Page 165 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Unlike on New Year’s though, he doesn’t wake as my bare feet skim the hardwoods, cool beneath my soles. I like to think something inside of me soothes something inside of him, but I’m not quite sure if I do, or if I only tease it.
I’m not sure which he likes better.
I grab my phone from the charger, glancing over my shoulder once to ensure he’s still sleeping. If I toss and turn, he won’t be. I know he might not care, but after everything that went down tonight, he needs the rest.
On tiptoes, I sneak out of the bedroom, cautiously closing the door behind me. I’m not afraid of him waking up, I just don’t want to disturb him.
I smile to myself in the hallway, reveling again in his innocent, unguarded state. Outside of our bedroom door, standing in the way of him and any monsters that might haunt his sleep, I feel like I’m worth something. Like maybe he needs me too, the way I needed him tonight. Delirious, nighttime thoughts, because if someone broke into our house and came for either of us, I knowhe’dbe the one to protectme, just like earlier, but even still, right here, in this moment, I feel like I could save him.
My phone lights up in my hand as I take a step down the hall, intending to go into his office because it has the best view of the moon.
I freeze though. The only people who text me are the Unsaints, if they’re trying to get to Mav. Or… No.Theywouldn’t text me this late, knowing I can’t get away.
But sometimes… sometimes, it’s Atlas.
And that’s exactly who it is as I stare at my screen, his number still unsaved, like somehow it makes this lying and deceit easier.
Him: You asleep?
I frown at the screen. Does he know what went down tonight? I assume Lucifer probably filled him in, whenever Atlas got back from The Madilyn. And he would’ve seen the guards cleaning up the charred corpses and the guts of the car. But whendidhe get back? And who was there with him?
My fingers hover over the screen, and I think about not texting him back. With everything my boyfriend did for me tonight, I don’t want to betray him anymore. But if Atlas is doing something stupid, something that will put Mavy in danger, I should find out.
Me: Yes.
I smile at my own joke. But my heart picks up speed in my chest and I head toward the office, pushing open the door, closing it softly behind me.
Right inside the door, I freeze, picking my head up from my phone, lighting up with another text from Atlas.
Something feels…offin here. A tingling down my spine, a tangle of unease.
I dart my eyes around the room, seeing nothing unusual from the moonlight streaming in the window, curtains pulled back.
Except there’s the flutter of a page on Mavy’s desk. It’s neat and clean in here, papers tucked away, pens in a black holder, his laptop closed and the monitor he uses off.
But there’s a single paper, and it flutters again, a whip of wind coming from the window.
Why would he leave his office window open?He rarely opens any windows. He usually keeps it so cold in this house, it’s completely unnecessary.
I stare at the paper as it drifts a couple of inches toward his keyboard, his black leather chair facing it. Me.
No one is in here though. There’s no closet, nowhere to hide, and the window is only cracked.
Still, pins and needles of fear slip beneath my skin as Atlas’s message brightens my screen again.
Him: Can you meet me right now?
I almost laugh. No way in hell am I sneaking out of the house when Maverick isin it.Does Atlas want to kill us both? The man’s face from earlier, covered in blood, his lashes moving beneath rivulets of it as he groaned, nearly dead from Mav’s fist and the butt of the gun, it dances inside my mind.
Yeah. No.
Me: Wtf? Absolutely not.
I look around the room again, the little hairs straightening on the back of my neck.
My phone lights up once more.
Atlas: It’s important.
