Page 75 of Atlas
I huff out a bitter laugh. “Too late for that.”
She doesn’t speak, and neither do I. The silence stretches, heavy.
“I told Rue I was doing club business,” I mutter, more to myself than her. “Didn’t even hesitate.”
Anita folds her arms. “You’re not a bad person, Atlas. We have history.”
I look at her. She’s still the same Anita I once knew, with a fire in her spine, but soft in ways she pretends not to be. And for a second, I wish we were back in that old world, where loving her didn’t feel like betrayal.
But we’re not.
And I don’t love her the way I used to.
I loveRue.
I swallow the bitter taste rising in my throat and take a step back. “I can’t do this again.”
Her lips part like she wants to argue, but she nods instead. Slow, accepting, like maybe part of her already knew I’d walk away the second I came to my senses.
Tom reappears, sliding his phone into his blazer pocket. “Everything okay?” he asks, his eyes flitting between us.
I nod and head for the door, my mind already ten steps ahead. I have to see Rue and tell her the truth.
The second the door opens, I know I’m fucked.
Rue stands there barefoot, arms folded tight across her chest like she’s bracing for a storm. Exceptsheis the storm, with her thunderous silence and eyes lit with rage. Her expression is blank, but it’s the kind of blank that screams.
She doesn’t smile. Doesn’t say hi. Doesn’t even move aside to let me in.
“Hey,” I offer quietly, hands shoved deep in my jacket pockets. “Can we talk?”
She stares at me for a long second, then steps back just enough to let me through. I enter the flat taking a few deep breaths to calm the noise in my head.
She closes the door behind us, then leans against it like she needs it to hold her up and folds her arms over her chest.
“I lied,” I mutter, avoiding her eye. “Just now, when I dropped you off.”
“I know,” she says bluntly, and my head snaps up. “I heard the call,” she adds, “from Anita.”
I inwardly groan.Fuck. The helmet must have connected. “Shit, Rue, I’m sorry,” I rush out. Her expression stays stoney,her arms still tight over her chest.Uninviting.“I didn’t know you could hear us.”
“I gathered,” she says, her voice full of sarcasm.
I shift uncomfortably under the weight of the situation. I don’t know how to navigate this, how to make it right. It’s not something I’ve had to face before. “I shouldn’t have lied about it.”
“But you did, so . . .” She shrugs. “You can’t change it now.”
I shrug feebly. “She needed me.”
“Why didn’t she call a friend? Or the police? Or literallyanyoneelse?” Rue snaps. “Why you?”
“Because I’ve always been the one she calls when shit goes wrong,” I say, my voice low, almost ashamed. “She was scared. Anthony had trashed her place. She needed me.”
“And you couldn’t just tell me that? You had to lie and pass it off as some club bullshit because you knew I couldn’t question that.”
“I fucked up.”
“What else?” she asks, and our eyes meet again. “Well, there is something else, right?” I hesitate, my mind racing to create another lie, even though deep down, I know I should tell her the truth. “Just be honest, Atlas.Please.”
