Page 60 of Filthy Little Witch
“Of course I believe you,” he said. “But there’s nothing there now. I don’t know what else we can do.”
“We believe you.” Marta rubbed her tired eyes. “Atlas, after the ritual, we can try to reach him. Maybe ask him what he meant.”
I didn’t like it, but like Wes said, what the fuck was I going to do about it? I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the whole thing up, and I grew even more suspicious about what the hell was going on in this world.
Wes grabbed my shoulders and forced me toward the stairs, leading me up to Marta’s room, where he got back in on his side with our witch in the middle. I kicked off my shoes and yanked off my shirt before shoving my jeans down to my ankles so I could step out of them, the vision of my father’s pale face dancing behind my eyes.
“Don’t let him go. Don’t let him go. Don’t let him go.”
I couldn’t shake the dread and unease his words had dug into my heart, and when I slipped underneath the covers, Marta grabbed my hand to intertwine her fingers with mine.
“We’ll figure it out, Atlas,” she murmured.
“The demon’s fucking with us,” I said. “We’re playing right into its game.”
“Then we’ll deal with that, too,” Wes answered. “We’ll fight that fucker off just like we always have.”
I tried to find relief in his reassurance, but the twisted concern on my father’s face haunted me well into the night. My dreams took me to memories I’d long tried to forget: the sound of his voice screaming at me to take my brother and run, the look in his eyes just before he’d reprimanded me for doing something stupid, the disappointment in his features when my aim was off or I didn’t train hard enough.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I told him, panting and heaving air from having sparred with him only to be laid out on my ass.
“Don’t be sorry,” he snapped. “Be better. Now do it again.”
I’d put up my fists and prepare for his attack only to be pummeled by some maneuver I didn’t see coming. Dad was merciless with me, but I’d come to realize that it made me stronger.
“Be better,” he growled. “Do it again.” He punched me. “Again.” He kicked me. “Again!” Eyes swollen shut and nose bloody, I put up my fists to defend myself, but now, his eyes had gone dark, and smoke poured from his nostrils and his mouth, his skin sunken in around his skull.
“Dad?” I tried to reach out to him, but he shoved me back, pushing me to the ground before climbing on top of me, his massive weight bearing down on my chest.
“Useless fucking idiot,” he screamed, the dark mist pouring out of him, sinking into my lungs, suffocating me. I tried to haul him off, but he wouldn’t move. He outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds. “When will you learn, huh? When will you be the fucking son I raised?”
He grabbed my shirt and hauled my upper body off the ground, bringing me close enough to his face so the fog could seep down my throat, choking me. It tasted like ash and brimstone, and fuck, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t?—
“Atlas,” said a soft, quiet voice. “Atlas, wake up.”
I shot upright, gasping and clutching at my chest. But I wasn’t in the training center with Dad. I was in a bedroom. Marta’s bedroom. Wes and Marta were next to me, twin looks of concern on their faces.
It was a nightmare. Only a nightmare.
I dug my palms into my eyes and collapsed back on the bed, breathing down the adrenaline of where my mind had been only moments ago.
And then I registered what I’d seen.
Wes was on top of Marta, her legs spread, his torso covering hers, the sheet down around his thighs, revealing his ass and her thighs and…
I glanced back at them and took in the obscene display. Wes held himself up on his forearms by Marta’s head, and her ankles were hooked around the small of his back while his hips slowly pistoned into her.
They’re fucking.
Right here.
In bed next to me.
“What are you two doing?” I grumbled, my voice raspy and hoarse with sleep.
Marta covered her face while Wes ducked his into the space between her shoulder and neck, preparing to roll off her.
Maybe I should have let him. Maybe I should have been horrified to wake up next to the only other two people in this world, only to find them fucking without me.
