And we’re okay with that.
I watch as he steps forward, his arms going around her waist at the same moment he leans down and nips where her neck and collarbone meet. She arches back into him, her eyes opening as Atlas begins to kiss down the other side of her neck. Steel gray eyes light up with interest and invitation as I walk forward, my steps even and slow as I approach.
My hand is shaking as I reach behind her and wrap my fingers in her curls, wrenching her hair back to bare her neck to my brother and her lover. I see her shirt move as Wylder’s hands slide over her stomach and Atlas finds his way back to her lips, his breath heavy as if he’d rather kiss her again than breathe.
I know the feeling. I would trade her taste over oxygen any day.
But I’m not the same person I was when I wantedto lay her down and make love to her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear as she drew her art on my skin. I’m scared she won’t want to paint in the blood I spill when my mind gets too heavy or my heart races a little too fast.
Atlas pulls away, moving so slowly it looks like it pains him to quit kissing her for even a moment. “You won’t hurt her, Tez.”
Her eyes flash with an unspoken question as I lean in, one hand clenched around the pocketknife I always keep hidden in my pocket. A tether back to myself should I need it.
My lips whisper across hers at the same moment I hear a door slam open followed by the pounding of boots on her wood floors. My knife is pulled out and flicked open before Wylder and Atlas can untangle themselves from Evie, and the flash of bright red hair is the only thing that keeps me from launching my knife across the room.
“We have incoming.” Roman’s eyes are wide as he rounds the corner, the back door slamming shut even though he’s nowhere near it.
“Wade?” Atlas’s voice is tight as he begins to reach into his waistband for his gun.
Roman shakes his head, “Worse.”
“Mom?” The word hits me harder than the sight of Evie’s son rounding the corner, eyes shooting me and Atlas death glares as he walks straight towards his mother.
“Bel, hun, what is it?” Evie reaches down to smooth his hair from his face, strands sticking to his forehead with sweat from playing outside.
He doesn’t let her, though, and shoves her hand away. “Who are they? I saw that one,” Abel points to Roman standing behind him with a sheepish look onhis face, “in the backyard. He says he’s your friend. I didn’t believe him, so I kicked my soccer ball at him.”
Sure enough, when I look over at Roman, I see the red mark forming on the side of his face. Kid got him good.
Evie chokes out a laugh, “It’s okay, Bel, they are my friends. That’s Roman and this is Atlas and Kortez.”
Abel’s eyes linger on Atlas for a moment before swinging over to me. “I thought you died.”
Evie lets out a gasp as she leans down, “Abel, where did you hear that?”
He shrugs, his eyes looking anywhere but at his mother. “You say his name sometimes in your sleep and one time you said he was dead.” He looks up at Atlas, his eyes curious. “She says yours, too.”
I look over to Atlas to see him crouching down, frozen as his son stands right in front of him. Evie looks flustered as she looks between her son and his father. They’re lost, caught in the crosshairs of a ten-year-old boy as the dots connect in his mind. He sees the resemblance. He knows.
The moment I recognize the realization in Abel’s eyes is the same time he swings. Bone crunches and blood spurts as Abel hits his father in his already broken nose. A desperate, angry look comes across his face as his little fists continue to pummel into Atlas.
Atlas doesn’t even flinch. Blood runs down his face from his nose as Abel begins to kick out with his feet as well, his voice broken as he begins to scream. “I hate you! I don’t care if you’re my dad! I hate you; I hate you; I hate you!”
Wylder shoves past me and grabs the boy from behind as he continues to punch and kick and scream, his breath choked from the small sobs coming from his throat. “You left me! You left my mom!”
Atlas stands and faces his son, stumbling as the kid manages to land another kick even while in Wylder’s arms. “I promise I’m never leaving again. I swear it to you, Abel.”
Wylder whispers soothing words in Abel’s ear as he turns around, Evie following after with an apologetic look in her eyes as they go up the stairs, the sound of small sniffles reaching my ears until I hear a door close from the second floor.
“So…” Roman clears his throat as he leaves his spot from the doorway. “Looked like I walked in on something interesting a few minutes ago.”
Atlas huffs out a laugh as he drags his shirt up to wipe at the drying blood. “Interesting is an understatement.”
“She was okay with that? With all three of you…?” Roman lets the question fade off as he motions his hands around in a circle.
“If you mean sharing, then yes, I’d say she was okay with it. I assume Wylder is, too.”
I nod at Atlas’s words, “He didn’t seem too upset to me.”
