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Atlas ucio
“ I’m getting on the flight now,” I say with my phone pressed to my ear.
“Tell me why we can’t come again?” Theo asks, his temper short, as usual.
“We need someone there to check the weapons shipment from the Irish and it would draw attention if all of us got on a flight to New York without any warning,” I sigh, having had this conversation at least ten times with all of them.
They’re all eager to see Hazel and have argued each time about it being unfair that I am the only one to go. I can see their point, but at least, for me, it looks like I’m going to meet with Cormac. It’s a meeting we have had scheduled for months now, so flying to New York doesn’t seem out of the ordinary.
“You could have at least brought your right-hand man with you,” Theo grumbles as I climb the steps up to the plane cabin.
“You ordered the weapons. You’re the one that needs to check it’s right,” I respond as I sit down in one of the armchairs. The air hostess immediately comes over with a whiskey and sets it down on the table in front of me, whilst bending over exaggeratedly to show off her low-cut blouse.
I barely look at her, though, not interested in her feeble attempts to seduce me.
Especially not when I’m on my way to see my girl.
I wave her away with my hand and tune into the end of Theo’s rant.
“ook, Theo,” I cut him off before he gets a second wind, “Give me a day in New York and I’ll let you know what happens, okay?”
“Fine, but I will rally a plane if I don’t hear from you within twenty-four hours,” he agrees and ends the call abruptly.
Sighing, I sit back in my seat and wait for the jet to take off. My heart beats rapidly in my chest at the thought of seeing Hazel again after weeks of being separated, especially since I know she won’t be happy to see me.
It’ll take a lot of grovelling to bring her back to us, but there is nothing more important to me than her.
After the gruelling nine-hour flight, I head straight to the apartment Hazel is in. Nerves wrack me as I raise my hand to knock on the door. I wait for her to answer, having already texted Sean not to.
As it slowly opens, my heart stops as I lay eyes on my girl again. She looks healthy, with her hair in perfect, ebony curls over her shoulders. Despite wearing only, a grey hoodie and black leggings, my breath is taken away by her pure beauty.
“Nope, not doing this,” she scowls and tries to shut the door. I get there first and put my foot in the doorway to stop it from closing.
“Principessa,” I plead breathlessly, my face contorting with pain at being rejected by her. She says nothing in response so I try again.
“Babygirl, I need to talk to you.”
I let the pain and urgency show in my voice but she tries to shut the door again, despite me not moving my foot.
“I will break this door down, Principessa. Don’t try me,” I raise my eyebrow at the small gap in the doorframe.
“Fine,” she relents and moves away from the door, allowing me to open it fully and walk inside. I shut it behind me and face her. She’s glaring at me with her arms crossed and I open my mouth to say something but immediately stop when I see Sabrina hurtling towards me.
“We don’t want whatever you’re selling,” Sabrina tries to push me away but I don’t budge, raising my eyes over her head at Sean. He smirks and shakes his head.
“This is Atlas, Sabrina,” Hazel says, her tone dripping with disdain as she says my name. Realisation dawns on Sabrina’s face and she takes her hands off me as though I scalded her.
“So, you’re Atlas. Interesting,” she purses her lips as she looks me up and down, matching Hazel in crossing her arms, “I expected more.”
Hazel cracks a smile at her friend’s words, but it soon dissolves back to a scowl when she meets my eyes.
“So, you think you can just turn up when you want to see her, huh? That’s not how relationships work, in case you weren’t aware. In fact, I was right in my previous statement that we don’t want whatever you’re selling. We don’t accept bullshit as a form of payment, sorry,” Sabrina narrows her eyes at me. Hazel watches idly as she lets her friend lay into me, seeming content with the situation.
I look over to Sean and tilt my head towards Sabrina. He sighs but stands from the barstool he was sitting on and walks over to her.
“Don’t even try to manhandle me, Seanie boy,” Sabrina raises her finger at him as she turns to glare at him.
“Back to you,” she faces me again, “My girl has been through hell in her life, in case you weren’t aware. You four are making it worse-” her words turn into a squeal as Sean picks her up by her waist and throws her over his shoulder before striding away. She pounds on his back, cursing him before calling out in defeat, “I hate men!”
With the sound of the door crashing shut as they leave the room, the open plan kitchen surrounds in a tense silence.
“What do you want, Atlas?” Hazel asks after a few moments of neither of us speaking. Her voice is resigned and quieter than usual, and it hurts me to realise how much I’ve hurt her .
“I couldn’t stay away from you, Principessa. I was wrong to send you here alone,” I rub a hand over my face in frustration at my own past decisions.
“It’s too late for that,” she shrugs and walks over to the large, corner sofa. She sits in the middle of it and when I don’t make a move to follow her, she nods to the armchair opposite.
“Just tell me what I can do to make it up to you,” I say as I sit down, “I just want you to feel safe.”
“I felt safe with you four. You were the one to decide I wasn’t and send me away to another continent,” she points out, her body language still defensive and closed off.
“I thought you would be safer if you weren’t with us. We are all a beacon for destruction,” I confess, trying to be honest with her.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it, Atlas. How would being stashed in an apartment with Sean and Sabrina be safer than with the four highest members of the Italian Mafia?” she quirks her eyebrow at me in derision.
“I thought-” I start to say but am cut off by her as she stands up.
“Exactly, you thought. You never gave me any say. You took my autonomy from me and sent me away, like I was nothing more than a burden to you all. I haven’t even been told the true threat of what’s going on. So, unless the four of you can have an honest conversation about the danger I’m in and tell me everything, we’re done here.”
She walks out of the room without a second look, leaving me reeling as I watch her go.
Shit.
Pulling out my phone, I immediately text the others with a plan to get her to trust us again.