Page 35 of Cocky Secrets

“Alright, no one can hear us out here.” Atlas faces me. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I need your help.”

His dark eyes narrow. “With?”

“I can’t just sit around here like a prisoner. They won’t let me go out without one of you, and I can’t live this way anymore.”

He crosses his arms. “You know why we’re doing this, right?”

“I get it, but this isn’t living!” I plead, stepping closer.

Atlas sighs, running a hand through his dark hair, the long sheaths of it swaying where he gave up. “You’re with a cop, Sage. That’s a line we don’t cross.”

“Bear is different!” I insist, frustration bubbling over. “I think he might look the other way. Let you…do what you do! He truly cares about me.”

“Cares?” Atlas scoffs. “Is that what you call your little rendezvous?”

My hackles sharpen and I poke my brother’s chest. Hard. “It wasn’t like that. It was beautiful.”

“Sure it was,” he chuckles.

“Bear feels the same way I do. You saw him today! If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have stood up toall of you! He’d have run away with a coward’s tail between his legs!”

Atlas blinks at me, taking this in. “It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a cop,” Atlas replies, voice firm. “You have to understand where we’re coming from. We have to protect our secrets.”

“Help me!” I implore, my voice quiet, urgent. “You’re my brother. I need you to ride out with me, act like we’re going to see a movie or something. Please give me a way to see Bear.”

Atlas stares at me, “I can’t,” and shakes his head, unwavering determination etched into his features. “I won’t.”

“You could stay with us and play chaperone!”

“That sounds like a blast,” Atlas dryly tosses back.

Taking a step closer, I whisper, “Please help me!”

“No.”

I expected a fight but the weight of his refusal hits me like a punch to the gut. “Why not? Because you’re afraid of Dad?Of what the others would think if they ever found out you were helping me meet up with him?”

“It’s not about fear,” Atlas counters, shadowy eyes narrowing. “It’s about loyalty to what we stand for. You need to respect that.”

“What about loyalty to your little sister. Have you ever been in love?”

We stare at each other and I can tell by his expression that he hasn’t, but wants to know what that’s like. “You just met him, Sage. You don’t love the cop.”

“Look into my eyes and tell me that again.”

Atlas holds my gaze, his stiff shoulders softening. “I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

“You’re thedangerousone, aren’t you?” I challenge, hope boiling within me. “You couldsecretlysupport me, not keep me trapped.”

“Sometimes support means making tough decisions,” Atlas grates, volume hushed and tinged with frustration. “We aren’t like normal people and you know that. We can’t just run off and do whatever we want without considering if it’s good for the family, for our missions, for everything we stand for. There would be consequences.”

“There won’t be any consequences!” I hiss under the heat of my emotions. “Bear and I have something I don’t know how to describe to you. But I’m going to try.” I touch my chest. “It feels as if there’s a string attaching our hearts that no one can break. Right now, it’s stretched tight, tense, scared of being cut, but it’s there. Help me loosen it. Help me see him. Not tonight,” I hurriedly say, trying to propose a reasonable offer, “But soon. We could just say you’re going to give me lessons in riding or…anything! Atlas, please help me. I’m not a Cipher. I’m just me. A woman with a heart that’s being called to by his heart.I’m exhausted from living in a world defined by everyone else’s rules.”

Silence stretches between us, heavy and charged, but Atlas’s expression has softened. Hope rages in me as he begins to speak, “Sage, you’re my sister. I love you.”

“I love you too!”

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