Chapter 19
Wylder
If I wasn’t so crazy about Evie, I would be angry at the fact that she left me to deal with the three stooges with only a kiss on the cheek and a quick ‘good luck’ to tide me over until she returned.
Atlas is back on the couch, eyes wide as he stares off into nothing and lips speaking words too low for me to hear from across the room.
My eyes travel to find Kortez and Roman in the kitchen, drinking my fucking beer as they talk. Roman shakes his head and spreads his arms out wide, spilling some of his drink in the process – and for some reason, that’s what tips me over the edge.
I clap my hands together, bringing everyone’s eyes toward me as my mind runs a million miles a minute to come up with some sort of plan. They can’t stay in the house, not with Abel coming home – especially Atlas. Not only that, but I have no idea what Evie’s plan is now that Kortez is alive.
Or…well…now that we know he’s alive.
“Roman, go pack your shit.”
The man in question sputters, spilling more of my beer onto Evie’s hardwood floors. “What? Why?”
I grab a kitchen towel as I walk over, throwing it in Roman’s face just to watch it fall to the ground “Because. You’re all moving into my house – and God help my floors.”
Kortez gives a soft laugh at Roman’s confused expression before giving a pointed look at the puddle of alcohol on the stained wood. I leave Roman and Kortez in the kitchen and walk back into the living room, finding that Atlas hasn’t moved an inch since my announcement.
He doesn’t look up at me until I nudge him with my foot a few times, getting harder with each push. “What the hell is your problem?”
I laugh, shaking my head at the list of things I could give this man – things that somehow always lead back to him.
“My problem is that you’ve finally found the woman you say you’ve been looking for and all you can do is mope on the couch.
” I scoff. “Get the fuck up. You and the others are moving into my house next door.”
Atlas stands, straightening his shoulders as if trying to somehow grow the extra inch to match my height. “Says who?”
I give him a smile; the same smile I used to give my enemies right before I slit their throats. Of course, that was after active duty. “I said so. Evie told me to sort shit out while she goes to pick up her son – you were right here. Are you deaf as well as a dumbass?”
He looks down and shakes his head, chuckling to himself before looking back up at me and showing the darkness growing in his eyes.
There’s the man Evie knows.
He swings, but he gave me too much notice and I’m already ducking down.
My own fist forms and shoots out, hitting him directly in the abdomen and making him double over right into my waiting knee.
The crack of his nose sends precious shivers rolling through me and my body shakes as the rush of adrenaline fills my veins for the second time today.
I’ve gone too long without a proper fight.
I’m too caught up in the high to notice his leg shooting out and hitting my knees, sending me crashing into the ground just long enough for him to climb on top of me. Our bodies roll with reckless abandon; fists fly and fresh blood joins what’s already dried as our fight continues.
Neither one of us can get the upper hand for long. Every time it seems like I have the upper hand, he surprises me with his mafia brat training; and each time his face turns confident, I surprise him with my knowledge of fighting dirty.
At some point, his hands get wrapped around my neck, his eyes nearly black as he begins to squeeze. I reach up and hit him on his already broken nose, laughing maniacally at his pained groan with every hit I land.
Red hair comes into view as Roman begins to pull Atlas off of me and a hard grip under my shoulders lets me know Kortez is working on pulling me away as well.
Atlas is screaming now, unhinged, wordless screams that choke him as the blood from his nose begins to seep into his mouth. Kortez drops my shoulders and runs over, stripping his shirt off and wiping Atlas’s face as gently as he can as Roman tries to calm him down.
“Atlas, you’re here. You’re in Evie’s house.
You’re with Kortez, and me, Roman. That was Wylder you were hitting on, Atlas.
This isn’t that basement. You aren’t trapped there anymore.
” Roman’s muttered reassurances continue as I pick myself up off the ground, lifting my shirt to wipe at the blood beginning to dry on my face.
I look up to see Atlas shaking from his spot on the floor, both Roman and Kortez sitting around him.
So not quite the man Evie knows. He’s broken now.
I leave them in the middle of the living room and go upstairs, stripping my clothes to change into something not covered in blood as well as grab some cleaning supplies. Deciding it’s going to take a little longer than I thought, I dial Evie’s number.
She picks up on the first ring, a smile in her voice that makes me automatically smile in return. “Hey, Wyld. Are things good for us to come home?”
“Why don’t you and Abel spend the day together? I’m sure he’s missed you after spending a few weeks in the woods.”
She gives me a low, knowing laugh. “Sure thing, hun. Please make sure they don’t kill each other. And clean up the…mess.” The blood.
I can’t help the smile that crosses my face as I make my way back down the stairs. “Yes, ma’am.”
“There’s my soldier boy.” Her voice is low and husky, as if she’s whispering to keep Abel from hearing in the back seat. It just makes her words sound even sexier. I love it when she’s in mom mode.
“I aim to please.” My foot hits the last step, and I look up to see three pairs of eyes shooting daggers into me.
Guess having phone sex with the woman they love right in front of them isn’t a good idea?
“I need to go, love. I’ll see you when you get home. You and Abel have fun, you deserve it.”
“Bye, Wylder!” Abel’s scream in the background is drowned by Evie’s laughter as she tells me goodbye, saying they’ll be home later tonight.
When I slide the phone back into my pocket, it’s Atlas that walks up to me, an apology in his eyes. “Listen…I’m sorry about that. I just…this is a lot to process and you kind of triggered something and I…” His voice chokes up with his next words, “I have a son.”
His words are all jumbled together, but I get the gist. He’s confused. He’s hurt. He’s surprised by the fact that he has a son, and it looks like he’s got fucking PTSD.
I understand it all. I just don’t know how Evie wants to proceed with all this.
Atlas was the man she wanted dead for ten years, and now he shows up on her doorstep with an apology and a heart that still beats only for her. He wasn’t the villain she believed him to be at all.
Kortez isn’t dead. Her best friend and her first love. Her first heartbreak. He’s alive and well, staring at me with eyes that I can tell will see more than I ever want them to.
And Roman. The man who was supposed to be just a job. A means to an end. Instead, feelings grew. Did she fuck Roman just to get him out of her system? Did she do it because she wants more?
I admit, if he was just a one-time thing, I’m going to be hurt. A one-time thing with another man means she isn’t taking us seriously. It means she’s sleeping with anyone she wants to fuck out of her system.
On the other hand, if she really cares for him and wants a future with him, too…then this could possibly be the beginning of a relationship none of us bargained for.
She didn’t tell me how to play this.
For two years, she’s let me in on her secret. She told me her plans and how to act in front of others. She told me the short game, the long game, and everything in between.
But this was the one contingency we never planned for.
Now, I’m on my own.
All three of them are watching, waiting on me to say something – anything. So, I say the first thing that comes into my head.
“Congratu-fucking-lations.”
Atlas stares at me opened mouth as I walk past them and to the front door, waving them all along. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be living for the unforeseen future.”
They all follow, Atlas first with Kortez close on his heels with Roman making up the rear to close up Evie’s house. Atlas catches up to me; his eyes scrunched in confusion as he looks over. “What the hell did you mean by that?”
I scoff, shaking my head and simultaneously realizing how much I do not want to have this conversation with him.
I realize I don’t have to, though, when Roman jogs up to us with a smirk on his face and says, “It means he wishes he had a kid with Evie and he’s pissed that even after three years, he hasn’t thought of switching out her birth control yet. Fucker's got a massive breeding kink.”
Kortez joins Roman on his other side, the four of us walking up my front porch steps as Roman’s laughter echoes throughout the whole neighborhood.
“Shut the fuck up. It’s none of your business.”
Roman leans against my doorframe as I unlock the door, “None of my business? You practically invited me to watch and turned on a glowing neon sign that said, ‘breeding in progress’.”
Atlas is stunned to silence as we walk through my entryway, the lights off as I haven’t been home for a while, but Kortez surprises me by speaking up, his low voice murmuring, “Well, if we’re talking about children, I think I would like Evie to have one of mine.”
I spin around to see Roman pinning Kortez against the wall, “No! No, no, no! I already called dibs!”
Atlas walks over and pulls Roman off of Kortez, slapping him in the back of the head. “Idiot. You can’t call dibs.”
“Well…you can’t.” All eyes turn to me as I shrug. “You already have one.”
Roman’s laugher follows us deeper into the house as I show them where everything is. There’s two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but luckily, I have a pull-out couch in my living room from when some of my brothers come to stay or when Viv, Tara, and Deric want to crash after a cookout.
By the time I get back to the kitchen, Kortez is the only one still with me.
Roman went to go get his stuff from Evie’s and Atlas demanded a shower as soon as he saw my double headed nozzles.
“There’s some food in the pantry, but you’ll have to go shopping for more because I took most of everything over to Evie’s. ”
Kortez nods, his eyes scanning every inch of my house and I know he’ll have the whole place searched before he gets a wink of sleep tonight. It’s what I would do.
“Thanks for this. I didn’t believe I would ever see Evie again and…not like this.” He sighs and shakes his head, arms flexing as he squeezes the edge of my counter in his fists.
“Not with a kid and…me, you mean.”
He gives me a soft laugh and nods. “Yeah, something like that. I should’ve known, really.
Evie never did anything halfway. While we were growing up, she scared me every single day because she just…
she didn’t know fear. She just went after what she wanted and hoped for the best after.
” He’s quiet for a moment before continuing. “She had this saying…”
“Anything in life worth doing is at least a little scary.”
He nods at me again. “And if it wasn’t scary, it wasn’t worth doing. I didn’t start living like that until after I lost her…” His eyes find mine in the dim kitchen, tears right at the brim, as if he were holding them back from spilling over. “Does she still live like that?”
“She wouldn’t be alive if she didn’t.”