Page 33
Story: The Grump Next Door (Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SUTTON
Meeting Atlas’s family hadn’t been nearly as scary as I’d been expecting.
His mom was vibrant, easygoing, and clearly loved each of her sons beyond measure.
She was everything I’d wished a thousand times I’d had in a mom.
Lincoln was the same charming flirt he’d been that first night I met him.
Though now I knew he did it solely to get a rise out of Atlas, and it definitely had.
I’d lost count of how many times Atlas had growled at his brother to knock that shit off .
I hadn’t been sure what to expect with Declan, considering what I knew of Atlas and Lincoln.
But it sure wasn’t the motorcycle-riding tattoo artist covered in ink he turned out to be.
He definitely leaned closer to Atlas’s gruff personality than Lincoln’s laid-back charm, but he wasn’t quite as serious as my fake boyfriend.
And why did that accurate descriptor have my stomach twisting in knots?
Even though it was the truth, it didn’t feel quite right.
I wasn’t sure it was reflective anymore of this arrangement that had begun as make-believe.
After saying good night to Laurel, Atlas and I headed upstairs.
Even though I had spent every night for the past several days in his bed, I didn’t want to be presumptuous, so I headed toward my room.
Before I could make it a step into the guest bedroom, Atlas hooked an arm around my waist and tugged me back into his chest. Without conscious thought, I melted into his warmth, releasing a deep sigh at how right it felt.
He lowered his head until his lips brushed my ear.
“Don’t even think about it, trouble. You sleep with me.”
Then, he dropped his hand from around my waist, swatted my ass, and guided me into his room.
I wasn’t going to complain.
I’d gotten used to having a furnace at my back each night, not to mention the whispered conversations between us that always seemed to come a little easier in the dark.
I’d also gotten used to him fucking me to sleep or waking me up with his mouth on my pussy.
I was truly living the dream.
Atlas hadn’t been lying—barring extenuating circumstances like a migraine from hell, he meant what he’d said.
We hadn’t gone more than twenty-four hours without him inside me, and I definitely didn’t mind.
“Was tonight better or worse than you were expecting?” I asked as I headed into the en suite.
Atlas leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, as he watched me grab my toothbrush from the spot next to his, an unmistakable surge of male satisfaction sweeping across his features.
With my toothbrush in my mouth, I met his gaze in the mirror and raised a brow.
“You gonna answer or just keep watching me like a weirdo?”
The corner of his mouth twitched—a full-blown cackle in Atlas-speak—and he walked to his sink before grabbing his toothbrush.
“Went pretty much how I figured it would. I knew Lincoln would flirt with you to piss me off. I knew Dec would egg him on. And I knew my mom would love you and Laurel.”
“I loved her too.” I rinsed my mouth and set my toothbrush down.
“And your brothers weren’t all bad.”
He grunted in what I took to mean, yes, they fucking were, but I don’t want to argue about it .
“Lincoln did make a good point, though. When he said that you looked like you were going to murder Doug at the bar.”
Atlas spat water into the sink, his hard eyes locked on mine in the mirror.
“I don’t know why that’s such a fucking surprise to everyone. He’s a?—”
“Stalker.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, Atlas, you’ve said this before. Which made me wonder about the fact that Doug just left and you just let him, and that was it. You didn’t dig any more into it?”
“Of fucking course, I dug into it.”
“How?”
“Had my PI look into Pillow Humper.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at him.
“Oh my god, Atlas, that’s such an invasion of privacy.”
“Are you kidding me?” He spun around to face me rather than watching me in the mirror.
“I don’t give a shit about his privacy. He sure as hell didn’t give a shit about yours.”
“Fair point. Well, first of all, did you find anything good?”
“Besides some questionable and, quite frankly, disturbing emails between him and his mom? No,” he grumbled, as if he’d been hoping for something worse just to have an excuse to go after Doug.
“I think he’s an idiot, but ultimately harmless.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“Didn’t stop me from letting him know that if I ever saw him in Starlight Cove again, I was prepared to go to jail.”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head.
“I hope you didn’t threaten him in an email.”
“’Course not. But it wouldn’t have mattered if I did. He wouldn’t dare come after me or what’s mine.”
Those words had come so easily, so naturally, it was almost as if Atlas didn’t even realize he’d said them.
Or what kind of effect they’d have on me.
My stomach flipped as I watched him, this mountain of a man, so casually claiming me as his.
But the real question was if it was all part of the act.
“What was second of all?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“You said first of all when you asked about Pillow Humper.”
“Oh, right. You said you had your PI look into it. You do so much investigating that you have someone on retainer?”
“Not a lot,” he answered gruffly.
“But some.”
“That sounds like there’s a story there.”
In the blink of an eye, Atlas’s entire demeanor shifted.
His body tensed up, the muscle in his jaw ticking.
I’d clearly hit a nerve, though I had no idea why.
“Never mind. That’s a story you don’t want to tell.” I tried to keep my voice light and airy, but I had no idea if I succeeded.
Mostly because it felt like this bubble we’d been in all night—the one where I’d glimpsed what a real relationship with him could look like—was losing air, and I didn’t know how to stop it.
Needing something to do, I gathered the makeup I’d left strewn across the counter and stuffed it back into my bag, avoiding Atlas’s gaze.
“Trouble.”
Still pretending to be oh -so busy, I answered without glancing at him.
“Hmm?”
He stepped up behind me and stilled my hands with his.
Our gazes met in the mirror, and the turmoil reflected in his eyes nearly knocked me off-balance.
“Mitch has been with me since my twenties,” Atlas said.
“I’ve used him for typical pro footballer bullshit. Checking out anybody suspicious. Basic, boring stuff.”
Which absolutely did not explain the haunted look in his eyes.
“That’s not much of a story.”
“No,” he agreed.
“But the reason I started using him in the first place is.”
Trying to bring some levity to the situation, I said, “Is there a baby mama out there you haven’t told me about? Or maybe someone pretending to be a long-lost relative to cash in? Or a?—”
“I hired him to look into my dad.”
Those words landed like a cement block, so much gravity in them I knew they meant more than just what was on the surface.
After spending hours at his mom’s house, I hadn’t seen photos or heard even the mention of a father, so I’d been curious.
I’d been tempted to ask Atlas about it, but Laurel had been in the car, and I figured that was probably something better done with just the two of us.
And considering his reaction, I’d been right.
I turned around, resting my hand on his chest, and looked up at him.
This strong, steady man whom I’d never seen so much as a crack in, but who now looked like he was about to break wide open.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“I want to,” he said, his voice low and rough.
“Okay.” I sat on the counter, hooking my legs around him and pulling him as close as he could get.
“As much or as little as you want.”
He stared down at me, his mouth pressed in a thin line as if he was fortifying his resolve to share.
After taking a deep breath, he said, “I had a wild childhood. Spent my first fourteen years all over the world while my dad and his band toured. When I went into high school, everything changed. Don’t know how or why, but we moved to Starlight Cove. My parents were both from here, and my mom’s always loved it.”
“And your dad?” I asked, sensing he needed the prompting.
Atlas shrugged. “He made it work. Bought the bar. Tried to do the typical dad things he’d never done before. But he still left for weeks at a time. He’d fly to LA to get his fix of the lifestyle he missed. Then, a couple of years after I was drafted, his band went on a reunion tour.”
My stomach twisted, the uncertainty of what came next weighing heavily on me, and I couldn’t help but anticipate the worst. There had been an accident—a plane crash, maybe—or he’d had a heart attack on stage.
Something devastating and permanent that would take him away from his family.
Make it difficult for them to even speak about him.
“He went on the three-month reunion tour across the country,” Atlas said.
“And then he just…never came back.”
I gasped, unable to hide my shock.
Though I wasn’t sure why I was surprised.
I knew better than most just how shitty some parents could be.
But knowing what I did of Atlas and his brothers…
of their mom? I couldn’t imagine someone leaving them behind.
I wanted to tell him exactly that, but I knew the second I interrupted him, he’d stop.
Clam up and put an end to this sharing session.
And I wanted to know all I could about this man I’d grown to care for so deeply…
so unexpectedly.
So, instead, I sat quietly, my hands resting on his hips.
My silent reassurance that I was here for him.
“Three months turned into six months. Then a year…then two. That was when I’d had enough. I hired Mitch to find out what the hell was going on. My dad went no-contact. Just fucking disappeared. We didn’t know if he was dead or alive. My mom was trying to hold it together, but I could see how it was wearing on her. And I wanted to fix it. Instead, I just fucked it up more.”
“No, Atlas,” I said, unable to bite my tongue.
“I’m sure you didn’t make anything worse.”
He huffed out a breath and shook his head.
“I made everything worse. I never told anyone I was looking into him. Figured it would be better that way…just in case.”
“In case you uncovered something too painful…”
“Yeah. But I never thought the just in case contingency would be the PI finding him…along with his new wife and two little girls. He didn’t leave us for his music career. He left us for another family. That whole time, he was in a small town in California, living the life my mom had tried to build for them here. And he was doing it without a care in the world, like he hadn’t left anything or anyone behind.”
Atlas’s words slammed into me, each one piercing my heart and leaving me stunned.
My god, not only had his dad abandoned him—abandoned them —but he’d made Atlas feel like their whole family was unworthy.
Like he and his brothers and their mom weren’t good enough.
Wrapping my hand around his neck, I pulled him down until our foreheads rested together.
He closed his eyes on a heavy exhale, the weight of the world in that deep sigh.
I didn’t know how to help.
Didn’t know what to say to comfort him.
So, instead of struggling with the words that wouldn’t come, I pressed my lips against his, reminding him that I was here with him now.
Thanking him without words for sharing something so deeply personal with me.
For trusting me enough to do so.
Of course, the soft, sweet kiss I’d intended didn’t last long.
Atlas tightened his grip on my hips, holding me to him as if he were afraid I’d disappear without the anchor of his touch.
But that was fine with me, because I couldn’t get close enough.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, locking my ankles at the base of his spine, and held him as tightly as I dared.
Even though our bodies were pressed together, his tongue brushing against mine in an all-consuming kiss, I still wanted— needed —him closer.
Wanted to feel every inch of his skin against mine.
Wanted him inside me, as close as two people could possibly get.
As if Atlas read my mind, he cupped my ass and lifted me off the counter before carrying me to his bed.
We didn’t speak as he shed his clothes before ridding me of mine.
Not a word whispered as he kissed me all over, getting me ready with his fingers and his tongue.
And only a soft moan from me and an answering groan from him when he finally slid inside.
He hooked my legs over his hips, his hands everywhere, his mouth never leaving mine.
Over and over, he sank into me in slow, deep thrusts.
As if we had all the time in the world.
As if he never wanted this to end.
I wasn’t so sure I wanted it to either.
I would have gladly stayed forever in this cocoon with him, his body rocking into mine, our lips pressed together as we breathed the same air.
But the crash was inevitable.
It always was with Atlas.
I was just grateful that, this time, when I came apart in his arms, pulling him with me, he slanted his mouth over mine.
His kiss capturing the three words I’d been so tempted to speak aloud.
Words I knew I couldn’t say.
Not when I didn’t know if this was real or if we’d both gotten too good at make-believe.
Finding out the latter would crush me.
I just didn’t know which would hurt worse—hearing him confirm what I feared…
that this was all pretend.
Or realizing I was the only one who’d stopped pretending.
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