“Atlas isn’t yours to give, Lucy,” I tell her calmly.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “No, that baby. You can have it. I don’t care.” Then she turns away from me, curling into herself.
“Lucy, your baby needs you.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You’ll come around. He’s just a little baby, Lucy. He’s beautiful. You’ll love him when you see him.”
“No, I will not. Leave. Now.” I go forward, reaching out to touch her, comfort her, like I always used to do whenever she didn’t get what she wanted. But somehow my hand pauses and hovers over her instead. This is what I always do, give in and try to make it better for her somehow, and that’s when I realize maybe that’s why she’s stuck in this rut. Because everyone helps her, but she refuses to help herself.
Lucy has a child now, and I can no longer coddle her like a baby. No, she needs to do that to her son. She needs to grow the fuck up and give him a name. I pull my hand back and turn, walking out of her room without another word.
The nurse waves to me when I leave. As I walk out of the building with the security guard following behind me like a lap dog, I notice Atlas standing there, his head bent as he looks at something on his cell. I step forward until I’m standing in front of him. He lifts his head and smiles. That simple smile makes my heart flutter.
“You came?” I ask when he said he wouldn’t.
“I came for you. I know you don’t have a car. And, I wanted to make sure your sister didn’t make you commit murder,” he jokes. I don’t smile nor laugh. “Oh shit! Did she send you to the dark side? I mean, if anyone could, it would be her,” he says, reaching out and touching my arm with a smirk.
“Can we pretend… just for a few hours?”
“Pretend what?” he asks.
“That I forgive you and everything is normal. That we are normal, and you are just a boy wanting a girl…” I bite my lip, “… and I’m that girl.” My voice is a desperate whisper.
“I can do whatever you want, Theadora, but I will not pretend. You are the girl I want. And nothing will change that fact.” He reaches for my hand and entwines his fingers through mine. Atlas pulls me to him, and I feel his teeth at my neck, teasing my skin. “You are mine,” he says again, his lips now touching and giving me small kisses.
“For tonight,” I say, almost on a plea.
“For every night.” He pulls back and turns our hands which are still laced together, as he starts walking to his car.
I remember the first time I was in this car, the way he looked at me made me think I was beneath him. But I’m not. No, we are most definitely equals, and he simply needs to realize that.
Once we reach his car, he pulls open the door, helping me in. Then he stops and leans down, looking at me. “Last chance to run, Theadora.”
I shake my head. “Hurry, Atlas, before recognition sets in, and you’re never allowed to touch me again.”
I don’t tell him about the baby, not even when he gets in the car and offers me a sly smile as he speeds off.
Should I? I don’t think so.
It’s my family business. And Lucy is just that—my family, not his.
Plus, she may change her mind.
Maybe.
Probably not.
But I can hope.
Because there is a beautiful baby boy at stake here.
Atlas’s hand touches my thigh, and I turn to look at him. I can let him make me forget, just for tonight. Atlas is so very good at that.
Chapter Nineteen
Atlas
She doesn’t speak on the drive, just turns her body toward the window and stares out. My hands tap restlessly on the wheel as I drive giving her time—it’s what she deserves, it’s what she needs.
When we get to my place, she’s out of the car quickly and walking toward the front door. I follow with my hands in my pockets. The front door is unlocked so she pushes it open and goes straight inside. Without looking back to see if I’ve closed the door, she starts peeling off her clothing. Her shirt is first to go over her head, then her skirt falls past her waist to join the shirt on the floor. Now she’s standing there in nothing but a bra and panties.
“Theadora,” I say gently.
She looks at me over her shoulder. No smile graces her lips, nothing registers on her face. She seems like she is inside herself, in her own world.
“We don’t have to do this,” I tell her.
Silently, she reaches her hands behind her back, unclasping her bra as she takes small steps toward me. My cock is already hard, my need for her is next level. I haven’t been with anyone since meeting Theadora, and believe me I have tried. But all I see is her sky-blue eyes staring at me.