Page 142 of Like Grim Death: Part One
My cheeks heat. It’s like I can feel theI told you soin his text. And I know everyone else in the house heard what went down. It was a gunshot for fuck’s sake.
Atlas texts me again before I can respond.
Atlas: I’m sorry.
I blink at his words, so simple, they could be utterly meaningless. But right now, when I really need someone to talk to, someone who won’t explode at me, they mean the world to me.
Me: It has nothing to do with you.
And before he can say it,I do.
Me: Besides, you tried to warn me.
Him: I still care though. About you.
I roll my eyes because I want to brush it off. But this is the Atlas I first met. The nice version of him. The reason I wanted to be friends in the first place. Why I could keep secrets from Mav with him.
Atlas: Can you come on Sunday?
I swallow the lump in my throat. Sunday is Council, and I guess we could meet up. I flick my eyes to the door, thinking of Maverick, but the guilt I look for doesn’t come so easily right now.
My phone buzzes in my hand as Atlas texts me again.
Atlas: You’re not the only one who needs someone right now.
I frown at his words. On some level, I know he’s manipulating me, isn’t he? Maverick does the same, softening a little when he wants me to comply.
But Atlas is right. Idoneed someone.
Me: I’ll be there.
“Ella?” I hear Mavy’s voice from down the hall and I flinch, trying to exit out of my texts with shaky fingers as Mav appears in the doorway.
I sit up straight, and he steps inside the bedroom, his shirt still off, basketball shorts on. In the dim light he looks from the phone still in my hand, to me. He folds his arms over his chest as he ducks his chin.
“Who you texting?” He asks so casually, I know it’s not.
I glance at my phone as Atlas’s next text comes through. My throat feels swollen when I scan the words.
Atlas: I can’t wait to see you.
I click the button on the side of my screen and I say, “Sid.” My voice is high-pitched and Mav’s brows dart up, the inverted cross with it.
“Really?” he sounds astonished, no doubt because of the littlehumiliationstunt he pulled earlier.
I nod once, the blood rushing to my limbs with my fear, causing pins and needles to tingle in my fingertips.
After a moment of scrutinizing me, he smiles a little, pushing off from the wall as he trails into the bathroom to brush his teeth, his nightly routine. He glances at me before he ducks through the door, but he doesn’t say anything.
My head snapsto the side, fire and anger lighting up along my cheekbone. I grit my teeth and plant my feet, circling my hands into tight fists as I slowly turn back to face my opponent.
Cain shakes his head, crossing his arms over his broad, bare chest. “Too slow to recover. If I was really a villain—”
“You are.”
“—I would’ve had you on the ground with my fingers wrapped around your throat. Crushed your windpipe, rendered your body motionless beneath me. I thought you said Jeremiah Rain taught you how to fight?”
With the mention of his name, I take a step back, breaking my stance as I wipe my wrist over my brow, trying to stop the sweat from sliding into my eyes. When I drop my hand, I glance at the large analog clock that seems out of place in this immaculate gym. Dim lights, black floors and walls, a boxing ring on a platform at my left side, black punching bags suspended from the high ceilings to my right, black glass windows and double doors with heavy locks. It’s raining outside tonight, four days since everyone left mine and Lucifer’s house after he draggedSevrynhome to us, and while the storm spatters against the glass, no one from the outside would think to come inhere.For one, the double doors leading out spill into a darkened alleyway with only merciless gray skyscrapers on either side, hard for anyone to scale.
