I beamed because after getting together with Atlas, I didn’t think there was a better person for me than him. I knew it was cheesy, but I felt stronger with him by my side. Like we could take on the world as long as we were together.
We could definitely take on a stalker. There was no doubt about that.
Coal soon returned, and with one last, non-man-hug, they were on their way back to the circus. Atlas came out and wrapped himself in my arms, his head resting on my shoulder, as we watched them drive off.
“We should plan when we’ll go visit them,” he commented. I loved how we were always on the same page.
“And our trip to Christmas Falls too. We should visit Aunt Polly soon,” I murmured in reply. Atlas beamed and took my hand as we returned to the diner to start the day.
Becca entered right before our official opening hour, looking a little frazzled. I heard her telling Atlas something about her husband having a last-minute business trip out of town, which had her all out of sorts.
Tuesday mornings used to be slow, but now they were pretty busy, with customers coming in for cravings they couldn’t fulfill yesterday. That had been an unintentional benefit of having Mondays as a rest day. I guess it was kind of like a scarcity tactic. They couldn’t get their diner fix on Monday, so now they were all rushing here on Tuesday.
I was soon too busy in the kitchen to pay much attention to the front, but I had no doubt Atlas and Becca had everything handled. As I flipped burgers on the griddle, it dawned on me just how much my life had changed from even a few months ago.
Having a diner full of happy customers, mostly people from my community whoacceptedme, and even hiring staff outside of misfits like me who didn’t fit in town, those were all things I never would have imagined for myself.
Yet here I was, living all those things. And…struggling, just a bit, to keep up in the kitchen. Maybe it was finally time I listened to Atlas and hired some help?
When things started settling down, Clay came in forlunch with Dan. Between the orders, I saw Atlas pulling Clay to the side to chat. I figured he was telling him about the newest note, and I trusted they had a handle on it.
What I hadn’t expected was the bomb he dropped on me later that night when we slid into bed. Shadow had opted to stay in the bedroom tonight and was curled up in one of his many beds that were scattered around the apartment.
“What did you say?” I asked, mostly from shock. I heard every single one of Atlas’ words. I always did.
“We’re going to lure him out.”
“With you as bait? No. Absolutely not. That’s way too dangerous.”
“You haven’t even heard the full plan yet,” Atlas said, voice full of exasperation.
“Any plan that puts you in danger is a no in my book,” I told himadamantly.
“I’ll be perfectly safe,” he insisted. “You, Clay, Dan, Ryan, Sam, Jones, and Ryker will all have my back. Clay and I already discussed it with them, and they’re all on board.”
“And what exactly is this plan of yours?” I grumbled and sat up in bed. This didn’t feel like a discussion we should be having while lying down. Atlas sat up and placed my hand on his knee.
“We’ll all head to the bar just outside of town. The one with the giant patio that leads into the forest. It’ll look like it’s just friends having a good time. I could slipaway, go into the woods to get some fresh air, maybe, and if the stalker is there, he’ll probably strike then. And if he doesn’t take the bait, then it’ll be a fun night out,” Atlas said with a one-armed shrug.
“Wouldn’t that be too obvious that it’s a trap? I mean, he’d probably get suspicious when you wander off alone when all your friends are there.”
“I think it’ll workbecauseyou guys are there. He’ll probably think I felt confident with my friends around and let my guard down. And he’s probably desperate to make a move soon, now that the entire town knows his face.” He paused and squeezed my hand. “And even if it doesn’t work, even if it’s too obvious, we have totry. We can’t let him continue with his psychological warfare on us. I’m ready to move on with our lives and put this asshole behind us.”
I looked at Atlas. He sounded so confident—and a tiny bit angry—but I knew this couldn’t be easy on him. Knowing this guy was out there, ready to fuck with his mind, must be exhausting.
“Okay, love. We’ll do whatever needs to be done to catch him and put him behind bars. When are we doing this?”
Atlas let out a sly grin. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
HECTOR
Tomorrow came way too soon.
I wanted to close the diner for the day, but Atlas insisted we shouldn’t. It would be too suspicious, for one, and he was again feeling like I would think him a burden. I quickly put a stop to that, but I agreed with him about closing the day we were headed to the bar being too suspicious.
