Page 186 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Without replying, I open the other text.
From Atlas.
Him: I think you should come down to the pool. There’s something you’re going to want to see.
The scentof chlorine and marijuana tangles in my nose as I walk through the gym of Liber and out into the warm, heated room of the inground pool. Beyond the glass panes surrounding it, there’s dark forest and night.
And when my eyes snag on Maverick, I wish I was out in those woods.
My breath catches in my throat, sweat pooling under my arms from the temperature and the way my blood heats, watching my boyfriend.
He’s at the deep end, more than a few people crowded around him laughing and drinking with black plastic cups in hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cain and Ezra sitting on the steps of the shallow end, girls between their laps.
But I don’t pay attention to them.
Instead, I’m watching Maverick’s hands grip the ledge of the pool, his tattooed back to me, red marks and crusted over wounds—that I didn’t know about—through his enormous Unsainted tattoo, and right in front of him, pressed against the wall of the pool, looking up at him with a drunken smile on her face, is Sid.
She just went from concerned, possible friend, to incestuous bitch again real quick.
It probably has something to do with that black cup clutched between both of her hands. Her dark hair is slick down to her shoulders, away from her face. There’s a smudge of eyeliner beneath one eye, but even still, with her high-rise black, mesh bikini, she looks good.
And Maverick’s half-naked body is inches away from hers.
My hands curl into fists at my side, and I don’t move my gaze from them until I hear someone beside me, an arm brushing my shoulder. I know who it is even before he speaks because I smell him. Mint. Clean.
The opposite of what I’m looking at right now.
“They look good, huh?”
I stiffen at his words and think about Samson. Liar’s Island. Last night at The Madilyn. I say nothing except, “Where’s Lucifer?”
Atlas laughs, a light sound.
I can’t drag my gaze away from Maverick. He dips his head down, and Sid is staring up at him with something like wonder. It’s only then I realize how she’s able to keep afloat in eight feet of water.
Her legs are wrapped around Mav’s waist, under the surface.
My stomach lurches. The room seems to spin around me. Her back is to the wall, but her pelvis is tilted upward, because it’s the only way she can stay up while she drinks from her fucking cup.
“Not out here,” Atlas says, like he’s stating the obvious.
“Then where is he?”My voice is hushed, rising up at the ends, and I feel Atlas shift beside me.
His arm comes around my shoulders.
I jump, spinning to face him, but he doesn’t let me go. Instead, his mouth comes to my ear. “We could find out.”
Heat rushes through me, and I don’t know if it’s from his touch, or Sid’s legs tangled around Maverick’s waist or what.
I shake my head, attempting to push him off.
Brooklin’s words echo in my mind. I loved him too, and you see what happened to us.
Atlas doesn’t budge. “Hey,” he says quietly, dipping his head so his brow is to mine. My heart thumps too fast in my chest. If Maverick would justlook. Up.He’d see. He’d fuckingknow.
But he doesn’t look up. And after everything he did for me last night,he’s choosingher? It doesn’t matter her and I seemingly made up over those fucking pages. He doesn’t know that. And fuck her for being like this, butfuck himfor always putting her first and pushing me away.
When Atlas speaks, I taste the mint of his breath. “You wanna pay him back?” His dark eyes dip to my mouth. “We could go find Lucifer…” His gaze comes back up. “Or we could go find a room.”
