Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 558(@300wpm)
What the—
I paused the game when I saw what the hell she was wearing.
“You got me fucked up!”
Realizing she’d been caught, Atlas darted for the door.
I threw the Xbox controller down and hopped over the couch to give chase. By the time I reached the door, she was already in the car and gunning it down the driveway.
Atlas was supposed to have left an hour ago, and now I knew why. Her ass had been stalling until I was into my game so she could sneak by me.
Whipping out my nine, I aimed for her front tire, making Atlas scream when I pulled the trigger twice. I was so mad I missed both times, which only pissed me off even more—that and the two bullet holes in my pavement.
“Fuck!” I roared. All I could see was Atlas’s taillights as she raced down the street. “The fuck you looking at?”
I’d caught my neighbor staring at me, and once he noticed the gun in my hand, he hurried his old ass back inside.
It was times like this I wished I’d splurged a little more when I bought my home. Preferably one that didn’t come with neighbors. I just hadn’t seen a need for a big ass house way out in the suburbs when it was just me.
I stormed back inside the house and called Atlas’s phone. Surprisingly, she answered.
“What do you want, you psycho?” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
I rubbed at my brow and sighed. “You know what I want, Atlas. Bring your ass back here.”
“No.” She whimpered. “You tried to kill me.”
“I did not try to kill you, you fucking crybaby. I tried to kill your car. Why would I hurt you when I love you? Just come home to me so we can talk about this.” I didn’t realize what I’d let slip until I heard her tiny gasp. “Fuck,” I mouthed.
This was not how I’d pictured telling her.
It was the first time I’d ever uttered those words to anyone other than my parents. Atlas deserved better than a clumsy slip of the tongue. I wanted to do something big like take her to Paris or buy her a diamond ring. Not…this.
“What did you say?” she whispered.
I paced the floor, feeling my lip curl. “I said come home.”
“Owen…”
“IsaidIloveyou,” I rushed out.
Atlas giggled and then said, “I love you too, Owen.”
Even though I wanted to do cartwheels, I decided to play it cool. “That’s what’s up.”
“I’m still not coming home, though.” The line clicked when she hung up.
I tried calling her back, but she sent me to voicemail all seventeen times before turning off her phone completely.
Two new texts arrived a moment later.
Sissy: I’m in town for a few days…
Sissy: I thought we could hang out again…like the old days.
I sucked my teeth, and after thinking about it for a moment, I decided to block her thirsty ass. Sissy and I had mutual acquaintances, but we’d never been cool like that. Yeah, she was cute—a little nerdy—but cool.
Back in the day, I’d always catch her weird ass staring at me on some fatal attraction shit, so I tried to give her the dick. When she told me she was saving her virginity for love, I backed all the way off and never thought about her again.
After high school, Sissy had left town to go to college up north, and then I heard she’d gotten a teaching job a few hours away, but we didn’t keep in contact.
At least until a few years ago, when I enrolled in night classes at the community college, and Sissy found out—probably from Joren’s gossiping ass. She had reached out with an offer to tutor me, which I took her up on. After I graduated, we’d kept in touch here and there until she went radio silent out of the blue a few months later.
I didn’t really ask questions, but I’d heard from Joren that she’d gotten married.
After blocking Sissy, I pulled up the app for the tracker I’d installed in Atlas’s car before throwing on a shirt and grabbing my keys.
I snatched open the front door and swore when I saw the woman standing there, fist poised ready to knock. I’d been so wrapped up in trying to get hold of Atlas that I hadn’t even heard a car pull up.
I frowned at my late-night visitor, knowing it would not be a good look if Atlas pulled up right now. “The fuck are you doing here?” I asked the woman standing on my porch, looking like her dog died. “Joren isn’t here.”
“Good, because we need to talk,” Jada replied.
She tried to invite herself inside, but I stepped out and pulled the door firmly shut behind me. “I doubt it.”
“You can’t ignore me forever. We need to talk about us. We need to talk about her. There’s something you don’t know, Owen.” Jada paused and inhaled deeply when she realized she had my attention. “Atlas isn’t who you think she is.”