“I know. We just need to stay alive,” she grumbles, looking up at me. “Thank you for being here. I know that you don’t have to, and it means a lot to me. You are...one of a kind, you know that?”
I’m smiling as I lean down and kiss her. “I’m crazy about you, Cara. Can’t be letting anything happen to you when I’ve finally found someone that I like.”
Her eyes soften, but I don’t miss the amusement there either. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual. And it’s nice to hear you say it. Especially when I’m lying here, feeling sorry for myself, and not exactly in my finest form.”
I laugh just as Clover comes out and sits next to us. “We will be okay,” she tells her best friend.
“I’m sorry,” Cara whispers.
“It’s not your fault,” Clover replies, tone hardening. “And don’t you ever think that. I’m sad to see my baby go, but it’s for her own good.”
“Clo, I’m going to Decker’s place.”
“But—”
Cara holds up her hand. “I love you, but I will not bring this on you.”
Felix agrees with the plan, liking the idea of moving Cara around and therefore not being an easy target. Cara packs some things to move in with me for a few days.
“What do we do now?” Clover asks, shifting on her feet, looking like she’s actually excited for some action to happen.
“I’m going to get Cara settled at my house, and I think we need to speak to Atlas about talking to his stepbrother.” I don’t want to put the guy in a bad position, but it’s all we have right now, and having some inside information would be fucking great.
“You know him the best,” Clover prompts.
“I’ll come with you,” Cara suggests, and the two of us head out front, where Atlas is sitting on the mailbox and having a smoke.
He arches his brow when he sees us. “Let me guess, you want me to talk to CJ?”
“Only if you don’t mind,” Cara says, tucking her hair back behind her ear. “We don’t want to put you in an awkward position or anything, so you can say no. We just don’t know how we are going to solve all of this without some bloodshed, so if your stepbrother could help us in any way, that would be great. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, and please tell him we are so sorry for what happened to that boy. We would never want any children to ever be harmed in any sort of way, no matter what was going on.”
Atlas studies Cara, and then nods. “Okay, I’ll speak to him after I’m done here, when Aries comes to swap with me.”
“Thank you, Atlas. We owe you one,” she says, reaching out and touching his arm.
I grit my teeth until she removes her hand.
Atlas brings his eyes to me. “Yes, you do.”
Great, looks like that’s a marker I’m going to be repaying.
But fuck it, I’ll worry about that when the time comes.
Because she is worth it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cara
“I thought you had to go home,” I say to Atlas after he knocks at the door. I’m standing there with my bag about to leave, and he’s dressed differently, in a gray T-shirt instead of black, so he must have gone home and gotten changed.
Decker laughs from next to me. “That’s not Atlas—that’s Aries, his twin brother. Come on in, Aries.”
He steps in, and it’s then that I notice a few slight differences between the two. Aries’s hair is a little lighter, and his eyes are green instead of blue. But aside from that, the two of them look exactly the same. “No one told me Atlas had a twin.”
Aries just looks at me but stays silent, and I share a look with Decker, who simply smirks. “He’s a lot quieter than his brother.”
“I see.”
Decker shows Aries around and gives him a quick briefing while I make some dinner for us all. It feels weird to still do everyday tasks with everything going on, but everyone still has to eat.
When my phone rings with a private number, I answer it warily. “Hello?”
“Cara, it’s me,” Rhett says. “I’m sorry I haven’t called. I tried before I left.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, clasping the phone.
“I’m fine. Arrow sent me away and told me to keep a low profile. I just got a burner phone so I could call you. Are you okay?” he asks.
I hesitate before answering. “I heard about what happened.”
He goes silent. “I fucked up. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Especially a kid.”
The truth is, all is not fair in love and war. There are some things that will never be wins, and civilians, women or children being hurt are one of those things. These are the things that would haunt you every day, the things you can’t escape from when you close your eyes at night.
“I know.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m at Clover’s.”
“Okay, good. I’ll see you when I get back then. Whenever that may be,” he says, and there’s a shuffling noise in the background. “Tell Clo I love her. I love you both.”
“Will do.”
I want to tell him that I love him too, because I do. I’m just not in love with him anymore. I’ll always love him. But I don’t want to give him the wrong idea either, so I just stay silent.
We end the call, and I sit down at the dining table and wonder if I did the right thing by not telling him the truth—that shit has gone to hell—but then he would come right here and probably end up dead. If the MC wanted him to know, they would have told him themselves, so I suppose I need to go along with that. I just don’t like lying to him, and I know he’s going to be angry when he finds out the truth.
I hear Clover talking to Aries and calling him Atlas too, and laugh to myself that it wasn’t just me making that assumption.
After we finish eating, Decker and I get in the car and drive to his house. When we get there, he checks the perimeter while I settle into his bedroom. It’s quieter here, and it’s nice to have a moment to myself. My phone beeps with a message.
Clover: I miss you already, come home.
I smile at her text.
Decker and I spend the rest of the day at home, being lazy, and we even have dinner in bed, talking, planning and organizing for all kinds of different scenarios. I find Decker watching the live security feed on his phone before I take a shower and then hop on the soft white bedsheets to cuddle up next to him. “What a clusterfuck of a day.”