Page 18 of Moist!
chapter seven
A strong arm wraps around my waist and hauls me upward.
My scream is muffled by the water suddenly rushing around me.
I'm dumped on the ground and I gasp at the sudden cold. My wet clothes weigh me down, though I didn’t feel them while in the pool.
Fortunately, I didn't get any water in my lungs.
Unfortunately, Atlas towers over me with a furious expression stamped on his face.
“What the fuck were you thinking? Why do you always do this?” Atlas bellows as he paces back and forth. “It's like you run straight into danger. Every fucking time we find you, somehow you fuck it up.”
“Sorry,” I rasp, my throat tightening. I close my eyes to hide the tears, yet they spill down my cheeks anyway. Images of the women slip past my lids, which only makes things worse.
“Sorry? Sorry doesn't keep you safe. Sorry doesn't stop this once and for all. Sorry doesn't fix this.”
My chin wobbles as I inhale softly. “I don't know what you're talking about.”
I wish I could scream at him, fight back. If I could just stop crying, I could demand answers. If he put half his energy into finding a way out for me as he did at scolding me, I would have been home hours ago.
Home. The word doesn't register with me anymore.
Not in the way it usually does. I don't know if I've truly felt at home anywhere since I was a small child.
Before I knew what it was to be an outsider.
Even in my apartment, I felt like I was merely occupying space.
I didn't hang pictures and half my things are still in boxes three years after I moved in.
Here, though, I slid right into place. A familiarity I don't quite understand tinges everything.
“You threw yourself into the pool. What could you have hoped to accomplish by doing something so reckless? So foolish? You never fucking learn.” Atlas spears his hands through his black hair, somehow navigating around the horns with ease.
He must do it often enough. A low growl leaves him as his gaze bores into me, frustration and something else I can't name illuminating his dark eyes.
“Atlas, that's enough,” Saxon snarls. “You'd think you'd learn your lesson after so many lifetimes.”
Saxon steps from the shadows and makes his way toward me. I don't know whether his last statement was for me or Atlas. I suppose it doesn't matter since Atlas already cussed me out.
Atlas rounds on Saxon as he passes. “She?—”
“I know, brother. I know. Go help Ronan. He's making lunch.” Saxon gives him a light shove toward the exit. Atlas looks at me one last time, then stomps away.
I tense when Saxon crouches in front of me. I'm drained—emotionally, physically, mentally. A nap would be amazing, except I'm pretty sure I'll dream about the women in those pictures. I'll imagine their lives, their journeys through the world, their falling in love. Their deaths will haunt me.
Saxon's fingers brush mine and he sighs. “Let's get you cleaned up, huh?”
He helps me to my feet and slides his arm around my waist. I try to pull away, yet he tugs me closer.
I should walk on my own. Instead, I lean into his heat.
I don't understand how he can be made of stone, yet be so warm.
When I found Atlas, he was cold to the touch.
Maybe it's only when they're hard. The thought has a nervous giggle working its way up my throat.
“You're getting wet,” I murmur.
“I could make a dirty joke here, but I doubt you're in the right headspace for that.”
He leads me into his alcove and pulls out a pair of women's jeans and a shirt from a chest in the corner.
My lips press together, not wanting to ask where they came from.
I'm sure they've got trunks full of clothes from all the women they've loved in the past. I wonder if they ink the mark into her wrist. Do they wait until she requests it?
Do they explain to her there are dozens of others who've carried their mark before her? Do they tell her about the deaths?
“Change and then we'll talk. I'm sure you have questions.”
He leaves before I can respond. Not that I have anything to say. As soon as I open my mouth, I'm liable to start screaming. Pain, regret, guilt—it all builds within me, cutting off my air. I don't want to know anything more. I want to go home.
Except I still don't know where that is. I doubt I'll find one in this lifetime.