"Okay," she said with a wistful sigh. She cut it to his shoulders.
"Shorter," Julian said as she pulled back.
The beautician looked skeptical. "You sure?"
He nodded.
Grace watched silently as the beautician cut his hair into a becoming style that curled around his face, reminding her of Michelangelo's David.
If it were at all possible, he was even more dazzling than before.
"How's that?" the woman asked him at long last.
"It's fine," Julian said. "Thank you."
Grace tipped the woman, then paid for the cut.
Looking up at Julian, she smiled. "Now, you look like you belong here."
He snapped his head to the left as if she'd slapped him.
"Did that offend you?" she asked, concerned that she had inadvertently hurt him somehow. Heaven knew, that was the last thing he needed.
"No."
But inside, she knew better. Something about her innocent comment had wounded him. Deeply.
"So," Selena said slowly as they headed back into the crowd in the Brewery. "You're the son of Aphrodite?"
He cut a sideways glare at her. "I'm no one's son. My mother abandoned me, my father disowned me, and I was raised on a Spartan battlefield under the fist of whoever was around."
His words cut straight into Grace's heart. No wonder he was so tough. So strong.
She wondered if anyone had ever held him lovingly in their arms. Just once, without demanding he please them first.
He walked on ahead of them. Grace watched the sinuous way he moved. Like a deadly, sleek predator. He had his thumbs tucked into the front pockets of his jeans, and seemed oblivious of the women who gawked and sighed as he passed.
In her mind, she could just imagine what he must have looked like in his day, wearing battle armor.
Given his arrogance and moves, he must have been a fierce fighter.
"Selena," Grace said quietly. "Didn't I read in college that the Spartans beat their sons every day just to see how much pain they could endure?"
Julian answered for her. "They did. And once a year, they held contests to see who could endure the harshest beating before crying out."
"And a number of them died from the contests," Selena added. "Either during the actual beating, or later from the wounds."
It all came together for Grace. His earlier words about being trained in Sparta and his hatred for the Greeks.
Selena passed a sad look to Grace before she spoke to Julian. "Being the son of a goddess, I imagine you can take quite a beating."
"Yes, I can," he said simply, his voice devoid of emotions.
Grace had never wanted to reach out and hold anyone as much as she wanted to hold Julian right then.
But she knew he wouldn't welcome it.
"You know," Selena said, and by the look in her eyes, Grace could tell she was trying to lighten their moods. "I'm kind of hungry. Why don't we grab a burger at the Hard Rock?"
Julian drew his brows into a deep V. "Why do I constantly feel as if all of you are speaking a foreign language? What is 'grabbing a burger at the Hard Rock' supposed to mean?"
Grace laughed. "The Hard Rock Cafe is a restaurant."
He looked aghast. "You eat at a place that advertises its food is hard as a rock?"
She laughed harder. Why had she never thought of that?
"It's really good. C'monn, I'll show you."
They left the Brewery and headed across the parking lot to the Hard Rock Cafe.
Luckily, they didn't have to wait long before the hostess called them to be seated.
"Hey!" a guy said as they neared the hostess. "We were here first."
The hostess gave the man a cutting glare. "Your table's not ready yet." Then, she turned a pair of goo-goo eyes at Julian and smiled widely. "If you'll please follow me..."
The woman swung her hips like nobody's business.
Grace looked drolly at Selena as she silently indicated the girl's actions.
"Don't knock it," Selena said. "It got us in here in front of ten other people."
The hostess showed them to a back booth. "Now you just stay right here," she said, touching Julian lightly on his arm, "and I'll make sure your server comes right over to you."
"What are we, invisible?" Grace asked as the hostess left them.
"I'm beginning to think so," Selena said as she took the booth facing the back wall.
Grace slid into the opposite seat. As expected, Julian sat next to her.
She handed him a menu.
"I can't read this," he said before giving it back to her.
"Oh," Grace said, embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that. "I guess they didn't teach ancient soldiers to read."
He stroked his chin with his hand and looked a bit peeved by her comment. "Actually, they did. The problem is, they taught me to read and write ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Egyptian hieroglyphics and other long-dead languages. In your own words, that menu is Greek to me."
Grace cringed. "You're not going to let me forget the fact that you heard everything I said about you before you appeared, are you?"
"Most likely not."
He laid his arm across on the table.
Selena looked down from her menu and gasped. "Is that what I think it is?" She reached for his hand.
To Grace's amazement, Julian let Selena lift his right hand into hers and look at the ring on his finger.
"Gracie, have you seen this?"
Grace sat forward to where she could see it. "Not really. I've been a bit distracted."
A bit distracted, yeah, right. That would be like calling Mount Everest a bump in the road.
Even in the dim light, the gold shone. The top of it was flat and had a sword surrounded by laurel leaves engraved into it and inlaid with what appeared to be rubies and emeralds.
"It's beautiful," Grace said.
"It's a friggin' general's ring, isn't it?" Selena asked. "You weren't just a run-of-the-mill soldier. You were a friggin' general!"
Julian nodded grimly. "The terms are equivalent."
Selena let out an awed breath. "Gracie, you have no idea! To have a ring like that, Julian was someone of major importance in his time. They didn't just hand those out to everyone." Selena shook her head. "I am impressed."
"Don't be," Julian said.
For the first time ever, Grace envied Selena her Ph.D. in ancient history. Lanie knew so much more about Julian and his world than she could ever hope to.
But she didn't need that degree to understand how terrible it must have been for Julian to go from being a commander of men to being enslaved by women.
"I bet you were a great general," Grace said.