Without waiting for a response, I pushed him outside and shut the door in his face.
He stood there silently for several long moments before snapping, “Check all the windows. And lock this goddamn door.” Then he stormed off, leaving me alone once again.
And with all these conflicting feelings I didn’t know what to do with.
Part of me was irritated that he had the gall to think he could tell me anything at all. I was an adult who’d been handling her shit for a long damn time, and I didn’t need his help.
But another, smaller part of me—the one who hadn’t been able to count on anyone else her whole life—was preening under his protection.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ATLAS
Group text with Mom, Atlas, Xander, Declan, and Lincoln:
5:28 p.m.
Mom:
Atlas, why aren’t you answering your phone? What’s this I hear about you chasing some guy down Main Street with a chainsaw?
Lincoln:
It was for a good cause. His girlfriend was being harassed.
Mom:
GIRLFRIEND?!?! Why is this the first I’m hearing about a girlfriend????
Declan:
I wish I wasn’t hearing about it at all.
Lincoln:
Don’t worry, Mom, you’re not far behind the rest of town. Atlas and his new lady friend made their declaration at the bar on Saturday. Word spread like wildfire.
Mom:
And the chainsaw?
Xander:
What have we told you about not believing everything Mabel says?
Mom:
How do you know it was Mabel?
Xander:
I don’t have to be in town to know that.
Mom:
So Atlas having a girlfriend isn’t true?
Lincoln:
