Page 21 of Broken Trust

“You’re a piece of shit, Braylon!” Atlas screamed as tears stung his eyes. “I confided everything in you! You held me as I cried over this worthless trash, and you were sucking his dick the entire time?”

Atlas couldn’t hold back the tears. Betrayal sliced through him as Braylon stood there, refusing to look at him.

“Don’t talk to him that way,” Glen yelled as he met Atlas’s eyes. “I can’t help it if you couldn’t give me what I wanted.”

Kellen reached past Glen and yanked him up by the front of his shirt. “I will rip out your heart for talking to my mate that way.”

“Security!” Glen yelled as his arms flailed at his sides.

Atlas pressed his good hand against Kellen’s wrist. “They’re not worth it. He’s a cheating whore and always will be.” Atlas turned to Braylon. “When he breaks your heart, don’t look for my shoulder to cry on. You two deserve each other.”

But it hurt. It hurt like hell to know how badly Braylon had stabbed him in the back. Atlas turned, refusing to let either man see him cry.

Kellen released Glen and curled his arms around the back of Atlas’s thighs, lifting him up and holding him close.

“Atlas Havis?” a nurse called out.

All Atlas could do was bury his face in Kellen’s neck as the guy strode through the door the nurse was holding for them. He heard a loud sob behind him, but Braylon could shove his tears up his ass.

Chapter Six

“You want to make shit up to Atlas?” Kellen asked his brother once his mate was upstairs lying down.

“I handled that situation all wrong.” Colt closed the refrigerator door. “If I’d known he was your mate, I would have never said those things.”

“Even if you didn’t know, that was some pretty nasty things to say to and about someone you thought I was hooking up with.”

Colt looked down as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “I have no excuse, Kellen. I just saw some rando in the house, and it pissed me off that you would bring one of your hookups here. Worse, those bruises...” He looked up at Kellen. “How’s Atlas doing?”

“His hand wasn’t broken. His knuckles hurt like a bitch, and his wrist is sprained, but the doctor said he should be as good as new by tomorrow,” Kellen said.

“He a shifter?” Colt asked.

“Lion shifter,” Kellen replied. “He still put a splint on Atlas’s wrist to protect it while it heals.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Colt rested his hands on the edge of the counter behind him. “What did you have in mind as far as making things up to Atlas?”

Kellen told his brother about what happened in the emergency department earlier.

“His own best friend?” Colt’s eyes blazed. “That’s some foul shit. Do you want me to make them both disappear?”

The level of anguish in Atlas’s eyes still haunted Kellen. His mate hadn’t deserved what they’d done to him, and Kellen wanted to track Glen and Braylon down and beat their asses.

“You gonna tell me what’s on your mind?” Colt asked.

Kellen grabbed a container of leftover stuffed peppers he’d made three days ago. He pooped the lid and sniffed. They still smelled edible. “I want them to pay for what they did to Atlas, but I’m not sure if getting revenge is the right thing to do.”

“You’re better than me,” Colt replied. “I would already be plotting on how to make their deaths look like accidents.” He held up his hand. “I tell you what. I’ll seduce the best friend, string him along, make him fall for me, then dump his ass like he wasn’t anything more than a lousy fuck.”

It was better than killing them. Although they’d hurt Atlas, what they’d done didn’t call for their deaths. It was the least Braylon deserved.

“Just tell me he’s okay looking,” Colt said. “He doesn’t have to be a knockout, but if the guy is something only his mother loves, I’ll find another way to make things up.” He sighed. “Tell me I can work with it.”

“He’s all right.” Kellen tossed the container of peppers in the microwave and pushed a few buttons until it started. “If Atlas hadn’t flipped every trigger I have, and if he hadn’t turned out to be my mate, and—”

“Then what?” Atlas asked from behind him. “You would have screwed me one night and Braylon the next?”

Kellen closed his eyes. How had he not heard or smelled Atlas’s approach?

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