Ireallydon’t want to run into Atlas. What would I say? Somehow, I don’t think saying, “Hey, Atlas! That monster thatfucks you senseless harassed me last night!”is the way to reconnect after the last awkward conversation we had.
The one in which I sent him away, due to my own severe jealousy. The jealousy I told him I didnothave.
“So? Let’s just have some tea and put on our jackets. We won’tdie, Julian,” she deadpans.
I sigh. “Alright, I’ll go ask Barfred to make—”
“I’ll do it,” Landon interrupts.
“Huh?”
“Yeah. I… I need a second, anyway. Should I just see if he’s in the kitchen now?” Landon won’t look at me as he speaks, staring at his shoes instead. His brows are pinched, his brown hair falling into his eyes as his head stays tilted downward.
“Uh, yeah. He’ll have black hair and brown eyes. You won’t be able to miss him,” I answer, and they can both tell by my tone that I’m not super comfortable with this.
Lan doesn’t seem to care. He nods once and slips out of my room, and as soon as the door shuts quietly, Susie groans.
“Dude, he’s like a heartbroken teenager. I feelbad.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I demand. “I’ve told him since he confessed that it’s not like that for me. I love him, I really do. But I’m notin lovewith him. And I… I just…”
“I know,” Susie interrupts, her tone placating. She stands from the bed and approaches me, patting my shoulder. “It’s okay; he’ll sort it out. Now… tell me aboutthis.”
Susie’s fingertips trail lightly over my left cheek, right over one of the long scratches. Suddenly, I’m lying back in my bed in the darkness of the night; my body is weighed down under the sheerterror of thethinghovering above me, and I can almost feel the caress of its cold, clammy skin and sharp nails.
The way it squeezed and impaled my skin, drawing minuscule amounts of blood.My blood.
“Julian—breathe!” Susie demands.
I inhale sharply, and she’s blurry where she stands in front of me.
“S-sorry,fuck. I’m a mess.” I give her a shaky laugh.
Her narrowed eyes tell me she doesn’t buy my happy-go-lucky attitude. “What happened to you? Who… how…?”
“If I told you that I would rather die than talk about it, would you drop it?” I ask her hopefully, smiling nervously.
Susie shakes her head lightly but sighs all the same. “I’m not sure why you’re hiding from me, Julian. You know I wouldn’t judge you, that I’d always be on your side. But if it’s too hard or you feel reluctant for whatever reason, then okay. But listen here—if I find out someone is putting their hands on you, I’ll break their fucking fingers.”
And I know she’s serious. In fact, the look she’s leveling me with makes me a little scared for the monster, even as I’m sure it would probably devour little Susie whole.
“Thanks, Susie.” I smile at her, a real one.
“And if it has something to do with this family, then—”
“I’m going to see if Landon found Barfred,” I say, cutting her off. She’s treading far too close to the truth because thisthinghas everything to do with Atlas, and I’m not ready to divulge that to Susie.
She just sighs once more, waving me toward the door with a plethora of attitude.
We grab our coats—and Landon’s—on the way out, making our way to the kitchen in Hall E1.
“Do you think if I got Lan on Grindr, he’d move on?” Susie asks absentmindedly as we walk through the main foyer.
“Hmm, maybe? He has a type, though,” I answer.
“What, dark and brooding men who can manhandle him as well as he can manhandlethem?”
I roll my eyes at her description ofme.
