Page 30 of Atlas

“Don’t worry. It won’t be the first time we’ve pissed off someone. I know the drill.” Despite his reassurance, his jaw tightens. He hates this, but he’s trying to control his emotions so that he doesn’t scare me. He’s my rock now, but the storm is chipping away at him too.

I’ve never been more thankful to the club in all my life, and there have been so many times already in this past year where they’ve saved our asses, and made my life here, my dreams, and my business a reality.

They take an oath of loyalty when they join that club, of brotherhood, and I know that every man in the place will have Atlas’ back through this, and by extension, mine.

The storm might be intensifying, but we won’t have to weather it alone.

Chapter 9

Atlas

Tyrant told me before I even hung up, that he wanted me to gather everyone right here, including my parents and my sister. After a long chunk of relative peace, enough shit has gone down with the club in the past few years that I could tell Tyrant wanted to go on the offensive. He won’t decide anything until he’s had time to think about it, and certainly not before he calls church,

The roar of the bikes fractures the silence long before they appear. We’re waiting on the top floor, as per Tyrant’s instructions, behind the steel door which is the only entrance. The front door is glass, and the big overhead roll up door could be pried up.

I was vague with my parents because I didn’t want them to panic. I asked them to come at eleven, knowing that Tyrant would be here by then. I want him to take the lead on this, not just because he’s my Prez, but because I’m in over my head. I also realize how stupid I was to leave my gun in the saddlebag of my bike yesterday. I have nothing now to keep us safe except a few knives from the block on the kitchen counter.

I’ve been sitting against Willa’s headboard, my arms wrapped around her like a safety blanket. She hasn’t moved since we came up here. She’s sat with her legs drawn up between mine, her arms wrapped around them.

We draw in long, twinned breaths of relief at hearing those bikes coming.

Now is definitely not the time. I was sitting here for over half an hour with her in my arms, but the words come to me at this very moment. I should swallow them down, but I can’t not tell her.

I brush a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, the highlights shimmering like pure gold in the sun coming through all the windows. It strikes me now how stupid it was to position us right beside one.

Fuck.

“It’s a dumb question to ask right at this moment, but are you okay? You look like you’re going to throw up.” I lean down to her, pressing our foreheads together. I cup the back of her head, splaying my fingers protectively over her hair.

“About this situation or about us? I’ve been telling myself lies for a year now, and I believed most of them. But I’m totally okay with what happened between us.”

I kiss her nose, her cheeks, her lips, then give her the full intensity and honesty of my eyes. “I need you to know that I’ll be at your side. This morning wasn’t a mistake.”

“I am scared though, about all this. I know after what happened last year with Lynette and your club’s old lawyer I should be used to trouble. But I didn’t expect it to come to my door.”

“I have every faith that my club will keep you, my family, and Agatha, safe,” I say. And I believe it.

“You’re going to have to teach me how to shoot. Bullet taught Lynette, and I know there’s no range, but I’m sure we can practice somewhere. Anyone gets between you and me, oranyone else I love, and I’m coming for them. I’d tear off their face with my teeth if I had to.”

She’s not kidding. Willa is different than any other woman I’ve ever known romantically. She’d guard and champion me. She’s fierce despite her sugar-sweet exterior. She’s more giving than she is for taking, relying on her own instincts to drive her happiness. She’d fight for me in every way.

Even ways she never imagined she’d have to.

I could tell her. I could open myself up and bleed myself dry and I know that whatever it was I said, she’d be right there with me.

I’m just… not ready.

She kisses me hard and rough before letting me go. The bikes are starting to roll into the parking lot.

I’m still reeling as we head downstairs and I open the glass front door for Tyrant, Raiden, Crow, and Gunner. They slip inside, their huge leather-clad bodies sucking all the oxygen out of the space. Willa relaxes a fraction behind me. She feels safer too now that my club brothers are here.

“You’d better show us this chest,” Tyrant states. “Are we the first ones here?”

“Yes. My parents are on their way.”

“Good. I have the start of a plan, but I want to run it by everyone together. Bullet and Lynette are driving over. They were five minutes behind us.”

There’s no way that Bullet would take Lynette on the back of his bike now that she’s pregnant. He’s a safe driver, but I know him, and he’s also thoughtful and extra cautious.

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