Page 76 of Oblivion
“Oh, come on, Atlas.” I chuckled sadly. “You guys are better off without me.”
“Maybe, maybe we’re not. Zoe refused to stay, Storm kept trashing his room, Indigo disappeared for two weeks, and Creed and I were trying to keep the place running. Then when he saw the body, he immediately knew it wasn’t you. The rest of us were sure it was you, but he knew, Phee. He knew it wasn’t you because he knew you better than the rest of us.”
The laughter of children traveled toward us, Kaiser barked, and I looked toward the window, suddenly suffocating in this big room.
“I tried to stop him. I tried to talk to him, to explain why you left—again, might I add.” He grinned. “But he wouldn’t listen. And let me tell you something,” he murmured. “He keeps saying that he’s doing this because he wants to hurt you, but I know him, Phee. He needs you, and you need him.”
“He doesn’t need me,” I argued. “And I don’t need him.”
“Could have fooled me. Is that why you two had sex last night, keeping the rest of the house awake?”
My face burned, and I avoided looking at him. Fuck, was I that loud?
“That’s not—”
“Whatever you wanna say, keep it for yourself. You guys can keep lying to yourselves, but it's obvious to all of us that it would be better if you just kiss and make up.”
“We can’t, Atlas,” I whispered. “I cheated. I ran, Nikolai almost killed you all because of me, and there’s no way that we could come back from all that.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But maybe you should both remember that communication is key, and you aren’t the only one that fucked up. Are you forgetting that he lied to you, kept you in the dark for months?”
“I’m not.”
“Then hold him accountable. Yeah, what you did was fucked up, but if he truly loved you, if he truly understood you, he should know why you did that.”
“Wow, dude.” I looked at him. “You’re making me look like a saint.”
“We both know you’re not a saint, but you’re not the villain of this story and that’s what he needs to remember as well.” Atlas suddenly stood up, holding his hand out for me. “Come on, let’s go see that dog of yours.”
“What?” I asked, my eyes widening. “I thought—”
“You thought you were a prisoner, didn’t you? Don’t be silly, dude. We all know that this door wouldn’t be able to keep you in, and besides… If he wanted to lock you up, he wouldn’t have placed you in the room next to his.”
I stood up, arching an eyebrow at him. “He did what now?”
“Your rooms are next to each other.” Atlas laughed at my expression. “Come on, I’ll show you around and maybe you can scare some of the guys with your presence.”
“Me?” I pointed at myself. “Scary? Have you looked at you guys?”
“Oh we’re scary, but they all start shaking whenever I mention the infamous Baba Yaga.”
I scowled as soon as the famous nickname rolled off his tongue. “I hate that name. Like, I hate it from the bottom of my soul.”
“Too bad, darling. It fits you.” He strolled toward the door and looked back at me. “Put on some pants. I don’t want Storm to kill any of the guys. God knows that his temper isn’t what it once was.”
“Storm can fuck himself if he wants to. Unless he provides me with proper clothes, I’m going out like this.”
I walked toward him and opened the door, stepping into the hallway.
“You do know you’re wearing his T-shirt, right?”
That motherfucking son of a bitch.
“Would you like me to remove that as well and go naked instead?” I asked him, ignoring the fact that I didn’t have shoes on. “Come on. Kaiser isn’t a patient dog.”
“So, he’s the same as his owner?”
Flipping him the bird, I looked left then right, but there was no exit in sight. “Where the fuck do we go?”
