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“Are you okay?” he asks, concern lacing his voice and the corner of my mouth turns up. I look up at him briefly before dropping my eyes.
“I guess I wanted to say sorry,” I start, looking up enough to see his look of bafflement. “What I did last night…” I trail off slightly with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have tried to trick you at all, and I’m sorry I asked. It wasn’t fair of me, and I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
He watches me closely, studying my face. My face heats up at his scrutiny and I find myself looking down, unable to keep his gaze. His hand comes up to gently tilt my chin up to look at him.
“I don’t like it when you look away. I don’t want you to be afraid of me,” he says with a frown. I can’t help but let the corner of my mouth turn up.
“I’m not,” I admit, a bit surprised to find it's true.
I may judge him for his actions, but I know he wouldn’t hurt me. And after the past weeks, the feeling of safety, of security, is something I cherish.
“But…”
“But what?”
I bite my lip, not wanting to piss him off more, but unable to let it go either.
“But I can’t get the other girls out of my head,” I finally say, my speech rapid. “I know you won’t, I mean, can’t do anything, but…” I trail off, and am once again surprised when Atlas takes my hand and leads me over to sit at the small loveseat along one wall.
“What do you know about the Iron Elite?”
Taken aback by the question, I stammer, “Umm, not much.”
“They are a brotherhood,” he interrupts. “A group of men from all over the world. And it’s been around for years. Decades.”
I frown, unsure why he’s telling me this.
“When I was finishing high school, my parents died in a car accident. It was bad. And since I was so close to turning eighteen, I ran instead of going into foster care. Did well enough. I was young and strong, so I was able to find bits of cash work. It was summer so I slept outside mostly, went to old friends’ houses to shower, or wash my clothes on the weekends when their parents wouldn’t think anything of me staying over. I was doing okay, but it got worse as time went on.”
“How much worse?”
“Well, I got into trouble as kids tend to do when left to their own devices. One night, I was in this crappy bar and got into a bit of a fight. That was the night I met Jason, Jay to you. He was only a few years older than me in his twenties, but he took me under his wing.” He smiles at the memory. “I was big even as a kid, and I started fighting in real underground matches. Jason helped me out, taught me some things and introduced me to some people. Not all good people, I might add.”
He shifts and raises his eyebrows in a way that his scar stretches further.
“Met some of the wrong people and…shit happened. Anyway, long story short,” he points at the side of his face. “If not for Jason, I would have died that night. Learned a lot about who to trust.”
I turn my head a bit and watch him, trying to figure out why he’s telling me all this. His eyes are far off, looking ahead, as he continues.
“I spent a long time avoiding people, organizations and gangs and the like, that could put me in those situations again. It took me a lot of years of fighting and saving, but I bought this place about twelve years ago, just after I turned thirty. Managed to run it myself, keep the riff raff away for the most part. I’ve toed the line of black and grey for a long time, but shit happened a few months ago, and I found the Iron Elite knocking on my door.”
He finally turns back to me.
“When people like that come around, it’s almost impossible to say no. I managed for a while, but then Jason called me and told me he was worried about a friend.”
My eyes widen a touch when I realize that he’s talking about me. The corner of his mouth turns up.
“I owe Jason everything, so when he said you might need help, I looked into it. Didn’t take me long to figure out you had been taken from here. Why were you here that night anyway?”
I flush. “I had an audition, read the address wrong.”
He nods as though that explains everything.
“When we figured it all out, there was only one way for me to get to you.”
“Join the Iron Elite,” I finish for him, a bit more understanding falling into place. I hesitate, but he did say to ask him anything. “And that night…”
His face darkens, and he looks away. When he speaks again, his voice is low.
