Page 31 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

And in spite of myself, I’m curious. Who killed his father? And why? Was it similar to what happened to mine, where he caught a bullet in the middle of some job that went wrong? Was it more personal? A grudge of some kind? And why did Atlas have to leave? Was he involved somehow?

So many questions, and I want to ask all of them, but I don’t. I don’t give in to the urge. Better to let those mysteries stay mysteries. It’ll just make it easier when this tenuous alliance inevitably ends and I have to go back to thinking of the Princes as only enemies.

If I learn too much now, I might hesitate to pull the trigger later, once things are back to how they used to be.

I can’t risk that. That’s the sort of shit that makes you end up dead.

“So, Nico said that woman you were talking to after the meeting the other day was your ex,” I say, changing the subject to something less vulnerable. “What’s the story there?”

Atlas immediately narrows his eyes at me. “Why do you want to know?”

His defenses are back up, and I realize my mistake. This isn’t really a safer topic than getting into our families and pasts.

I shrug dismissively. “No reason, really. I’m just trying to get a lay of the land now that we’re allies. She’s in your gang, right? I should know more about the other Carnage members if we’re in this together.”

Atlas doesn’t answer for a long moment, just watching me as I dump things in the hot pan and add pasta to the boiling water. Then he nods, even though I can tell he didn’t buy my bullshit excuse.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “She’s my ex. We were together for a couple years.”

“Wow. That’s a while.”

“I guess,” he replies, kicking his legs out and leaning back in his chair.

He doesn’t offer anything else, but I can still feel his gaze on me. There’s something in the air between us, a sort of wary, charged tension, like he’s just waiting for me to say the wrong thing. To give him an excuse to dislike me even more.

“So what happened?” I’m pushing now, and we probably both know it. “It can’t have been all that bad if you still trust her to be in the gang and have your back.”

“She’s still trustworthy,” Atlas says sharply. “It’s not like either of us cheated or anything. I ended it, and that was that.”

It’s the answer to my question, but for some reason, I just can’t leave it alone.

“Why?” I press.

He shrugs, shoving his chair back and getting up from the table to take his bowl to the sink. “I couldn’t see myself with her forever. There wasn’t that spark. That chemistry.”

I think back to how cozy they looked after the meeting.

Zoey was standing very close to him, her hand on his arm, and I saw the way she was smiling up at him.

Everything in her body language screamed interest , so if there was a lack of chemistry between them, maybe it was just on Atlas’s end.

Which would track with what Nico said about how she’s been trying to get him back.

But that’s not my business. I don’t care.

I remind myself firmly that none of the things these men do or have done is about me and mine. The only things that matter are what we do together to end the threat against us.

“I guess that makes sense,” I say. “Chemistry is important.”

“You would know.” Atlas sets his bowl in the sink with a clatter and then turns to me. “Is that what you have with Nico?”

My stomach flutters, my mouth dropping open in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“Chemistry. You and Nico. It sounded like he fucked you to within an inch of your life the other night, so there must be some kind of spark between you two.” He moves closer to me, something burning in his eyes.

“There must be something . Why else would you fuck your enemy like that? Why else would you scream for him the way you did?”

Atlas’s voice is a rough burn, and he takes another step toward me until we’re only inches apart.

He’s tall—taller than me, even if he’s shorter and less bulky than Killian—and he seems to fill the space with his presence.

His clean, citrusy scent fills my nostrils as he stares down at me, and there’s a look in his eyes that I can’t identify.

But it makes something low in me tighten, almost with anticipation.

I lick my lips, and his gaze darts down to follow the motion, lingering before it slides back up to my eyes. I can feel his focus like a physical thing, like a caress over my cheek.

Atlas drops his head, and my pulse jumps. I feel frozen in place as he brings his face close to mine, my throat working as I swallow. His voice is even lower when he speaks again.

“Your vegetables are burning.”

It takes me a second to process his words, and the acrid smell of over-charred veggies hits my nose, bringing me back to my senses.

My muscles jerk as if I’m pulling myself back from falling off a ledge, and I quickly shut the burner off and then move away, putting distance between us. That’s barely enough to calm down the way my heart is pounding, and suddenly, the room feels much too small.

Shoving the pan of burned veggies into the sink, I turn and bolt from the kitchen, heading for the stairs.

Between that strangely charged moment I had with Killian when we were out scouting the drop point, and whatever just happened with Atlas…

I shake my head.

I don’t understand why all three of the men I’ve been forced to live with have this way of throwing me off balance, but it’s getting to be too much.

I stride quickly up the stairs, half lost in my own thoughts, not really paying attention to where I’m going—until I collide with a solid, muscled body.

A small, startled sound spills from my lips as Nico’s hands come up to steady me.

He catches my wrists, his fingers locking around them as his brow furrows.

His blue and green eyes bounce between mine as he studies my face, and I have no idea if he can read any of my emotions in my expression, but his intense scrutiny makes my heart pound even harder.

Our gazes lock, and I’m viscerally aware of the points of connection between us, the feel of his skin against mine burning like fire.

Everything is crashing around in my head, and I’m still riding the unnerving heat and tension from the kitchen, still feeling all jumbled up about it.

My body acts before my brain can think better of it, needing… something .

With a low, strangled noise, I lunge forward, kissing Nico hard.