Page 5 of Atlas

“Thanks,” I murmur near his ear.

I force myself to release him and when I step away, there’s a bright smile in place that masks everything that’s in my head and heart.

Story of my fucking life.

There are different kinds of love. I’m in every one of them. I’m not exactly a fan of wrecking myself either, so I’ll forever be careful to keep my feelings hidden. We can be playful. Friendly. Confidants. Business associates. I can treat Atlas like an obnoxious older brother whom I secretly adore, and he can treat me like his pesky younger sister. Anything else would ruin what we have, and that would be a tragedy.

He’s had enough tragedy this past year.

Atlas’s heart is still broken beyond repair. If I respect one thing, it’s a person’s pain, and Atlas isn’t ready. I might have been okay with being his rebound at first, but then I got to know him, and to know him is to love him and to love him means doing what’s best for him, even while I die a slow death on the inside.

Chapter 3

Atlas

“That’s not a regular human being, baby bro. That’s a force of nature. Beautiful. Sweet. Kind. Smart. A rocking body and a kick-ass mind.” Outside, Georgia leans in against me and shoves her elbow into the meat just below my ribs. “Are you sure you’re just friends?”

Georgia lives in Seattle and it’s only an hour away, but her job pretty much consumes her. She takes teaching seriously because it’s her passion. Personally, I’d rather go up against a room full of the world’s most hardened criminals than have to be responsible for keeping a bunch of ten year olds alive, but she loves it. Her job keeps her so busy that she rarely gets out to Hart except for holidays, and this is the first time she’s met Willa.

When Georgia got here, she beat our parents, but she didn’t let that deter her. She slipped inside to catch a glimpse of Willa, then immediately parted the crowds to get to me. I was helping work the grills, but she demanded that I show her around the store. Battle Axe, Odin, Tyrant, and Raiden, were only too happy to let me go. They brought grills as well, but Raiden did me a solid and promised he’d cover mine.

Bullet and Lynette showed up an hour before the official opening at noon, and were closely followed by most of my club brothers. Bullet’s been standing guard at the door to prevent any theft, since Willa can’t keep eyes on the entire store. Though Bullet is here helping with security, Wizard is back at the club monitoring the cameras around the store from every angle. He wired the whole place up, but after today, he’ll teach Willa howto hook them to her computer. He can’t possibly take on one more job. I’m not sure how he doesn’t lose his mind as it is.

Everyone from the club is here except Wizard and a few of the prospects who had to stay back on guard duty.

I stare longingly at the grills lining the front sidewalk along the freshly laid grass that will hopefully soon become a vibrant lawn.

Georgia isn’t going to let me resume flipping burgers and churning out hotdogs until she’s debriefed me. Her patience is legendary, but apparently not when it comes to Willa.

“Everyone seems to think that we’re more, but we’re not. It’s weird how no one wants to believe the truth. I wonder if we should try reverse psychology.”

“That sounds like it would be a bunch of trouble.” Her eyes flick over to Bullet by the door. He’s not so scary, not compared to some of the other guys. He has less visible ink and scars, but his huge beard and all black attire give him some serious tough biker vibes. “But you do know that if you wanted to date someone again, you could. Getting hurt sucks, but sometimes things do actually work out.”

“You’ve had one relationship, and the guy was a tool bag.” I still wish I could hunt down Hepner Radcliffe to rearrange his limbs. I met the guy once a few years ago, when Georgia was finishing up her degree in Seattle. He was an asshole then and he treated my sister like shit. After he cheated on her, he wisely disappeared.

“One relationship, yes. That doesn’t mean that I’ve been a saint. I just choose not to talk about it.”

What the fuck?Now my protective brother instincts are screaming for blood. “I need an immediate list. Right now. Names. Addresses. What their greatest and oddest fears are so that I canhauntthem.”

Georgia rolls her eyes. They’re darker than mine, bordering on indigo. She has no idea that it’s her beauty that intimidates guys into not even being able to talk to her or ask her out. Thank fuck. “And you wonder why I like to keep my business to myself.”

“Any and all boyfriends shouldn’t just pass the brother test. They should pass my club brother test too.”

Her laughter tells me that she’s not taking me seriously, even though I mean it. “You don’t need to worry about me. Just because I’m not two hundred and some pounds of muscle doesn’t mean that I can’t take care of myself.” She studies my face long and hard. “Besides, everyone knows the squishiest parts of a person are on the inside and that makes you no less vulnerable than me.”

“I’m happy you’re here.” I’m shit at deflecting, but Georgia allows it. For now. “You need to come back more often. Seattle’s only an hour away.”

“An hour? No. There’s always at least three hours of sitting in traffic to even get out of the city. It’s hard when I work Monday to Friday and have to spend all weekend prepping lessons and marking.”

“It’s summer. Come camp out at Mom and Dad’s.”

“Maybe for a few days.”

The store hours are noon until five Tuesday to Friday, open all day Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. Georgia toldme first thing that she’s staying until Monday morning since our parents begged her to make it a family dinner tomorrow night. It’s not lost on me that they pointedly also invited Willa.

“Willa’s going to go out picking tomorrow.” She’s already asked me if I want to come with her. Code for, ‘will you come and do the heavy lifting and nasty sifting, battle rabid raccoons and evil spiders’ for me?’

“Ahh. And you’re absolutely going.”

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