Chapter 8
Atlas
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“Five more minutes,”Cambria groans as I shake her shoulder.
She’s passed out on the couch, an empty bottle of rum on the ground beside her while Lucien’s knocked out in the chair and Dorian’s in the middle of the floor. We got her home last night and carried on drinking, just hanging out and watching movies. By the time we all fell asleep, it was only a couple of hours before my alarm went off for work.
“Sorry, princess. It’s my turn for bring your fae to work day, so up and at ‘em.”
She groans again, but peels the blanket off of herself and gets to her feet. “Worst nickname ever.” She stumbles towards the bathroom to take a quick shower and get ready while I finish grabbing the things we’ll need for the day.
By the time she comes out in just a t-shirt and panties, towel drying her hair and searching for her shorts, Lucien is awake and making coffee. He rubs his temple, gearing up for a day at work with a migraine. He frowns at her when she comes into the kitchen, tugging the hem of her shirt down in an effort to preserve her modesty, and I want to smack him for being so stupid.
Cambria gives him an amused look. “Does my underwear offend you, boss?”
He scowls down at her. “Do you have to walk around half naked?”
Grinning, she picks up on his tone and finding joy in his discomfort. “A girl wears less in a swimsuit and I doubt you’d scold her for it, but if it makes you that uncomfortable,” she trails off and shrugs, grabbing her shorts off of the couch where she must’ve shimmied out of them last night to sleep.
She never looks at Lucien to let him see the amusement on her face, instead choosing to bend over and give him a full view of the way her underwear clings to the curves of her ass as she shimmies her hips. Turning in our direction as she buttons them, sheglances up with a teasing smile in Lucien’s direction.
“That better? I’d hate to make my roommate uncomfortable. I forget how funny humans are about their modesty. I’ll try to do better from now on; promise.” She draws a weird symbol over her heart which I assume is the fae version of ‘cross my heart and hope to die’, and bounds over to chug a cup of coffee quickly.
Lucien’s jaw is tight the entire time and if I didn’t think the man was sexually repressed before, I’d be hard pressed to argue against it now. Everything about Cambria screams ‘seductive siren’ and I’m impressed that Lucien has managed to hold onto his delusions for this long.
Throwing an arm around her shoulders, I guide her to the door, calling back over my shoulder just to taunt him. “Don’t worry, Luce. If I’m busy, the guys will take care of her. We’ll see you tonight!”
I only get a brief glimpse of possessive outrage in Lucian’s amber eyes, but it’s enough to let me know we’ve almost pushed him to where he needs to be. Is it cruel to manipulate our friend? Maybe. But we’ve known him for so long that we know him better than he knows himself. Lucien needs us just as much as we rely on him. He keeps us from going too far out of control and we keep him from missing out on life because he can’t see things for what they are.
Though I admit I’m riding a fine line, pushing the familiarity he allows in our relationship. I know better than to become too complacent, because honestly? Lucien scares the shit out of me sometimes. But like it or not, he thinks of Cambria as one of the people he needs to take care of now. He just needs a little push in accepting it and seeing that he’s already there.
I just hope he doesn’t kill me before he realizes how helpful I am.
“So, where do you work?” she yawns, before her eyes light up.
Passing her my spare helmet with a smile at her excitement, she puts it on, adrenaline far more effective than coffee. “Construction. Current project is on the other side of town, so we need to leave early if I want to get there on time.”
I climb onto my bike and she slides on behind me, wrapping her arms tightly around my stomach before clenching her thighs against my hips. “You ever ride before?” I feel her shake her head and walk her through the safety and mechanics, but don’t even finish before Luce is there stuffing her arms through my riding jacket I’d left inside.
“Bad enough she’s wearing shorts on your death trap,” he mumbles, glaring at me once for good measure before stomping over to the cab he had to call, heading to the office.
I grin, overly pleased that he’s coming around as Cambria has a similar amused lilt to her voice. “I see why you were trying to get him laid,” she teases. “Guy’s a little high strung.”
Laughing, I fire up the bike and kick off. “That’s putting it mildly.”
The rest of the ride we don’t bother trying to talk, just enjoy the wind rushing past, the freedom and thrill that comes with riding. Much too soon we’re pulling onto the job site and Cambria loosens her grip, slipping away from me. I mentally slap myself before I can start waxing poetic over the way I miss her sweet scent and arms around me, as well as...fuck, I’m already doing it.
She takes off the helmet and passes it over, sliding an elastic band off of her wrist to tie her hair back in a ponytail. I shove my hair out of my face, a clear reminder I need to get it cut, and run my hand across the stubble on my jaw. I didn’t bother shaving this morning, tired as all get out, and it shows. I just hope I don’t look like a dang hobo at this rate.
We barely make it two steps before I hear some of the guys whistling and shouting in a crass attempt to get her attention. I grimace, regretting bringing her here already. It seemed like a good idea at the time, a way for each of us to get one on one time with her, but a part of me disregarded the way the guys would act until I actually came face to face with it.
