Atlas #3
A small part of me tingles with the hope that his drive to protect me comes from more than just his upbringing. It could, right? After all of this, could he possibly like me as much as I…
I…
“Then we are leaving,” Jeremy demands. “If you cannot make a rational decision where Young Master Atlas is concerned, then there is no other option than to separate you from him.”
“What?!” Julian gasps. “Fuck no! You’re nuts, Dad. I’m not going anywhere, and you can’t make me. I’m grown.”
He takes a step backward, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling my back to his chest. Wide-eyed, I look around the room to see all of the shocked expressions of my family.
“I won’t leave him,” Julian continues. “You’ll have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming. I will not leave.”
“Julian,” my father starts, raising his hands as if to calm a wild animal. “Your father is right. This is a family matter, and your leaving is probably for the best. The demon doesn’t want you here, and it will only become more violent toward everyone involved with you around.”
“No,” Julian whispers, his fingers digging into my hip. “No way.”
“Julian,” Father repeats. “You’re fired.”
“No!” This time, he actually yells the word, and Atticus takes a step toward us, only for our mother to grab his arm and stop him. He’s glaring.
“Let. Him. Go,” Atticus demands.
My eyes connect with my father’s. He gives me a pleading look, one that reads, “Talk to him, son. Tell him to go,” and I hear my heart shatter.
They’re going to make me do it? Cruel. So insanely cruel.
But they aren’t wrong. If and when the incubus returns, it will do much worse to Julian, and I can’t just never sleep again. I have to get him out of this estate. For his own safety.
Still locked in his tight grip, I turn, pressing my chest to Julian’s as I watch him glare at my father.
“Julie?” I whisper, but he doesn’t look down, doesn’t rip his gaze from those who are trying to take me from him. “Julie,” I repeat.
Finally, his eyes slowly dip to mine, and his brow furrows as he waits for my next word.
“You have to go,” I tell him.
“What?” he whispers, his eyes widening as tears gather. “But… but you said you were mine. You said I could protect you.”
“I know,” I placate. “But it’s different now. You don’t work here anymore, and I can’t have you getting hurt anymore. You have to leave.”
I pet his cheek affectionately, feeling his arms falling loose around me.
“No,” he says, soft and sad as he shakes his head. “No. You don’t really want that. Tell me you don’t really want that.” Julian raises his palm to brush the curls from my forehead. “Little bunny… don’t make me leave you.”
It’s said so quietly, so low, that I know no one else could have heard him. But it shatters my entire heart and soul anyway. My own eyes well up with tears, and I rest my cheek against his chest and listen as his heart breaks into a million little pieces.
“I’m going to miss you, Julie,” I murmur. “I’ll never miss anyone as much as I’m going to miss you.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, Jeremy is grabbing Julian by the shoulders, pulling him toward the door.
“What? No! Hey—wait! Atlas, listen, I can help! Please, please let me stay with you!” He’s pleading now, desperate as he struggles against his father.
But Jeremy manhandles his son, pulling him further away as he thrashes.
I can feel the hot tears as they run down my face; Julian’s eyes never leave mine. As Oscar opens the front door, allowing Jeremy to pull Julian through, he continues to beg.
“I’ll have Oscar deliver your things,” Father says over the sound of Julian’s shouts. “I’ll send you an address—there is a little house in town that I own, and you can stay there until you sort everything out.”
Jeremy just nods, his face solemn as he drags Julian away.
The last thing I hear as the heavy wooden door slams shut is Julian’s final cry: “Atty, please. Don’t let them do this.”
Silence engulfs the inside of Chastain Castle. A minute or two later, the sound of tires against gravel sounds from outside, but from within the walls is a deafening quiet that makes my head spin.
Julian is gone. He’s gone.
“Atlas,” my mother calls, approaching me hesitantly. Her gaze is knowing and sad, as if she, too, can feel my devastation. “It’ll be okay.”
“Don’t fret, darling. We’ll find the cure and fix everything,” Father chimes in, smiling from where he’s standing a few feet away.
But I don’t care about that right now. All I care about is the fact that Julian is gone, and that gauze over his eye and his horrible cries are the last I’ll see of him.
“Alright,” I whisper.
I know there is a high probability that I will never escape this incubus; in fact, I knew this even as Julian was still here. The information was just easier to bear with him by my side.
My eyes flick back to the closed front door, my heart aching.
It feels as if a piece of me will remain here forever, shattered and bleeding out on the floor where Julian stood, right at his feet.
Mother was right; I love him. I love him so fucking much that not having him here, even as it’s for the best, might just kill me before this curse ever does.