“Fuck,” Atlas swore.“Sweets, you need clothes on, now.”And he lunged for her bedroom door.He yanked it open, even as she sprang behind him, holding her sheet.She peered over his broad shoulder to see Desmond rushing toward them.
“Company,” Desmond snapped.“The Fed is at the door, and he’s demanding to see you.”
“Gage?”Surprise rolled through her.She’d just been about to call him.
Atlas shifted to the side more, using his body to block her completely from Desmond’s view.
“Haven’t opened the door to him yet.He used his ID to get past the guards patrolling at the gate.Guy has got his partner with him, the woman,” Desmond replied.“Looked at the front door camera on my way to you.Bastard is pissed, shouting to see younow,Atlas.”
“Then he’ll see me.”He looked back at Lily.“Get dressed.Then meet us downstairs.”
She grabbed the diary and shoved it into his hands.“In your safe.Foryoureyes only.”
He nodded.His head bent, and his lips brushed over hers.“You didn’t have nightmares with me.”
No, she hadn’t.“But you did,” she whispered back.
“That happens…when you are the nightmare.”He nodded toward her.“I’ll handle your Fed.After you are dressed, you can come down and tell him about the potential vics.”He strode through the doorway.“Desmond, stay up here and guard her.I want her protected at all times.”
She poked her head out of the doorway and watched Atlas duck into his room.He came back a moment later, minus the diary.Still shirtless.Still barefoot.Still gorgeous and sexy and with danger seeming to crackle in the air around him.
“Get dressed, Lily,” Atlas chided as he bounded down the stairs.“If that prick sees you in a sheet, I will break his jaw, glass or not.”
Fine.But first…her gaze slid to Desmond.A Desmond who was not looking directly at her.“Did you enjoy some light reading last night?”Lily inquired sweetly.
He still didn’t look her way.“Wouldn’t call it light.”
“Do you always break into other people’s rooms and steal personal items?”
“Returned it, didn’t I?”
She’d expected to work harder in order to get his confession.“Why?”
Finally, he looked at her.“Because he is my friend.I will not have someone dangerous slip past my watch again.I will not let him be hurt.”
She clutched the sheet tighter to her chest.“You think I would hurt him?”
“I think you have the capacity to hurt a great many people in this world.”
Her feet pressed harder to the floor.“I would say you have that same capacity.”
“By the time I was ten years old, I had already killed ten men.Child soldiers do not have choices.”
She knew his story.The absolute heartbreak and savagery of it.But she had not planned to bring it up to him.You didn’t parade around someone else’s pain…Yet he’d just laid it bare in front of her.“Why are you telling me about your past?”
“Because I knowyourpast.But I have no diary to give you so that you can understand me.I can only tell you who I am.What I am.”
“You are his friend.”She understood that.A friend who would do anything for Atlas.She could see that so clearly.
Desmond’s lips tightened.“He never judged me.Never cared where I had been.Told me it mattered more where I was going.Then he took me with him.Gave me a job and took me with him every step of the way.”A pause.“Tell me, Lily Gallo, do you know where you’re going?”
“Honestly, no, right at the moment, I’m trying to figure out if I should go to New Orleans or Oklahoma City.”
He frowned at her, heavy brows beetling “Are you joking?”
“When you know me better, you’ll understand that I am not.”
“What the fuck are your intentions with Atlas?”
