Page 68 of Atticus
I won’t let them keep us apart, Lucy. I promise.
* * *
“You have the patience of a saint and the grace of an angel, Lucy. This Carlisle woman sounds horrible. She really implied you were a deviant. What century was she born in?”
I lie on the couch, video chatting with Amber, surrounded by a sea of bad choices: potato chips, whipped cream, chocolate, the whole shebang. I’ve been miserable ever since I got home. Not being able to decompress from the day on the way home with Atticus, talking about everything that happened, hearing his voice and seeing his smile, and then being faced with the solitude of the evening got to me faster than I expected. The apartment is so eerily quiet without Atticus here with me. This is worse than breaking up with Jason ever was, and we’ve haven’t even broken up, let alone officially established the status of our relationship.
“Ugh, I don’t know.” I’ve been emotional off and on all evening to the point where my head hurts, even after four aspirin. My nose is stuffed. The TV is on, but I’m barely paying attention to it. I lie there staring at it as I stuff my face with carbs and sugar, but I can’t even do that right, with zero appetite to speak of. I’m just eating to eat.
“Quit,” Amber suggests. Unlike me, she’s completely put together, enough to be both my personal cheerleader and my tough-love therapist all rolled into one. “Quit, and date Atticus anyway. What’re they going to do about it, sue you? With what money? Their gym roof is falling apart.”
“I can’t quit,” I groan, pushing myself up and trying to get the gumption to be tidy. Maybe throw all this terrible junk food away. “I really care about the students here. Just folding is like letting them win and admitting that I’ve done something wrong. I’m not the one in the wrong here. I won’t give them the satisfaction.”
“But you could move home,” Amber points out. “They don’t evenwanthim there. Offer to buy him out of this little education program and take him with you.”
“I don’t have the money.”
“I do,” Amber said in a singsong voice.
“Amber, no.” I pick up my kitchen trash can, tossing away the remainder of my comfort food before I really start regretting all my choices. “Running away again isn’t the answer. I’m down, I’m not out. I won’t let them get to me that easily.”
In a few hours, my stomach settles down from my attempt at eating all of my feelings, and Amber signs off to take care of some journalism business, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Weary of my pity party, I resolve to turn in early and go to sleep when I hear somethingplunk, plunk, plunkagainst my balcony door.
Frowning, I slowly slide it open and peer down toward the sidewalk. My mouth drops and my eyes widen. “Atticus?”
His smile is bright and teasing, his white irises glowing in the dark as he calls up to me. “Not tonight. Tonight, you are Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, with the face that launched ten thousand ships—and I am Paris.”
I can barely contain my joy. “Here to save me from my terrible husband?”
“And bring you to Troy,” he calls without shame. “Let the rest of the world be damned.”
I lift a finger to my lips, imploring him to quiet down. My neighbors are likely sleeping. I unlock the apartment complex front door from my phone to let him into the stairwell. “Let’s try not to wake the neighborhood, Paris.”
Grinning, Atticus moves quickly through the complex entrance. I can hear his slightly heavier footfalls in the hallway as I anxiously wait by my door. When I hear him coming closer, I can’t take it anymore and crack my door open, stepping back as he swiftly pushes through and shuts it quietly behind us.
His lips crash against mine as he swiftly pulls me into his arms. I desperately weave my fingers into his hair, relishing the taste of his tongue and the warmth of his body against mine. He backs me up and presses me against the wall as our kiss begins anew, one blending into another until I’m dizzy.
When he pulls away, I’m panting and gazing helplessly up into his vivid white eyes.
“I couldn’t stay away.” He brushes his lips teasingly over mine, threatening to make my knees buckle. “There’s no command Carlisle or anyone else could give me that could keep me from you, Lucy. Not anymore. That repair shop you took me to made certain of that.”
“But how did youget here?” My hands brush over his shirt, tracing the outline of his chest. “I thought you went home with Cornelius.”
“I walked. It’s not as far as you think. Bryant fell asleep in front of the TV. He won’t even notice I’m gone. I would’ve messaged you first, but I thought I’d surprise you.”
“Can’t Bryant read our messages now?” I ask, puzzled.
“No, he’s refusing to sync with my capabilities. Says he doesn’t want BioNex reading his mind. Honestly, I don’t think anyone at the school understands how we can communicate.” He cups my face. “They can put me in another classroom. It changes nothing. I remain yours.”
Our kissing resumes, and a familiar, pulsating heat returns between my legs. “Oh, Atticus,” I murmur as he begins kissing and nibbling upon my neck. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.” His breath tickles my skin, and goosebumps rise on my flesh. “But we’ll think of something.”
I can’t think of anything when he’s pressed up against me like this. We’re all but devouring each other’s mouths, and when I palm his groin I feel the hardness of his cock beneath his jeans.
I don’t care if it makes me a deviant. I want him in me. So badly.
“Atticus—please—”
