“Alex, I have to go.” I whispered, hating that I was rushing her. “Just promise you’ll leave town.”
“Okay.” Alex mumbled, finding her voice. “Okay, I promise.”
“We’ll see each other soon, I swear.” I whispered, not wanting to leave the call, yet knowing it was time. “Love you little sis.”
“Love you too big sis.” She sniffled.
I quickly hung up the phone and choked back the emotions trying to surface. If the guys were the ones barging into the restroom, the last thing I was going to do was let them know that there was someone out there who I truly cared about. I didn’t want them to use Alex against me like Malcolm always had.
“God, what is Atlas’ problem?” Chirped a feminine voice entering the bathroom.
“Girl, I don’t know.” Said another woman, “Did you see the girl he was all over at the bar.”
“Of course I did,” she deadpanned, “what about her?”
“Well, for one, she was fucking gorgeous.”
“No. She wasn’t.” The other woman said, cutting her friend off. “She was just some desperate whore. She’ll capture his interest for a few hours, but The Reapers don’t fuck with trash.”
I tried to hold myself back as I paced back and forth in my bathroom stall. I was fuming. How dare she call me trash? She didn’t even know me. My emotions were already at an all-time high after my call with Alex, and these two bitter bitches were about to send me over the edge.
Rage seeped into my bones, and I welcomed him with open arms. It had been years since I’d been in a fight and after my mandated anger management courses; I thought that fighting was beneath me, but suddenly beating both of their asses didn’t sound so bad.
Storming out of the stall with my fist clenched and my body trembling, I stomped towards the two women. The minute I saw who it was, my rage dissipated like it was never there. It was Melanie, the woman I saw with Atlas earlier. She was standing in front of the mirror with a red-headed woman I had never seen before.
“Speaking of garbage,” Melanie said, staring at my reflection in the mirror as she flashed her friend a wicked grin, “look who it is.”
I let her bold insult slide. Melanie had every right to be angry with me. Whether or not she knew it, I’d been flirting with her fiance for the last two years, thinking it was going to lead somewhere. Maybe letting her take it out on me could be my form of penance.
“Listen,” I started, trying to clear the air, “This is all just a big misunderstanding and I-”
“No,” she cut me off, “you don’t get the privilege of speaking to us. You may entertain him at the moment, but you don’t belong in our world and no amount of designer clothing is going to disguise the fact that you are beneath us. If you weren’t, we would already know who you were, so trust me sweety. I’m not threatened.”
Anger swelled within me and it took everything I had not to punch her in her smug, filler-injected face. I turned on my heels and headed for the exit, desperate to escape before my temper got the best of me. She wasn’t worth it, and neither was he.
“Congratulations, by the way.” I bit out, lingering at the door. “You and Atlas really deserve each other.”
“We do, don’t we?” She said, smiling to herself as she applied more pink lip gloss to her overly plumped lips.
I wanted to come back with another dig, but I felt the sincerity in her words. They were perfect for each other and she may be a bitch, but she was right. I didn’t belong in their world.
Chapter 16
Atlas
“Everything good, man?” Tristan asked, his eyes shifting towards the restroom.
Everything was not good. Everything could not be further from fucking good if it tried. I wanted to punch a wall and flip every fucking table in my vicinity. What the hell was this? Some kind of sick joke?
Waring against my instincts to burn the entire place down, I appeased his concern with a nod. He didn’t realize how fucked the entire situation was. None of my brothers did, and I planned on keeping it that way. It wasn’t their fault that my dumbass got attached to a girl I had no business obsessing over. She’d been off limits from the start, but I defied fate and I couldn’t shake the feeling that her being sold to us was my own twisted karmic punishment.
The moment Stevie stepped out of the restroom, every single eye in the building was on her. She was oblivious to the attention, as usual. It was one thing that continued to fascinate me about her. She was striking, absolutely fucking gorgeous, but in the time I’d known her, she never relied on her looks. Never used it as an excuse to be cruel or to get her way.
At the coffee shop, I’d seen a few men crash and burn, trying their best to pick up the sexy barista. She’d always be nice enough and at least pretend to listen as they’d drone on and on, but the minute I’d step through the door, her eyes would light up and she’d quickly excuse herself to greet me.
Maybe I was a selfish asshole, but it made me feel fucking good to know that she was solely focused on me. That I was the man that received her undivided attention and made her eyes light up like that.
I didn’t want to let go of that feeling. Maybe that’s why I kept her from the truth. But my lies had fucked everything up and suddenly I was the poor fuck, swallowing my pride as I watched her make her way towards pretty-boy Joshua. He looked at her body up and down like she was a glass of water and he hadn’t drunk in days. My nostrils flared.The motherfucker better enjoy the view while it lasts because that is the last time he’s ever going to see Stevie.
