Page 32 of Oblivion
They obeyed almost immediately, eyeing me then the guys as they passed next to us. Zoe squeezed my shoulder as she passed, making me wince as she touched the wound that was still healing.
Standing up, I walked slowly toward the window opposite to where I was sitting and looked out at the backyard that came with this house.
I could already see us doing barbeques there, with all the families connected with the Club and all the kids running around. hated that my mind immediately went to Ophelia, knowing that she would’ve loved that shit.
“Talk,” I barked at Atlas, not bothering to turn around. My hand absentmindedly rubbed at the Band-Aid the doctor left on my arm where the IV line was attached previously. The bruising on my skin had me wincing every single time I looked at it.
Waking up more than a month later fucked with my mind. So many things had happened, and this helplessness coursing through my body didn’t help to calm down my racing mind.
“Ophelia told me—”
“I don’t wanna hear her name, Atlas. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to know anything about her.”
“This isn’t about her,” he bit back. “This is about us and the fuckery that was happening right in front of our eyes. You can hate her as much as you want to.” He looked at Indigo then. “Both of you. But while the rest of us sat on our asses, waiting for you to wake up, she actually did something. She went out every single day, looking for answers. She fought, she clawed, and she got them. So you can either listen to me, or I’m out of here, Prez. I don’t give a flying fuck.”
“Atlas—” Indigo started, but Atlas cut him off.
“No! He’s hurt, I get it, but there are bigger things at play here. We can either sit around and hold each other’s hands while we all mend our broken hearts, or we can actually do something.”
Slowly turning around, I narrowed my eyes at Atlas. His hair was in disarray, his eyes wild and cautious, and I couldn’t blame him for tearing into me like this. This wasn’t me. This weak, hurt, fragile person, wasn’t me.
“Here,” he started, removing his cut.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Indigo asked, stepping closer to him.
“If you don’t want to move your ass, then I am going to go with her.” My anger flared. “She’s the only one actually doing something around here.”
“Atlas!” Indigo bellowed, but I cut him off.
“No, let him be. Let him go if this is what he wants.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Atlas asked. “After all these years, you’re just going to stand there, breaking your own promises?”
I said nothing.
“Do you know why she called?” I honestly couldn’t give a fuck, but a part of me wanted to know. “She called to tell me that Nova was a mole, planted by The Syndicate, most probably to get to you.”
That got my attention.
“Do you know why she left?” Atlas came closer to me with Indigo hot on his heels. “Because she’s protecting you. But you can’t see further than your own pride, no matter what. So what if she left? So what if your heart is broken? We both know that this isn’t even about your heart or the fact that she hurt you, but about your bruised ego. And the only reason why you would go after her is to show her what a man you are,” Atlas mocked, irritating me even more.
“I’m glad she left,” Atlas mumbled. “I’m glad, because you were suffocating her just like all the others were. You claimed you wanted to set her free, but setting her free only if she played by your rules wasn’t freedom at all. A cage is a cage, Storm, no matter what color the walls are.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, taking a step toward him. “I never wanted her caged.”
“Then why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Atlas asked, coming face-to-face with me. We were the same height, he and I, but I was much bigger than he was. I knew he didn’t want to fight me and I didn’t want to fight him, but he was going way over line. I also knew that in my current state, I wouldn’t be able to do jack shit if Atlas tried to attack me. “You haven’t seen her as I did, crying and begging you to come back. Apologizing over and over and over again for something she didn’t cause at all. You should’ve told her everything when you had the chance, and now it's too late.”
“You need to shut your mouth, Atlas,” I seethed.
“Okay, okay.” Indigo came between us, separating us to the two opposite sides of the room. “That’s enough. Both of you. Ophelia isn’t our main concern right now.” Indigo looked at me. “Nova is.”
“Ophelia mentioned that it would be better to keep her around for now and to just monitor her,” Atlas said.
“And since when do you take orders from Ophelia?” I blasted.
“Since she makes better plans than you do, Prez.” Atlas grinned. “She at least has a plan right now. I don’t see us doing anything but sitting around. What’s next? Afternoon tea? Should I go and dress in my khakis and a button-down shirt and change my name to Edward?”
“That’s enough!” Indigo roared. “Atlas, you’ve made your point, now stop it. You can’t expect him to just jump up and start running around. The man just came out of the hospital for fuck’s sake!”
