Page 149 of Like Grim Death: Part One
“Everyone around you is fucking with your head, aren’t they? Including me, right?”
I raise my eyes to his, and find he’s still staring at me, his expression neutral, the knife held by his side. His shirt forms around the curves of his muscles and despite his stoicism, I see his chest heaving as hard as mine.
Pressure builds behind my eyes. “Yes,” I gasp out.
“And you’ve so blindly trusted us all. At the very least, given us the benefit of the doubt. Meeting with me, keeping even Cain breaking into your house a secret. Then I gave you a warning about Sevryn, and what do you do? You decide you might give him a chance too, with that bleeding heart of yours.”
I blink at him, my face flushing hotter still as I rock back on the soles of my boots, my fingers on the countertop pressed into the marble to keep my balance.
He looks down his nose at me, then he steps closer. His tongue touches his bottom lip, just for a moment. “My plea for you to comehere,you listen immediately.I mean, you think I won’t hurt you, but how stupid have you been? You’re alone, you meet me alone, and, what? You think you’re safe?” He smiles again, his long lashes fluttering as he looks down at my mouth. “They don’t even know this place exists.”
My throat feels tight. I don’t move.
“You thinkI’msafe?” His eyes come back to mine. “Little Red Riding Hood never saw the wolf when it was right in front of her pretty little face.”
Nerves tangle in my chest, my arms, my limbs. Little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. But despite his tangled words and his display with the knife, I truly don’t think he would dare hurt me.
As if he’s reading my mind, he asks, “You think Mav can protect you here?” Another laugh and I catch the scent of mint from his breath. “What’re you gonna do if I touch you, right now, baby? Worse than when I pushed myself down your throat?”
My cheeks flush pink.
“Run back to Mav and tell him how you’ve been lying?” He steps even closer, the knife by his side. “Tell him what I’ve done for you? How often we’ve met up?”
“You wouldn’t—”
He cuts me off with a low voice. “He asked about where you’re sneaking off to? Or those marks on the back of your thighs yet? Does he just think he did that?” He pulls his plush bottom lip between his teeth and my body is on fire. “I mean, he’s fucking careless, isn’t he?” He leans down into my face and his nose nudges mine. “But you know… I have a secret, pretty girl.” He mocks Mavy’s name for me, and it feels like my face is beet red. “I’m not as nice as everyone thinks I am. I might not be so rough, but there’s all kinds of foreplay, right? Wanna know mine?”
No.“What the fuck is your problem?” I grind those words out, straightening from the counter, my hands clenched into fists. I don’t understand where he’s going with any of this. In the time we’ve been meeting together after he slipped me a sleeping pill that soothed my physical achesandmy emotional ones—when Rain was cradled in Mav’s arms and my jealous heart was about to explode at the sight of Sid smiling at my boyfriend at the party—I thought I could trust him. I know I can, to an extent. Despite his tough talk, he wouldn’t want to be outed as betraying Maverick.
Lucifer might lead, but Maverick holds sway. A lot of it. He rarely goes against his best friend, but if he did, I think Cain and Ezra would be more likely to have his back, despite the fact Cain was with Atlas when they broke into my home. Cain isn’t afraid of anyone, and he’d betray Atlas in a heartbeat if his logical mind thought it best.
Atlas doesn’t want that kind of trouble.
He cocks his head as he stares down at me, like he’s deciding what to do with me.
We don’t move. Seconds tick by, and I hear a creak upstairs, but Atlas doesn’t look away from me. It’s just the old, renovated building settling. No one is here. We’re alone.
We’re alone.
Somehow, it doesn’t feel like a reassurance. Neither of us look away from the other.
Finally, Atlas pulls back again.
I find myself breathing normally, my heart beating faster with his absence. Or maybe what we didn’t do.
“Where, exactly, do you go in those woods?” He glances at the knife in his hand and the wicked blade glints in the recessed lights overhead.
My heart picks up speed. “What are you talking about?”
He glances at me. “I’ve checked the cemetery near our street. The chapel. It would be an incredible hiding place. But there’s no way just anyone could be that close to you and none of us know about it. Which leaves only one conclusion.”
I hold my breath, waiting for him to guess.
“The 6. It’s one of them, isn’t it? Have they asked you to do something too? A job handed down from RC? What do they want you to complete?”
I shake my head. “No. You’re wrong. They haven’t—”
He smiles. “Ella. You know who I belong to. The 6 are professional liars. Do better with your bullshit.”
