AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“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.”
