Page 7 of Rulebreaker (Gamebreakers #4)
SEVEN
Atlas
I’m like a fucking moth to a flame, unable to stop looking at her, to stop hovering, to stop slowly drifting closer and closer, heedless of the fact that I’m going to be burned to shit.
Then I hear Dash quote that stupid shit from Pride and Prejudice —he’s been obsessed with the book and movie ever since he and Willow got together.
That’s strange enough—and certainly enough for me to give him shit.
But then I hear Briar say she’s going on a date.
My Briar.
With West McGregor no less.
The guy’s had more pussy than should be legal—does she even know what she’s getting into?
But even as I close the distance between me and the girls—without fucking running into a wall or a table or a chair that’s suddenly appeared out of nowhere—Briar lifts her hand, palm out, in my direction .
“Nope. I don’t want to hear it from Dash, and I don’t want to hear it from you, my over-protective boss or not.”
“I could fire you for that insubordination,” I threaten, though it’s half-hearted.
Because Briar knows she’s my other half.
To lose her from the business would be the definition of cutting my nose off to spite my face.
“But you won’t.”
“Want me to investigate him for you?” I ask, not really joking—something Briar knows because she lifts on tiptoe and presses her lips to my cheek. “I can unearth all of his skeletons for you.”
Her mouth hitches up. “Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of dating someone?”
I frown, not getting it.
“You know,” she coaxes. “Taking your time to slowly learn someone, all the little pieces that make them up.”
“It’s a waste of time,” I point out. “If you know about the bad stuff from the beginning then you can save everyone the effort.”
“How romantic,” she says dryly.
“I think Atlas is just trying to be proactive,” Willow says, smiling at me. I can see that she’s trying to be nice—then again, she always is.
When she’s not teasing the rest of us.
Sugary sweet with a side of mischief.
It’s why she’s perfect for Dash.
“In a world of online dating and social media,” she says softly, a shadow crossing her eyes, “it’s not easy to know who the person is you’re seeing without the carefully curated veneer.”
We all pause for a moment, knowing that she’s lived that nightmare firsthand.
Then Briar steps in and breaks the slightly uncomfortable silence.
Because of course she does.
Always looking out for her people.
“One word of assent from me,” Briar says, smile wide and bright “And he’ll have a dossier two inches thick on West.” She snaps her fingers. “Like that.”
Lily frowns and for once, I still, holding my breath, not liking the way she’s studying me.
Like I’m a bug under a microscope.
Or like I’ve disappointed her somehow.
“That’s not right,” she says softly. “You should trust the people you care about.”
Fuck, why does that hit so hard?
“He does,” Briar says, bumping Lily’s shoulder. “You just have to traverse through all the layers first.” She winks. “Consider it your own personal Legends of the Hidden Temple experience.”
Lily laughs, head thrown back. “Leave it to you to find an obscure television reference.”
“Hey,” she says. “That show holds up, Frankie and I were streaming it the other day—” Another smile. “Which mostly ends up being us yelling at the TV screen, telling them to move it as they try and retrieve the idols.”
“Who didn’t want to be on a game show, especially one like that, growing up?” Willow says.
“No fair,” Jade mock grumbles.
“Why?”
“Because you’ve probably done something like that before with all your famous Hollywood movie star nonsense.”
The guilty expression on Willow’s face says enough and we all laugh.
But I do it half-distracted .
Because Lily’s words are bouncing around through my mind, ping-ponging this way and that, and not fading with every pass through my mind, but increasing in volume…
Telling me that, at least some part of me, knows that she’s right.
What kind of sick fuck investigates his friends?
Me, apparently, because I don’t think I have it in me to let anyone close without that background check.
And that feels…
Well, I look at Lily, who’s back to bantering with the girls and Dash, thoroughly dismissing me, I look at Willow who was a shell of herself just months ago.
I look at Royal, who’s gathered Jade close, the words they’re exchanging private and for their ears only…
and yet leaving them both with smiles on their faces.
I think of Banks and Aspen, starting a future, building a family.
And…
I can’t help but think that the fact that I have to control everything in my life—from those background checks to every single business deal that lands on my desk to all the personal and legal and professional problems that come for my friends—and wonder if I’m doing it all wrong.
All because a certain pop star pointed out a different path.
That should have me sprinting the other direction, running from what is certainly going to be messy and not within the careful parameters of my life.
But…I’ve had a taste.
And I don’t think I can let her go.
So when Willow and Briar slip outside to fix our “despicable” balloon arch, Dash trailing after his woman like the lovestruck man he is, I take advantage of Lily being alone and go in for what I hope will be a very pleasurable second course.
Oh, how laughably wrong I am .
“Lily,” I say as she fusses with a flower in the arrangement she’s putting together, twisting it this way and that, placing it in front then shifting it to the back.
She settles it back in the front then turns her head to look at me, those blue eyes so beautiful, I get lost in them for a second.
At least until they fill with mirth.
Because I’m just staring at her. Again.
“Do you want to go out to dinner with me?” I blurt, the words coming out in a rush.
I watch the answer cross her eyes before she says it out loud, but both feel equally bad. “I really had a nice time,” she says, “but I can’t manage a relationship right now with all of my travel.”
“Right,” I say, disappointment twisting through my insides. “No worries. I get it.”
She sees that disappointment and I fucking hate it. “Atlas?—”
I slap some approximation of a smile on my face. “No hard feelings,” I tell her, mind spinning. “I totally understand.”
Then I do what I do best—I plan.
Because there’s no way I’m going to let that dismissal be the end of us.