“Or what? Are you going to remove me by force? Prove the rumors right about how violent you are?”
“You—” Atlas looked about ready to jump at the man. I managed to stop him before he could and wrapped an arm around his middle.
“Is there a problem here?” Clay came up behind the man. His tone left no room for bullshit. Neither did the very imposing wall of bodies his friends made behind him. “I believe the owner of this establishment asked you to leave his private property. Do I need to escort you out?”
The man who’d been speaking the entire time, the boldest one out of the group, looked like he was about to blow from anger. His three companions had been quiet this entire time, their heads all hung and eyes staring at the plate in front of them. “Let’s just go,” one of them whispered.
“Why should we? We have every right to be here. They can’t just kick us out. I’m sure the others agree?—”
His words cut off when he looked around the diner and realized pretty much every single person inside the diner was glaring at them.
“Just leave!” someone from the crowd shouted. That seemed to have opened the floodgates, and others soon joined in, yelling at them to get out.
The three companions were quick to get to their feet and made their escape. The man who’d seemed to have started all this was much slower. He was red in the faceand pointed a shaking finger at the room before landing on me. “You’re going to regret this.”
Before I could say anything, Atlas stepped in front of me. “And you’re never going to eat the best food in town ever again,” he said smugly. “Now get the hell out!”
The man gritted his teeth, but finally followed his friends out of my diner. Applause and cheers followed his walkout.
“Good riddance,” Becca said and dusted her hands. “We should salt the door so no more evil enters. That’s a thing, right? Who cares? I’m doing it anyway.” She scurried off into the kitchen, presumably to find salt.
Mae stood and came to pat me on the shoulder. “We should bring back public shaming more often,” she said with a wink before returning to her seat.
Russell came up next. “Don’t believe a word they said. They’re idiots.”
Then, what seemed like every single person in this room came up to shake my hand or gave me a warm pat on the shoulder while giving me words of reassurance. That they were on my side, that they believed in me and not the rumors, and how much they loved the food here, and please don’t kick them out too—that was said teasingly to Atlas.
People who I thought never liked me or feared me were coming up to give me words of encouragement. They were…accepting me.
Atlas had once told me I’d built a community here atThe Diner. I believed I’d created a place where people could congregate and do their own thing. I didn’t thinkIwas part of it.
But with each person coming up to chat, and our friends by our sides, hyping me up and defending me, I realized that somewhere along the way of building this community, Ihadbecome a part of it too.
Chapter Eighteen
HECTOR
“You’re not mad I banned those guys without asking you first, are you?” Atlas asked later that night.
After kicking the troublemakers out and every single person making sure to speak with me as if showing proof they were on my side, things returned to normal pretty quickly.
It’d been a busy day, and I was exhausted, probably more from the emotional roller coaster of it than the actual physical labor. We’d showered and were now on the couch with the TV playing quietly in the background. Shadow had retreated into my room, preferring his own company. He rarely sat on the couch with us.
“Of course not,” I replied and glanced at Atlas. His entire body was perched on the couch, facing me. “They deserved it.”
“They did. How dare they speak that way about you in front of me? If I ever see them again…”
I laughed at the way Atlas practically puffed up with anger. He peered at me and smiled along. Climbing onto my legs, he rubbed the scar on my temple. He did that more often these days. At first, I thought the scar bothered him. It was ugly and so visible. But now I could sense he liked touching it for comfort. Whether it was for him or me, I didn’t know, but I enjoyed his touch just the same.
“I was surprised by how many people came to my defense, since what the guy said about my past wasn’t all false.”
Atlas flinched. “You heard that? How much did you hear?”
“Enough that I don’t have to imagine what else they said,” I replied.
Atlas let out a hiss of air through his teeth. “What they said about Angelina…I always wondered why she just left like that, but I didn’t want to bring it up.” He paused, then, as if changing his mind, quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s probably a sore spot. Sorry I mentioned it.”
I smiled and pecked him on the lips, just because I could. That ended the almost-panicked look on Atlas, and he smiled too.
