CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EMBER
It’s beena week since Dean and Harley’s confrontation outside my house.
Harley has stayed every night since then. His eye is healing up, showing shades of yellow and green. Only a little evidence of the altercation is visible now—physically at least. I looked back on the recording from that night and the only thing I was able to see were the shadows of what I assume was Harley and Dean.
Today, we’re heading over to Asher and Atlas’s to do a house reset. We plan to clean up outside, and get any home repairs done that need to be done. We want everything done before Asher leaves. Harley has already assured both Atlas and Asher that if anything needs repaired during the deployment, that he would have it taken care of.
I hear Harley’s music playing while he’s in the shower. I take my first sip of my morning coffee, leaning against the counter. My thoughts are focused on Atlas’s text that came through while I was in the shower.
ATLAS
Can you pick up a few pizzas before you head over? Aria and Rawley like cheese. The boys will prob want supreme.
I haven’t mentioned anything out loud about my intuition to anyone. I’d done a little detective work online after I’d gotten a last name, but as expected, not much is online about a fifteen-year-old kid. My mind hasn’t stopped creating scenarios and possibilities since the text came through. I feel my nerves going haywire.
Harley enters the kitchen, coming over to me and wrapping me up in his arms. He still has little water droplets on his chest from his shower. I know this tactic, and just as I suspect, he leans toward my coffee mug. I attempt to push him off with one hand, protecting my coffee with the other.
“Come on, princess, just let me get a quick drink.” He tries kissing up to me, playfully.
“If you ever learn anything about me, it should be not to fuck with my coffee,” I growl at him.
He backs up, hands in the air as if he is being arrested. I turn and pull a cup down from the cabinet and brew him a cup. I mindlessly pass it to him, black, with no creamer.
“Are you okay, pretty girl?” His eyebrow lifts slightly and sets his coffee cup down on the counter.
I give him a small smile and reassure him, “Babe, honestly, I'm fine!”
It’s just after 11 AM before Harley and I make it out of the house and head to the pizza shop to pick up lunch. I’m doing my best to keep making conversation so that Harley doesn’t detect how nervous I feel. I don’t want to feel nervous, but I can’t stop the unsettled feeling in my stomach.
Just act like he’s any other kid helping Atlas out. It’ll be fine. You’re fine. Everything is fine,I keep chanting to myself.
We pull up to the house. Asher is already working on something near the front door.
He hears us get out of the car and looks over. “Oh thank god,” he says, his eyes pleading. “Atlas just keeps adding to the list,” he says as he wipes his hands on his jeans. “She acts like I'm never coming back.”
I laugh, but I can tell he’s extremely serious, and she probably needs to vent. I head inside with the pizza while Harley and Asher chat outside.
Atlas has the couch pulled away from the wall and is scrubbing the baseboards. “Atlas, what are you doing?” I ask as I set the pizza down and close the distance between us, joining her on the floor. She doesn’t look up, just keeps scrubbing. It’s really not even dirty. I don’t want to invalidate her, because I know she’s stressed as is, but she obviously has something on her mind.
I rest my hand on hers to stop her from cleaning. “Atlas, look at me.” The empath in me is screaming out in pain for her. She lifts her head and she’s got tears lining her eyes, about to spill over. “Oh, babe.” I wrap her up in my arms and she lets her sobs out, finally letting it all go. I stroke her hair as I rock her on the floor. We sit there in silence as she releases all of her stress and worries safely in my arms.
“I got a positive test this morning,” she says, pulling away from me. She sits on her knees with her hands resting in her lap. She drops her head back down, watching her hands. “We didn’t plan this. It’s not the right time,” she tells me, raising her eyes to meet mine.
“You have options, babe. If right now isn’t the right time, that’s okay. It wasn’t on purpose,” I tell her, trying to comfort her. “Have you told Asher?” I ask her.
“Ugh, no,” she says, getting up off the floor. We walk into the kitchen. “I felt nauseous this morning, and I've been constantly crying for days.” We stop at the counter, and Atlas shuffles through the boxesuntil she finds the cheese pizza. “After I got the positive test, I sent him outside,” she says, reaching into the box of pizza. “He thinks I’ve fucking lost my mind.”
I let out a laugh just as Harley, Asher, and Rawley enter the kitchen. Asher looks at Atlas with uneasy eyes. She gives him a smile, her mouth full of pizza. He laughs as he stands behind her, pulling her to him, her back to his front. “Ahh so she was just hangry.” He kisses her temple before letting her go.
“Rawley, you want a coke?” Asher asks, pulling out two beers from the fridge.
“Yes, sir, that sounds good,” he says, walking around the island. “Just don’t tell mom, she keeps telling me I don’t drink enough water.”
I go to the cabinet, pulling plates down so everyone can eat, doing my best to keep myself distracted. I feel oddly calm in this moment, despite the nervousness of Rawley’s presence near me.
I pass him a plate and he smiles politely. “Thank you, ma’am.” I smile at him before popping the pizza boxes open, placing one next to the other. Harley stands on the other side of me as he serves himself a few slices of pizza.
