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)
Worse actually.
I was a selfish asshole willing to fuck anything thrown my way, including my best friend’s girl.
And now, twenty years later, karma had finally come for me.
“Assuming the baby you gave away is even Atlas, how do you know she’s mine? You were Joren’s girl.”
“Joren and I were barely having sex around the time I got pregnant.”
“Neither were we.”
“Yes, but I always made him wear a condom. I couldn’t risk it after everything he’d done to me.”
“So did I, Jada.”
“Yes, Owen, but yours broke once, remember?”
“You’re seriously expecting me to give up the only girl I’ve ever loved on a hunch? Who the fuck does that?”
“It’s not a hunch,” Jada snapped back.
Before I could demand that she prove it, she reached into her Birkin bag—a consolation gift from Joren no doubt—and slammed an old, worn photo on the sticky tabletop.
Peering through the darkness of the bar, I sucked in a sharp breath as I stared at the newborn in the photo.
A baby girl, no more than a few weeks old, with star-shaped markings on her face.
No, no, no, no.
My eyes frantically followed the pattern, searching for any indication—however small—that Jada was mistaken.
But when I tracked the stars and discovered the Leo at the end, my heart couldn’t deny it anymore.
It was Atlas.
“Helloooo! Yo, earth to O.”
The sound of my name jerked me out of that darkened bar, pushing Jada’s secret that had rocked my world to the back of my mind.
I looked up from the cold lunch I’d skipped eating earlier to see Roc standing on the other side of the bar in the shop’s waiting room. He was waving his hands in my face to get my attention.
“Hell nah,” I said, knocking them away. “Get those dick-beaters away from me. Hands smell like you been playing with your nuts all day and got the nerve to be waving them around.” My frown deepened as I stared back at my partner. “I should shoot your ass.”
Rather than be offended—not that I gave a damn—Roc gave an audible sigh of relief. “Fuck all of that. I’m just glad to hear you threatening to shoot people again, even if it’s me. You’ve been walking around here like a zombie. I thought I was going to have to call an intervention.”
I said nothing and forced myself to take a bite of my burger. Food had gone from tasting nasty as fuck since Atlas left to nothing at all, but I wasn’t complaining.
My gaze traveled to the bathroom door for the fifth time since she’d disappeared behind it twenty minutes ago.
Apparently, she had been staying with Tuesday of all people and not Ruen, as I’d expected when I tracked her ass down.
The shop had closed half an hour ago, and since Atlas had worked Saturday, today was her alternate Monday, meaning she only worked half the day and was responsible for closing the shop.
I’d purposely taken up a perch at the snack bar so I could watch her. I guess she’d caught on because she’d run for cover shortly after and had been hiding in the bathroom ever since.
Five more minutes and I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t follow her.
“Look, I know things are…weird or whatever between you and Atlas, and I never thought I’d utter these words to you, but I’m worried. It’s been weeks, and you still won’t tell anyone what’s going on or why ya’ll broke up.”
My back stiffened at that. “We didn’t break up,” I snapped.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m positive.” And then I thought about it. “Why?” I demanded. “You saw her with someone? Point me in his fucking direction so I can kill him.”
“Chill,” Roc replied. “I didn’t say all of that. It’s just obvious the two of y’all aren’t on common ground, that’s all.”
I said nothing and polished off my burger before standing and throwing the rest in the trash. My gaze traveled toward the bathroom again.
Roc must have noticed because he mumbled, “This shit is crazy.”
At the edge of my vision, I noticed him storming toward the reception desk. I forced my attention away from the bathroom door when he snatched Atlas’s purse off the top where she’d left it.
The only people left in the shop were the three of us. Golden’s shift had ended hours ago—just in time to collect Halo from school until Roc made it home later. Joren had fucked off as soon as the shop closed, grumbling something about his wife needing him at home.
My stomach turned every time I thought about what Jada had done. And my fucked-up part in it.
“The fuck you doing?” I snapped as I rounded the bar.
“Looking for your balls,” Roc’s dumb ass said as he peered inside her purse. “I think Atlas keeps them in here.”
“Funny. Give me this shit.” I reached to take her purse from him, catching the strap at the time Roc snatched it away. The cheap strap broke in our battle for control, causing Atlas’s bag to fly a few feet away.