XIV
Atlas Lucio
“
Fuck no!” I glare at Theo as we all sit in the sitting room.
I’d arrived home half an hour ago just to be told Hazel was asleep upstairs. The others obviously didn’t tell Theo about my plans to keep her away.
She’d be safer.
“Atlas, she’s not any safer being in that apartment alone,” Dawson rolls his eyes.
“She’s better off with us,” Theo shrugs.
“She’s in more danger with us, and you know it,” I point at him whilst holding onto my, almost empty, whiskey glass. I look to Andros to back me up on this but he stays silent, fiddling with his lighter as he watches the conversation apprehensively.
“She’s already in danger. Don’t you think our rivals will have spies everywhere that have already informed them of her connection with us? She’s been to our house, for fuck’s sake,” Theo rants, clenching and unclenching his hands as he speaks.
“She’d be safer if we had someone watching over her whilst we keep her away from us,” I argue, seeming to be one against two. Although Andros’ silence tells me he agrees with the other two.
“Come on, Atlas. We’ve done this before. It can’t be more dangerous to let her in,” Dawson tries, his jaw clenched with tension.
“We’ve never had a relationship with our subs. It’s always been purely sexual,” I glare back.
“But they were in our house. How is it so different with Hazel?” he asks. I tilt my head at him and narrow my eyes.
“Because you all care for her. That’s what is different. The others you could have gotten over in a millisecond, but Hazel will be the one to send you feral as soon as someone comes at her. Which they will.”
The room goes silent at my words as they permeate everyone’s brains. They know I’m right, or else they would be arguing back straight away. I watch as Theo throws back the rest of his drink quickly and Andros stops flicking his lighter. Dawson keeps his glare on me, but I can see a waver in his resolve as he processes the truth.
The truth being that she could tear us apart.
Standing up from my armchair, I clear my throat and walk towards the door. My hand hesitates on the handle before I open it and turn to face them
“She goes in the morning, and you stay away from her. Don’t be seen getting close with her and make any more trouble for us with the fucking Russians.”
My breathing is heavy, and I’m too riled up by the situation as I leave the room and slam the door behind me. On autopilot, I walk into my office and shut the door. Once I’m inside, I pour myself a large glass of alcohol before sipping on it slowly. It burns down my throat, calming my senses each time I take a drink.
The thought of Hazel scares me. Having her in our lives would be dangerous, especially if our rivals were to find out about her. When they find out.
She’s too innocent from our world. I can tell she’s flighty, but she has something about her that has the tell-tale signs of past trauma. Knowing she’s currently asleep in my house because Theo found out she had nightmares only proves my suspicions.
No one has nightmares like that for no good reason.
The more I think about her, the more my anger builds at the thought of someone having hurt her. She needs to be protected, but I don’t think there is a way to do that and have her in our lives.
Instead, the others need to follow my lead in treating her as a normal employee. We can’t draw attention to her in any way that would backfire and put her in the limelight. She will hate us for it, especially since we haven’t exactly been acting impartial to her before now. The others will also hate me for it, but it’s the only way and I am dead set on keeping her safe before anyone else's feelings.
As I down the rest of my drink, my thoughts wander to Dawson’s phone call the other day. He had her in my office, spread and waiting for him as we all listened on the phone, plagued in deep envy.
The sounds she had made for him were addictive. Her moans had me desperately aching to be inside of her. I would have given anything for her to be writhing underneath me as I drove into her, eliciting those cries of ecstasy from her smart mouth.
She’s a siren, destined to draw us in and bring us to our knees.
I stand up from my chair and leave the glass on my desk before exiting the room. The weight of the day rests heavy on my shoulders. I’d spent hours in a negotiation meeting with some of our biggest export clients.
After climbing the stairs, I find myself walking to the guest room, instead of my own. I push the door slightly ajar, letting the soft hallway lighting illuminate the bed inside. Hazel lies curled up on one side, her dark hair splayed across the pillow as she sleeps.
Against my better judgement, I walk into the room and quietly shut the door behind me. She stirs in her sleep but settles after a few seconds, her breathing steady and calm. The whiskey from earlier encourages my movements as I start to strip down to my boxers, before climbing into the bed on the other side.
The bed dips with my weight but doesn’t wake her, so I wrap myself behind her and pull her tight against my chest. She doesn’t flinch, only snuggling further into her pillow as I stroke her hair from her face.
One last night.
My eyelids start to droop as I rest my head on the pillows. The scent of her lavender shampoo drifts into my nostrils, the smell of her so delectable and comforting. Having her pressed against me feels so right, like she was made to be next to me. Her body heat radiates and merges with mine like the perfect entangled mess.
Throwing my leg over hers, I let myself relax until I start to drift asleep.
I’m gone before she wakes up.