

Skylar takes the powdered sleeping medicine in his pocket.

“Johnny! Hey stop!” he whines when Johnny won’t stop kissing him. He feels the elder’s hands sliding into the back pocket of his jeans.

Johnny breaks their kiss with a grin on his face. “It’s a little something for you. I am a hundred percent sure about Kai wanting to get in your pants so I prepared some crushed sleeping pills.”

“That does not explain why you kissed me!” he accuses.

“You’ll need my pheromones as a blessing. Plus, this might be the last I’m kissing virgin Skylar.” he snickers.

Skylar punches his shoulder. “Shut up!”

“Good luck baby boy, call me for updates!” the son of Eros grins before ushering him out of the car.

Skylar opens the packet and mixes the medicine into the wine.

“Sorry Kai, a target is a target.”