Page 231 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Atlas smiles. “Why don’t you ask her that?”
I lean against the BMW, glancing up at the moon. I told Sid I wouldn’t be out here long, and I want to fucking mean it. They need to get their shit sorted. My girl isn’t talking to anyone else, and I no longer have these fucking problems. It took us a long damn time to get here, but now I am, and I don’t care for this bullshit drama. The fight last night was enough. I’m suddenly just… done with it.
If it weren’t for Elijah’s orders, I wouldn’t care if Cain and Atlas went to Ella and Mav’s house. I wouldn’t give a fuck she was speaking with someone in the shadows of their home while Maverick called my fucking wife.
In some ways, maybe I think it’s what Maverick deserves. But now it’s my problem, since Ortus is coming.
“Because I’m askingyou.”Maverick steps closer to Atlas, and Atlas straightens, dropping his hands by his side. He’s not scared, no matter how young and innocent he looks.
“You worried she’s not happy with you?” There’s a rawness to Atlas’s words, and again, I think of Natalie’s brother. “You think I fucked her better than you did last night? Is that why you’re feeling so self-conscious—”
Maverick fucking shoves him against his own car, pinning him there with one hand and grabbing his throat with the other. “Where’s Natalie, huh? She know about her dead fucking brother?”
Cain sighs, and I watch Atlas carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. Did he tell her?
Atlas smirks, which surprises me. And a second later, I hear the snick of a blade.
Just like my fucking wife with the switchblade, I wonder if he got that trick from her.
“Back up off me, Mav.”
Maverick doesn’t let him go, instead, he steps closer to the knife.
I think that’s a bad idea, but I don’t say a word. This is their fucking fight. He can lose it how he wants to.
“Nah. Answer my question. Does. Natalie.Know?”I know he’s asking because he wants to know the answers to the same questions in my head. Who killed him, and why? And he probably wants to know if it was the same person who came for Julie. The same person who had video of Sid and Ella.
Elijah doesn’t seem to think so, not after his call last night.
Thinking of Julie though, my stomach twists into knots, knowing I haven’t done enough to find out if Esther followed my orders. I haven’t done enough to find Finn again. I haven’t even told any of this to Sid.
Atlas smiles. They stay in their standoff as he says, “Does she know I put a bullet in her brother’s head, is that what you’re asking?”
I dip my chin. Cain whistles under his breath. Even Ezra sucks in air.
“No,” Atlas continues, that same smile on his face. “She doesn’t fucking know.”
Maverick is stunned. I can see it in the way he drops his hands from Atlas, stepping back. He swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, averting his gaze a second before he looks at me for the first time all night, then Atlas. “You did what now?”
Atlas lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “We all have jobs to do.” He sounds so fucking casual about it. He was the one who thought we should put a stop to the sex trafficking the 6 allegedly dabble in.Hewas the one of us who was supposed to have a goddamn heart.
“You still fucking her?” Cain asks, a genuine curiosity lining his words.
Now, something dark clouds over Atlas’s face. For some reason, as I exhale smoke through my nose then drop the butt of the cigarette to the ground, stepping on it, I raise my gaze to Sevryn, in the back of Atlas’s Range Rover, he just automatically climbed in there when we walked out of Liber.
The windows are down, so we can keep a fucking eye on him.
And Sevryn looks… pissed, staring at the back of Atlas’s head.
I push off from my car, coming closer, my boots scuffing the gravel lot. Cain has the music turned down, and I feel all of my brothers’ eyes on me. I might have fucked up this past year. I was off my game. Sid was running, and I couldn’t have that shit. She was trying to rip my heart to pieces by fucking Jeremiah Rain, but now, she’s in a house I own. She’s gotmybaby in her arms. She’s fucking mine, and with Lilith beside me, I can run this hell like I once did.
So, everyone looks to me as I step past Maverick, knocking his shoulder with mine and moving him out of my fucking way.
I stand head-to-head with Atlas, and he loses the smile that had been lingering on his face alongside that shadow. Dipping my chin, I ask him, “Where is she?” in a low voice, barely more than a whisper. I keep an eye on Sevryn too, waiting for both of their reactions.
Atlas doesn’t so much as blink.
Sevryn though, I see his jaw jump, the scar along his cheekbone seeming to flash under the moonlight with the movement.
