Page 232 of Like Grim Death: Part One
“I don’t know,” Atlas says.
And I know he’s fucking lying. Because as he speaks the words, he looks up, just a little, and to the left. It’s not a big, obvious gesture, but on that second word, he looked away, for half a second, maybe less.
“You don’t know?” I repeat, still quiet.
He’s got the blade in his hand, but it’s lowered at his side. I run this shit. He’s not gonna fucking touch me. “I think that’s what I said.”
I smile at him, then run my tongue over my bottom lip, searching his eyes. It’s deadly quiet, and I feel all of my brothers behind me. I step closer, until our bodies are only inches apart. I’m in his fucking face, and I can smell spearmint on him. I’m sure he’s got the full scent of the cigarette I just smoked in his nose right now too, the way his nostrils flare, his dark eyes narrowed into slits.
“You’re not hiding her at The Madilyn, are you?”
He can’t hide his surprise at that question, and it makes me feel like I just hit him in the face, the satisfaction he gave me.
My brothers might’ve counted me out this past year. They might’ve thought I lost my fucking mind, and they’re not exactly wrong. Between the coke and the crying and cutting myself at Liber and all the shit I did to Sid, I lost my step.
But I didn’t let it all fall to shit.
I know everything about the brotherhood.
It seems Atlas thought he had kept that one thing a secret, but you can’t buy a house—abandoned or not—without Elijah knowing about it, therefore, in turn, without me knowing, now that I’m going throughOrtus.
Atlas is completely still. His facial muscles have just gone slack, his lips parted slightly as he leans against his Range.
“Yeah,” I tell him, coming even closer. If I was so inclined, I could bite his full bottom lip. I drop my eyes to his mouth, then drag them back up. “Don’t fucking lie to me again.” I tilt my head, and our breath mingles. I’m feeling edgy again, without the coke I scored from the same guy who repaired my carjust in case,and it’s gonna be another long few months to get past the feeling, but for now, I let it out on Atlas. “Where. The fuck.Is Natalie?”
I see it, out of the corner of my eye. Sevryn shifted in the backseat.
Atlas shuffles his feet, glancing down at the minimal space between us. I see his throat roll as he swallows, and I imagine slitting it for his disobedience. I won’t though. I wouldn’t kill him unless he fucked withmyfamily, because at the end of the day, he still is that.
Familia.
He shakes his head, looking past me again. “I don’t know,” he repeats.
You are a terrible fucking liar.
We just stay that way for a moment, him staring past me, me imagining beating him fucking senseless to get the truth out of him.
But I think about what I would do to protect Sid. More than lie, I’d ripanyonelimb from fucking limb. Besides, someone has answers for me, and he’s sitting in Atlas’s backseat right now.
I step back.
I feel the tension crack.
I jerk my chin toward Sevryn, who is watching me carefully. “Let’s go inside,” I say. And without another word to anyone, I head toward Liber.
I sitin the darkness of a G-wagon we keep at Liber, behind the wheel. I watch in the rear-view as Atlas, Ezra, and Cain disappear into the front door, guards alert on either side of it as they do.
I bring the joint to my lips, inhaling the tangy, earthy smoke, then I slouch down and exhale, turning my head toward the cracked window, cool, mid-October air streaming in as clouds of marijauna flow out. “THE SOUND” by The Plot in You plays through the speakers, the bass thudding softly. I close my eyes and imagine Ella last night, Lucifer on top of her. Sid throwing a bottle at her head.
The way she ducked so fucking fast.
I pull from the joint again, wanting to drift off into a fucking haze, but so many questions knot inside my mind, I can’t quite lift off, no matter how fast I smoke.
“You mean after we were fucking Ella?”
I clamp down on my back teeth, toss the roach out the window, then grab another pre-rolled joint from the case inside my bomber jacket. I snatch up the blue lighter from the console, and as I’m sparking up, I see a glint of something red approach the passenger door.
I unlock the doors and toss down the lighter as Ella climbs into the car, not saying a word.
