Page 82 of Oathbreaker

Instead, I smile at him and step into his office, closing the door behind me.

His scowl deepens further…then further again when I move across his office and drop into the chair in front of his desk.

Then just look at him.

“I have a meeting in ten minutes,” he mutters.

“No, you don’t,” I tell him. “It could be handled with an email, so I did, and then canceled it.”

He glares at me for a long moment, muscle in his cheek flexing, before turning to his computer screen and jabbing angrily at his keyboard.

I let him stew.

For a little bit anyway.

“We need to talk.”

“You’re the one sitting there staring at me”—a few more jabs at the keyboard—“you need to talk to me then talk already.”

My mouth hitches up.

God, I love this man.

He’s always been there.

Always.

Even when it meant putting himself on the back burner.

I know that if I asked him to drop everything because I need to get home to Frankie or go to a doctor’s appointment or even just to take some time for a mental health break, he would bend over backward to make that happen for me.

So, I need to fix this for him.

And for Colt.

And for me.

I’ve worked hard to build our family, to keep us together through all the trials and tribulations that life brings.

I’m not willing to give that up.

Which means I’m going to heal this breach.

“You’re not going to like what I have to say.”

“No shit,” he mutters, still jabbing.

“Colt needs you,” I say gently and even with that gentleness, Atlas still goes even stiffer, his scowl deepening, his jabbing growing more intense. “He needs me and Frankie and you and Banks and Royal and Dash. He needs his family.”

That gets him.

I know it does.

Because the family we’ve built is important to him too—maybe almost as important as it is to me considering his upbringing.

He finally stops jabbing, though his scowl doesn’t soften. “I don’t even know what to say to him.”

“What do you mean?”