Page 32 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I chew the inside of my cheek, and I know he didn’t intend to spark the thought, but I imagine Ella again, pregnant with our baby. It’s like I can’t stop fixating on it, probably because of becoming an uncle, being so close to Rain.
Two feelings spring up with the image in my head of having my own kid. Elation, and fear.
I push it aside.Focus.
“You good?” I bring it up because Sid did. Because normal people would. Becausebrothersshould. “After… last night?”
A shadow crosses his face, but shocking me, his lips tip upward into a smile. “Great.”
Goosebumps travel down my arms as I stare at him, assessing. Something seems…offabout him. I think about the text he sent my girl. Why would he want photos of Rain so late? Was it an excuse? Some kind of code? I know why he didn’t text me. We all have a group chat and Inevercheck the messages, so that’s explainable. But even so, something about it all doesn’t sit right with me.
“What was that all about?” I ask. “You just fucking ghosted us after we watched your mess get cleaned up.”
He tilts his head. “Who said it’s my mess?”
I laugh a little, shaking my head. “Don’t play fucking stupid. That wasyour girl’sbrother.”
The shadow is back, darkening his eyes. “She’s not my girl.”
“Really?” I step closer to him; unnerved and pissed off all at once. “Then why thefuckwas her brother’s dead body on our property?”
He stares at me a minute then he asks, “How’s Ella, Mav?”
Really, motherfucker?“Wouldn’tyouknow? You sure as fuck don’t have a problem messaging her in the middle of the fucking night. And what thefuckis your problem?”
He doesn’t back down from me, and instead, he comes half a step closer. We’re nearly toe-to-toe, and I’m thinking about shattering the bones in his nose again if he doesn’t get the fuck up out of my face.
“You feeling insecure,bro?”
I am going to kill you.But I don’t say a fucking word. If he gets closer to me, I’m going to hurt him. I’m not insecure. I’m…jealous? Overprotective? Not going to let anyone take Ella away from me?
“Why don’t you pay attention toElla…”he whispers, the words laced with darkness. “And stop trying to clean out skeletons from closets that don’t belong to you?”
I grind my teeth, my muscles tensing. “What exactly are you fucking saying to me?”
A dimple in his baby face flashes as he smirks, inches from me. But all he says, his voice light, is, “You don’t need me to repeat it.”
The hairs along the back of my neck stiffen, apprehension coiling through me. “What do you know that I don’t?”
His smile brightens, and he takes the smallest step back, like he’s just about done with this conversation. “Nothing,” he says quietly, glancing past me, to the Malikov house. “I’m just fucking with you, man.” Then he steps around me, glancing at his shoes as he does before his gaze comes to mine again.
We stare off and I want to say something else. There’s a strange feeling beneath my skin. A prick of something, like the tiniest splinter, just at the edge of my awareness. But before I can extract it, Atlas starts to walk away from me. “Have a nice night,” he says over his shoulder, heading around the cul-de-sac.
I stand where I am, watching him in the darkness.
He doesn’t look back, and as his cryptic words ring inside my head, I can’t help but wonder about the light on my goddamn porch. When he’s vanished into the night, I hear something in the other direction. Whipping my head around, my heart leaping inside my chest, my mouth open—as if to call Atlas back, like I might need him—I strain my eyes to see in the nightfall. Halloween decorations light parts of the street in blue, others in purple, but even that neon glow isn’t enough to make anything out.
But I could’ve sworn I heard something.
A laugh. Low, hushed. It couldn’t have been Atlas because he’s at my back.
I hold my breath and take two steps forward, blinking, trying to see, to hear.
Nothing.
There’s nothing.
Am I losing my fucking mind?
