Page 85 of Atlas
“Then what are you saying?” she snaps. “Get to the point.”
I exhale. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just . . . you came out that office and swooped right in and she backed off. If I have my way, she’ll be a permanent fixture around here. One of the old ladies.”
She gives a knowing nod. “And if that happens, I won’t be welcome around here anyway, right?”
“You know the rules, Anita. If she decides you can’t be around, that’s the way it’ll be.”
“And you’d let that happen?”
I hold her gaze. “If it meant keeping Rue? Yeah. I would.”
She lets out a bitter breath. “Wow. Good to know where I stand.”
Axel sticks his head out the office. “Atlas, can I have a word?”
I head in, leaving Anita to think over my words. Kasey is already seated. “What’s she done now?” I ask with a groan.
“I haven’t done anything,” she snaps. “It’s what he’s asking me to do.”
I take a seat beside her, and Axel sits behind his desk. “Kasey doesn’t want to help Anita.”
I sigh heavily, Scrubbing a hand over my face. “Because of what I did?”
“I don’t care if she gets her kid back or not. She’s a slag.”
I wince at her words. “Don’t call her that.”
“What would you call it when she’s getting half-naked in front of someone else’s man?”
I glance at Axel uncomfortably. “This will help the club too.”
“How?”
“Cos we’re keeping you here so he can’t get to you. It’s all part of us dismantling his life.”
“I’d rather we just kill him,” she says, folding her arms over her chest. “Isn’t that what you guys do?”
“Where did you hear that?” snaps Axel.
“Ignore her,” I say. “She’s read it in books and watchedSons of Anarchy.”
He relaxes. “Look, I’m the damn President, and what I say goes.”
She gives him an arched brow, and I nudge her. “Show respect,” I whisper hiss, “or it’ll be you he kills.”
“I am not helping the woman who hurt my sister.”
“It wasn’t Anita’s fault,” I snap. “What happened is all on me.”
“Why can’t you just drag up the police report?” she asks, slumping back in the chair like a sulking teenager.
“Police report?” Axel repeats with interest.
She shrugs. “Well, yeah, I reported him.”
I exchange a wide-eyed stare with Axel. “What exactly did you report?”
“The sex and stuff. I was a kid, and he wouldn’t leave me alone. They didn’t do anything, of course, cos who believes a scruffy kid off a council estate with a dad like mine. But they said they’d log it and look into it. I told them about the other men and how they picked me up from school.” She sighs heavily. “They never got back to me. And he never mentioned it, so I don’t think they even spoke to him about it.”
