Page 57 of Rent Free

She smiled softly at me, then started down the length of the hallway back toward the nurses’ station.

Atlas and I took the stairs to the road.

“I don’t have my truck,” he grumbled.

“I have my car,” I said. “I’ll drive you home, and then you can get one of your brothers to get you back to your truck tomorrow.”

He opened the car door for me, and the shock must’ve been written all over my face, because he responded.

“When’s the last time a guy opened a car door for you?” he teased, trying to put on a brave face.

I didn’t miss a beat when I said, “When I got arrested. By you.”

He smiled.

But that smile died just as fast as it’d come.

I got in and started it up. He rounded the hood, his face blank, and got into the passenger seat.

He didn’t protest. Didn’t bitch. Didn’t say a word.

And it was the most disconcerting thing that he’d done since I’d met the man.

He always had something to say.

Always.

My stomach knotted for him.

It kept tightening, though, the longer we drove.

I stopped at a fast food joint and bought a dozen tacos, hoping that would be enough to feed us both.

When I pulled into the driveway of his place, my eyes automatically took a look around at all of the other houses that his family lived in.

I’d been in this neighborhood a lot since I’d met and started working for Maven. I knew all of the people who lived in each house.

The lights were all off in each and every one of them, making my heart ache.

Atlas needed his family, and they weren’t here.

Not by choice, though.

I’d gotten dozens of text messages from all of them since I’d arrived, and all of them had been from his family, worried about their brother.

They were all on their way home, and it was unfortunate that the one day they’d chosen to drive eight hours to visit a waterpark out of town had been the day that Atlas needed them most.

When I turned off the engine of my car, he got out, and headed for the front door.

In seconds he had it open, lights flipped on, and the door hanging wide as he marched inside.

I followed much more slowly, grabbing my purse, our food, and the paperwork from the hospital that they’d given us on the way out. In case we’d wanted to call for an update.

I took in everything with a quick glance as I closed and locked the door.

Atlas had a new couch.

He’d purchased it last month with Auden, and Auden had told me all about how picky Atlas had been during the shopping experience.

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