Page 73 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I bite the inside of my cheek, brow still pressed to his chest, but I refuse to answer him. The desire to break down is strong. To tell him exactly what’s going on. Maybe because if he’snottesting me, he wouldn’t care. It’s the second time I’ve thought maybe I could confide in him, but that would mean confessing to Atlas too, and I’m not so sure he wouldn’t use the secrets I’m keeping from him too, as leverage against me.
Cain’s full lips brush against my lobe, and shivers crawl down my naked body, my nipples tightening between us as his fingers flex dangerously close to my ass. “Does he ever go too far?” His words skim my ear, his voice a rumble I can feel against my own chest even though I don’t understand what he’s saying.
Unless…unless he thinks Mavy is taking something out on me? But that’s not true, and the thought makes me feel flush all over. No, he’s notbeatingme.It isn’t like that at all.
Cain drops his head, nudging his nose to my neck.
Warm pleasure floods my body, but I do my best not to react.
“You let me know if you ever wanna get him back for anything, Ella.” He enunciates the Ls carefully. I can hear his tongue hitting the top of his teeth as he says them. It’s attractive, and it’s coupled with the feel of his erection growing between us. But so slowly, he slides me down the length of his muscular body, setting me on my feet, naked and soaking wet.
Alone like this, I blink, alert. I try to spin, to get distance from both him and Atlas, but immediately, Atlas’s forearm bars over my throat and he tangles his fingers in my hair, wrenching my head back.
“God, you’re so good,” he whispers against my ear as Cain stays silent in front of me, his dark eyes locked onto mine. He isn’t smiling, his expression unreadable. But I see very clearly when he reaches down and adjusts himself through his tailored pants, all while holding eye contact, the back of his hand grazing my low belly, as close as we all are. It’s a repetition of what he did Wednesday morning, in my house.
“What you did wouldn’t stop us from murdering you, if we wanted to, but it was still impressive, Little Red.” Atlas’s words, and for a moment, I’m speechless, confusion colliding with fear in my mind.
“Why are you here?” I ask again, my throat arched from Atlas’s grip in my hair.
Cain is silent, but he’s still staring at me. I watch as his chest rises sharply, then falls in the same way.
“Where did you go after you left my house the other night?” Atlas teases against my ear. “I tried to follow you, make sure you got back okay. But you were gone, and Maverick was…busy.” He drags his hand from my throat, but he doesn’t touch my breasts. I think it’s because there is still one half of him who is the man I believed him to be. Kind, gentle. His fingers come to my low belly, splaying over my bare skin. Fire courses through me, the way I’m exposed to him and Cain, but pushing those thoughts aside, I think of Maverick calling Sid when I only wanted to run to him. To have him confide inme.
And yet, I feel strangely protective over that moment. That hurt. It was mine, and I don’t want Atlas trying to pry Maverick and I further apart.
“You were watching him?” I whisper, staring at Cain, remembering he was inside our house. Did he know Atlas was spying? Did anyone see whereIwent? “Why?”
For a moment, Atlas doesn’t speak. Then he says, “There are some secrets you shouldn’t keep.” He loosens his grip in my hair, massaging my scalp in a way that feels forbiddinglygood,his fingers working with ease through my damp strands. “Sometimes, baby, you really shouldtrust me.”
And just when I think his good side has decided to stay for the night, he shoves me back to Cain, like I’m a toy for the both of them.
I try to run free, deeper into my house, down the hall of the foyer, but Cain easily hauls me back with his hand clamped around my upper arm. He jerks me to face him, fingers tightening, and he says, “Do not move.”
Then he releases me and before I can do exactly what he said not to do, he starts to unbutton his shirt.
I see the Unsainted tattoo—a skull with the U through one eye, smoke through the other—inked on the back of his hand as his thick fingers quickly undo each button. The outline of his defined chest appears, light brown skin, then his hard abs.
He shucks his shirt off, biceps flexed, shoulders broad. Maverick is in really good shape but Cain… he is something else.
With a smirk on his lips, he offers me his shirt.
I don’t think about it. Immediately, I pull it on, the silky fabric cold on my skin. It hangs down past my ass, and I clutch it closed, over my chest as I put distance between me and him, so I can see Atlas too.
“Thank you,” I murmur, even though I shouldn’t be thanking him for anything. He’s the one who broke into my house. But seeing him here with his tailored pants hanging on his hips, the V leading down to the thickness of his erection straining against the fabric of his clothes, it almost makes up for it. His shirt smells like him too, dark and heady.
“Anytime,” he whispers, like a suggestion.
My body grows hot and I’m breathing hard, relief like pins and needles beneath my skin as I back up another step in bare feet.
Now that my body is covered, it’s like my mind tries to fit the missing pieces here. I don’t understand.Why is he here? And why is Atlas chasing me inside my own house?Every time I see him, it’s like he grows crueler, more aggressive.
And why is Cain connected to both of these nights I’ve met up with Atlas, willingly or not?
I take a step back, darting my gaze from one to the other. “Was it you?” I manage to ask. “Was ityouwho was in my…closet? Or…under the bed?” I know the questions are insane, but I keep my gaze on Atlas as I ask. “I mean, what are the chances you’d both be here after…after that night?” I dart a glance at Cain, but I can read nothing from his expression. I don’t know if he knows I snuck out of the house while he was watching me or not. I can’t fucking tell. And neither of them answer me.
“What the hell are you doing? What do you want?” I manage to ask, my voice raspy as I take a turn to stare at Cain, shrinking into myself. “If Maverick knew you two were here—”
Atlas snorts. “Maverick should be paying better attention, huh?”
