Page 21 of Atlas
“Jesus, Atlas. Stop pushing me all the goddamn time,” I snap. “Go fuck the new girl. She’s got her tits out especially for you.” I begin to back out, and he steps back. I slam the door and pull off at speed, instantly regretting my childish words. I groan out loud.Fuck.
Chapter Five
Atlas
I watch her rear lights vanish down the road, the sound of her engine still echoing in my chest like the words she just threw at me.
Go fuck the new girl.
I exhale hard and rake a hand through my hair.
“She’s got her tits out especially for you,” I mutter, mimicking. Like I asked Kasey to show up braless and mouthy. Like I haven’t spent days aching for a woman who won’t let herself be wanted.
Behind me, I hear the door creak.
“You really know how to pick ’em,” Kasey says, stepping into the open air and stretching like she hasn’t just poured petrol on a fire.
“Don’t,” I warn, still facing the road.
“What? I didn’tdoanything.”
I turn to her slowly. “You called medaddy. . . again.”
She shrugs, unbothered. “Yeah, and judging by her face, that word hits different in her world.”
I stare at her, jaw tight. “You wanna keep stirring shit, or you wanna stay under protection?”
Kasey doesn’t flinch. “Look, I don’t care who she is, but she came in here like she owned you. Didn’t like what she saw, so she stormed out and tried to make you feel small.”
“She didn’t make me feel anything,” I lie, heading back inside.
She trails behind. “That’s not what your face says.”
I stop short, turning just as she crosses the threshold. “You want to keep pushing, go for it. But don’t mistake whatever that was for something it’s not.”
She lifts a brow. “Which part? The way she looked at me like I was dogshit, or the way you looked at her like your heart just fell out your ribcage?”
I stare at her a long second. “Go do something useful. Find the broom. Sweep the bay. Stay out of my business.”
Kasey rolls her eyes and backs away slowly, hands in the air. “Whatever you say, boss man.”
When she disappears inside, I lean against the shutter frame and drag a hand over my face. I can still smell Anita’s perfume. Feel the heat in her voice when she told me she had plans. The sting in her eyes when she saw Kasey.
She thinks I want someone else?
No. Shewantsme to want someone else. It’d be easier.Cleaner.
I shouldn’t be here. She made her feelings pretty fucking clear when she peeled off like I’d slapped her.
The concierge tries to stop me at the front desk. I stare once, say her name, and he folds like paper.
She lives on the eighth floor. Clean, glassy, sterile. The kind of building that doesn’t have room for men like me. The hallway smells like lemons and expensive silence.
I knock once. Then twice, harder.
Nothing.
I’m about to turn away when the door swings open and there she is.
