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Chyler
Stretching out my arms, I reached across the bed to pull Atlas closer to me—but he wasn’t there. When I noticed he wasn’t within reaching distance, I opened my eyes and saw that the spot next to me was completely empty.
The blankets were ruffled, and the pillow had an imprint to show that someone had slept there, but he wasn’t there. I rubbed my hand along his side of the bed, and when there was no lingering warmth to be found, I knew he had left a while ago.
I frowned, a little disappointed that he left my apartment without so much as waking me. Even after I told him that I wanted him last night—that I wanted everything.
Doubt started to settle into my bones, and my heart squeezed in my chest. Did I make a mistake already? Was I that stupid to trust him? Men were always good at saying just the right words to get you to fall for them, taking them all back once they got what they wanted from you. Another reason why I didn’t care to ever let one in. Why I was more than happy to stay single for the rest of my life.
I groaned, dragging myself out of bed and pulling on a white oversized t-shirt. I fixed my hair into a messy bun, securing it with a black satin scrunchie at the top of my head, and quickly went to brush my teeth.
As I padded out of the bathroom, I picked up my phone, popped in my earbuds, and turned up my favorite playlist. I would call or message Atlas later when I had a clear head. At the moment, I knew that anything I said to him would be clouded by my emotions, given that he had left me abruptly without any explanation. I really didn't want to lash out at him like some psycho. Maybe I was overreacting and overthinking it, though. He could have just been called into work and had to leave in a hurry. Sure, that could be it.
Pulling out a frying pan, I started the stove and began melting some butter over low heat. I opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a couple of eggs. Simple scrambled eggs over toast sounded like a good idea for breakfast. I popped two pieces of bread into the toaster across the counter and moved back to the stove with the eggs.
One of my favorite songs from my playlist started playing, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes and surrender to the music, swaying in front of the stove and holding the pan over the burner.
Without warning, a strong arm wrapped around my chest. My eyes flared open, and I dropped the pan, grabbed a knife from the butcher block, and twisted around, holding the blade right up against the intruder’s throat. One slight movement and they would be bleeding out on my kitchen floor. I let out a low snarl, red bleeding across my vision, and my jaw clenched.
At the same time as my movements, a hand tightly gripped the wrist of my hand that was holding the knife, pushing just enough pressure to keep the knife from slicing into their skin. Their reflexes were just as fast as mine. Looking up at their face, I saw blue, green, and brown eyes flare wide at me. Atlas. I blinked back into myself, the red fading from my vision, and I took a deep breath.
“Hey, easy, it’s just me… are you okay?” He looked me over with concern, searching my eyes, the knife still at his throat, but pulled back slightly from where it was. He was more concerned with me than the knife I held against him.
“I—Yes.” I cleared my throat, breaking my eyes away from him. I loosened my grip, and he pulled the knife from my hand gently. “I thought you left already this morning. The bed was cold.” I didn’t want to admit that I checked his spot for warmth when I woke up.
He set the knife on the counter behind me.
“I went to grab us some breakfast; I was hoping to be back before you woke up. You looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to wake you.” He took my chin between his fingers, and my gaze met his once more.
“Hey, look at me. Where did you learn something like that?” His tone was full of curiosity and wonder, but I could never tell him the truth. I tried to think of excuses for what I had just done. A way to skate around the truth and not cause him to become suspicious of me. If only my skills would impress him more than scare him.
Simple, quick reflexes, self-defense classes—assassin training…
I could never reveal what I truly did for work to him because if he knew exactly who or what I was, he might think I was too much for him to handle and walk right back out that door, never giving me a second chance.
I needed to say something, the silence becoming deafening between us.
“Self-defense classes. I took them a long time ago when I moved out of Madison’s townhouse. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to be able to protect myself if I ever needed to.” I breathed out, keeping my tone as even as possible. I almost killed him. Maybe Madison was right about my switch…
If he hadn’t been as quick as he was to grab my wrist, he would have been dead, and I his murderer instead of his lover. Where did he learn to move and block an attack that fast?
Atlas wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, his scent washing over me and wrapping me in a soothing blanket of cedar and spice. He pressed his lips to the top of my head, kissing lightly into my hair.
“You don’t need to protect yourself anymore. You have me, and I’m not going anywhere… Changing the subject, though, I brought you breakfast.” He murmured into my hair, and I turned my head to the bag he had set on the counter.
He released me from his hold and walked over to the counter, opening the bag and pulling out a couple of strawberry and cream croissants, and a pain au chocolate.
My mouth was watering as I eyed the strawberry and cream croissants. He handed one to me, and I took a huge bite, licking the excess cream from the corner of my lips as I moaned in bliss at how delicious it was.
“And I thought I was the only one who could make you moan like that. Should I be worried?” He laughed and took a bite of his own.
I couldn’t help but giggle. Croissants were my weakness. Chocolate, strawberries and cream, plain—I loved them all. They were one of my favorite pastries. If I could bake, I would make them all the time, just for me. It reminded me of my Mom and how she used to bake for me on the weekends. I smiled at the memory of her and looked back up to Atlas.
I popped the last bit of the croissant into my mouth and moved to wrap my arms around his neck, rising up on my toes so my nose touched his. I was on cloud nine, and there was no coming down. I was ready to give in to whatever this was and to just live for it. He broke down all the walls I built up over the years, and I couldn’t care less to rebuild them. He felt like home. It’s a strange thing to admit so soon, but something about him just made me feel whole.
“Only if you don’t bring me these again.” I kissed him lightly on the lips, tasting the sweet cream on them. He was delicious before, but now…
“Deal.” He kissed me back, picking me up by my thighs and setting me on the counter, caging me in with his body and his arms resting on either side of me. I could definitely get used to this. I tangled my fingers in his hair and deepened the kiss, losing myself in him with thoughts of last night. Atlas was everything I had ever dreamed of once upon a time. All of this felt too good to be true.
