Page 48 of Killer Confections (Syndicate Killers #1)

Atlas

Something definitely isn’t right, and Loxley is catching on. I had my suspicions earlier, but Rowan is being far too careless with whatever he’s doing.

Anyone who knows him would understand that nothing is wrong. Rowan is highly capable of handling anything thrown at him. It’s what makes him such a great leader.

Which is why I’m at least ninety percent sure he’s the danger and not the South syndicate…

I need some time to work it all out, and bringing Loxley over to mom’s will supply that distraction she needs while I send Rowan a few nicely worded texts.

Me : If you hurt my wife’s best friend, I’ll skin you alive for harming someone dear to her.

Me : Bro, answer your fucking phone!

Me : I will drag my nuts across your face, so help me, Rowan. You better be talking to Jesus Christ and that’s why you haven’t answered me. If you aren’t, you’re gonna fucking meet him.

I turn my phone off, shoving it back into my pocket with more force than needed as we take the cement driveway up to the tiny yellow house. The wooden posts that hold the foundation are painted a bright white and the flower beds out front are full of colorful, vibrant petals.

It looks like something you would see out of a home goods magazine. Perfect. Pristine. Cute .

But the woman who lives here isn’t. It’s all a fucking illusion.

“Hold up,” I call to my wife— I still can’t believe I get to say that —as she steps onto the front porch.

Loxley turns to me, tilting her head.

I sigh, rubbing a hand across my mouth. I’m not good with words and my family has always been a tough subject. It’s hard to discuss my past. Which is why I never did it.

But as I look at the kind and patient woman before me, I know she would take it all in stride. She did it with my father and never judged me. Not even for a second. In fact, I think I heard her mutter ‘good riddance’ under her breath.

“Look, Short Stack,” I begin, only for her to cut me off.

“Is she like him?” She asks softly.

I blink. “Like who?”

“Your dad.”

My chest pinches, and I rub a hand over it as I nod. “Yeah, but she’s a different kind of monster, baby. She’s manipulative. Whatever she says about me…” I take a deep breath. “It’s going to be true, but she’s using it to hurt me. If you feel differently after visiting her, I understand—”

She closes the distance between us before cupping my cheeks, dragging me down to her, and slamming her lips to mine.

I hold the plate of food out with one hand before circling the other around her waist and tugging her close to me.

Once we’re flush, everything feels right in the world.

The nerves of her meeting my last remaining parental figure dissipate and I realize I’ve been anxious over nothing.

This is Loxley. My reason for breathing.

My everything. She’s far too strong to back out without forming her own opinion, and it was wrong of me to assume she wouldn’t and would just bail.

When she pulls away, she gives me a tender look. “I know you , Atlas. Do you have questionable morals? Yes.”

I nod, agreeing with her as my lips twitch.

“Do I agree with what you do for work? Absolutely not.”

I nod again, my smile spreading .

She squeezes my cheeks harder, bringing me so close our noses almost touch. “No matter what your mom says, as long as you don’t have a secret second wife, I don’t care . None of it matters, because it doesn’t define you .”

My heart melts and I give her another slow burning kiss that leaves her breathless when I pull away. She blinks at me with glossy eyes, her cheeks staining red. “What was that for?”

“For being you,” I shrug. “For accepting every part of me and not making me feel like… like a monster.”

Her eyes turn pained as she tangles a hand in my hair. “You’re not a monster. Whoever made you feel that way has a nasty heart.”

“He really did,” I nod. “Which is why I beheaded him.”

She pats my cheek. “Testing your luck there. Still don’t care to hear about it.”

I chuckle. “Fair enough. Assassin's work isn’t good dinner conversation anyways.”

She elbows me with a smirk. “Let’s give your mom her food and head home so we can call your brother and Addie.”

Right. Fuck, she won’t let that go.

I may need a better distraction while I try to figure out just what my brother is plotting.

We walk up the front porch steps and before my knuckles can touch the door on the first knock, it’s ripped open.

Loxley startles beside me at the tall, lithe woman in the doorway.

Mom’s dark hair is in a high ponytail and her ice-blue eyes are creased in the corners.

Deep frown lines form between her brows and she looks paler than the last time I saw her.

She’s wearing a loose white shirt that flows in the light breeze and her pants are a beige color. She looks every part of the innocent older woman who lives in a cottage.

Deceiving as hell.

A fucking snake in the grass.

I thrust the food out to her. “Hey, Mom. I thought you might want—”

She doesn’t spare me a glance as her sight shifts to my wife and her eyes widen. “Loxley?”

My wife blinks, her eyes flicking to me briefly. “Hi? I don’t think we’ve ever met. Have we?”

Mom waves a hand. “No, we haven’t, but there wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t hear Atlas talking about you.” She leans in, cupping her mouth. “The walls were thin .”

Loxley chuckles uncomfortably, and I roll my eyes. “The walls were heavily insulated, but it never seemed to matter with our abusers watching our every move.”

Mom’s jovial mood quickly dies as her face falls. That mask slips right off at the first jab. She’s getting soft .

“Is that any way to speak to your mother?” She hisses.

“I wouldn’t know,” I shrug. “I never had one.”

She inches forward, pointing an accusing finger at my chest. I’m ready for the screaming match, the cursing and crying, the hatred .

But it never comes.

Because my wife steps in front of me, blocking my mother’s war path with a stare that could freeze hell over. She grabs the food from my hand before thrusting it roughly into my mother’s hands. “We came to bring this. I think that’s enough for tonight.”

Mom’s jaw ticks. “He killed his own father, you know? Sawed his head off while I watched. He’s going to do the same thing to you. Just give it some time.”

I see fucking red.

I gently move Loxley out of the way before stepping in front of her. Peering down into my mother’s bitter and spite-filled eyes, I don’t even give her the satisfaction of being face-to-face with me. She’s so beneath me it’s laughable.

I remember being a kid and terrified to disobey her.

Scared to turn a corner in my own home and accidentally run into her.

My father ruled my nightmares, but she took the days away from me.

I would get random day terrors that would leave me paralyzed with fear until I would come to, shaking and sobbing .

She ruined my childhood.

And she knows it.

A cruel smirk spreads on her thin features. “I hope she calls the cops on you and you rot in a cell for the rest of your life.”

“Speak to my wife again and I’ll skewer you in my front yard for all to see,” I say ominously.

My face must give away just how I feel about her paper-thin threats, because she takes a cautious step back before I grab the door handle.

“If I see you leave this property, I’m tossing your corpse into the same compost bin your husband decomposed in.

” With that, I slam the door shut and turn to Loxley. “Well, that went better than expected.”

She gives me a wilted look, rubbing a hand over my bicep as I wrap an arm around her and direct her onto the path that leads to our house.

“I didn’t even get her name,” she chuckles, resting her head against me.

“Crystal.”

Short Stack purses her lips. “I expected Cruella…”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Is that the woman with all the dogs?”

“No,” she giggles. “She wants the dogs for fur coats.”

My mouth falls open in shock. “When she can go to a fucking Burlington and buy one?”

She shrugs. “It’s something with fashion.”

I’m honestly horrified. Loxley laughs at my pain before suggesting the damn movie for our first movie night.

We’re laughing as I unlock the door, but the sound of my phone ringing cuts through our moment. When I lift it, Rowan’s name flashes across the screen and Loxley gasps.

“Answer it!” She bounces on her toes, holding onto my arm.

I smile at her excitement before answering. “It was the nuts thing, wasn’t it? You didn’t want me to drag them across your pretty boy face. ”

“What?” Loxley chokes.

The line is silent before Rowan’s voice cuts through. He sounds strained— solemn . “I’m coming over. Be there in ten.”

Loxley lets me go, giving me a concerned look as I mumble an okay into the speaker before hanging up.