Page 202 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Before he can finish the words, stabbing me in the heart, there’s a noise from outside the door, only feet from us.
Our eyes lock at the sound of the loud thud, startling us both to the point we freeze, my breath catching in a rush. Atlas’s pupils are expanding, blotting out the color of his irises. I don’t know if it’s because he’s horrified, or if the drugs are fucking with us both.
Another thud jolts me back to reality, pulls me from falling into what’s happening to his eyes right now.
My mouth goes dry as I slowly turn my head toward the door. My knees are shaky, and Atlas doesn’t release his grip on my shoulders, his body pressed to mine.
For a second, there’s nothing else. No other sound. For a wild moment, I wonder if we imagined it. A shared hallucination.
Then it comes back with a vengeance, asplintering, as the door knocks open, barely hanging onto its hinges when it slaps the wall, a gust of cold air filtering in from the hallway.
A startled, breathy scream leaves my lips, my hands coming to cover my mouth of their own accord as my knees bend and I slide down a little on the wall, even with Atlas holding onto me.
Out of the darkness, from the shadows, Maverick walks in, filling up the doorway. He’s in a white hoodie, black pants, black boots, slivers of wood scattered over the floor from where he kicked the door in.
My stomach lurches, like I might vomit. I press my fingertips tighter to my mouth, silencing myself, my thighs squeezing together so I don’t pee.
It doesn’t matter nothing happened. Not really. Atlas is holding onto me, cornering me with his body, and we’re alone in his room. Plus my pants are unbuttoned, unzipped.Shit.
And I remember Mavy’s warning, from before. About what he would do to me if I fucked him over.“I don’t want to say. You don’t want to know.”I recall the way he traced his fingers over my teeth, pressing against them. Fear is thick in the haze of my brain. For me, for Atlas too.
Maverick stares at me. Only me. We’re clothed, and maybe that will count for something. The room seems to spin, and I don’t know if it’s because I’mhigh,or horrified.
My lungs squeeze as Maverick’s wide lips flicker into a strange smile. He walks in through the door, then slams it closed behind him.
It shuts, but it's crooked on its hinges.
The scene reminds me of my old home. My life with mom. The slanted screen door that never hung right. The bizarre memory is temporary though, and when I blink, I’m not back there anymore.
Atlas’s fingers flex against my skin, but he doesn’t release me. He doesn’t step back.
My body is hot and cold at once, my hands still covering my mouth. I don’t know what to do. What to say.
But Maverick takes away all the indecision for me when he asks, so calmly, “Why did you stop?”
“Maverick.” I whisper his name, dragging my fingertips down, toward my throat. I want Atlas to move but I don’t dare look at him, like it’ll be the wrong move if I do. I shake my head frantically, as if Mavy will understand what I’m thinking, he’ll see nothing happened. “It’s not… I didn’t… We didn’t do anything—”
“Oh?” He glances at Atlas, dropping his gaze. I follow it and I see the bulge in Atlas’s pants, how much he wants me. Mavy flicks his pale blue eyes back to mine. “But his dick is so hard for you, pretty girl. Why would you let that go to waste?”
I hate the way the question sounds so genuine, like he’s actually curious. “We didn’t do anything,” I repeat myself. “Nothing happened. You… You told me to go upstairs, and youhumiliatedme—”
“What did I tell you about humiliation, Ella?” His voice is a poisonous caress, so gentle and calm. He nods toward Atlas. “Go on. I want to see what you two were going to do up here all alone.”
Atlas seems to catch his breath. Face his fear. Because he justlaughs, like this is some kind of twisted family reunion and he’s welcoming Maverick to the party. “I can keep going, if you want.” Atlas doesn’t sound nervous at all.
My eyes jump from him—staring at me—to Mavy, doing the same.
“Don’t look so frightened,” Maverick says, still smiling as he crosses his arms over his chest, like he has zero plans to go anywhere anytime soon. But there’s something about his words. They’re not quite clear. A little…slurred.
He steps closer, and I can see it in his eyes, bleary and ringed with shadows, worse than they were even at the pool. He’s so fucking high he almost stumbles into the bed, but he stops inches from it, staring at me.
“I killed for you. I’m not going tokill you.”His nostrils flare as his smile widens, like he doesn’t at all mean what he said. “Besides, it’s not like this is my first time sharing you.” His lips curl higher but his voice drops lower.“Keep going. I want to see him touch you.”
“No you don’t,” I counter, but it sounds weak. “You don’t really… You wouldn’t want someone else to touch me again. You don’t want this.”
He flashes white teeth as Atlas’s fingers tighten around my shoulders. “But I do. And you give me what I want, don’t you?Exactlywhat I fucking want. And right now, tonight, I want to see him make you come. Maybe once it’s over with, it’ll keep you two away from each other.”
My heart palpitates, terror pricking at my drugged mind. “We were never… It’s not like that—”
