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Chapter Four

Chelsea

I thought hunting down Atlas might be difficult. Training was done and he might have gone home. Or to…I didn't know where.

Instead, he was waiting for me when I stepped out of the infirmary. Leaning against the wall, arms and ankles crossed. His brown-gold eyes watched me draw closer until I stopped in front of him.

"What did you do?" I asked. I wasn't in the mood to mince words. Not after our date.

He smirked. "What do you think I did?" He looked impressed with himself. Okay, more impressed with himself than usual.

I was about to respond when a couple of the team's staff walked past. I waited until they were gone. "We should take this somewhere else."

He slid me a sly glance. "Whatever you say." He gestured toward a side room.

I was starting to see why Storm wanted to punch him. I was tempted to do it myself. While wanting to tear his clothes off and fuck his brains out. Conflicting thoughts for sure.

I stepped into the storage room and stood to the side as he closed the door behind us. "Well?" I placed my hands on my hips.

"I'm very well," he said, his smug mask not slipping. "And you're very welcome. I assume Doctor Stuart hired you?"

"Yes, he did," I said carefully.

I thought that would piss him off, but if anything, he seemed pleased. Smugly so. "Which brings me back to ‘what did you do’?"

"I think we were at me asking you what you thought you knew." He leaned against the door and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Did you have anything to do with Bruce Fergus' death?" I asked bluntly.

"Define 'anything,'" he said evasively.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Did. You. Kill. Bruce. Fergus?"

"I might have," he said. Still completely unperturbed.

"Why?" I demanded. "Last night you said you didn't want me working here. I got the impression you'd do anything to make sure that didn't happen."

He shrugged one shoulder. "I had a change of heart. I thought about it for a while and realised you were right. You being a stripper in a past life isn't a big deal. It's not a dealbreaker. I want you and I want you here ."

"So why—" I shook my head. "How would killing him have achieved that?" I tried, but none of this was making sense.

"He wasn't going to hire you," Atlas said. "I went to talk to him. To ask what his plans were. He said you didn't have enough experience. Not as a doctor."

"What does that mean?" My heart sank a little.

"It means someone told him what you used to do, and he decided it wasn't in the team's best interest to put you in a position here. I suggested he change his mind. He declined." His eyes flashed with a brief moment of fury.

"So you did… What? I know he wasn't beaten to death." That wouldn't have gone unnoticed by the police.

"I was nice enough to bring him a beer when I dropped by," Atlas said. "We drank while we had a nice chat. When it became obvious he wasn't going to listen to reason, I added something to his."

"You poisoned him," I said. I closed my eyes, trying to get my head around that. "You poisoned him to make sure I got the job here."

"Yep," Atlas said. "And to make sure he didn't share what he knew with anyone else."

"Did he say how he knew?" I asked. My pulse raced faster. Who was out there telling people about my past? And why?

"We didn't quite get to that point," Atlas admitted. "He started feeling unwell and headed off to bed. I went back to my place and stayed there until I got the message from Coach this morning."

"You didn't go to Hazards." After the concert, two fans approached him and invited him to the bar there. After he walked away from me, I'd assumed he followed them there. The idea of him touching those women made me want to slip something into their drinks.

Was this how Jay felt when Frost kissed Atlas? I assumed so.

"I thought about it," he said. "Then I realised something." He pushed himself off the door and stepped closer to me. "It's you I want. Not a quick fuck with some random chicks."

He ran the pad of his thumb down my cheek. Barely touching. Just enough to feel the calluses on his skin.

"What about Jay?" I asked softly. "I know he cares about you."

"I care about him." Atlas' hand dropped to my shoulder. "In a perfect world, I'd be with both of you."

"How does he feel about that?" Better we have this conversation now, rather than destroying his friendship with the scrum-half.

"I dunno." Atlas half-closed his eyes. "We haven't talked about it. It's not an easy thing to talk about, you know? What do I say? 'I know you barely know her, but let's all get involved?' You two might hate each other."

"You're right, it's not easy," I agreed. "It's already difficult with you and Storm always at each other's throats. Throw Jay into that and it's rucking messy."

"It's very rucking messy," Atlas agreed. He lowered his forehead to mine. "But if we want it enough, we'll make it work, right?"

"Exactly," I whispered. "You should talk to Jay before this goes further. Figure things out. I'll talk to the others and make sure they aren't plotting your grisly demise."

He chuckled. "They probably are anyway, knowing those guys."

"I don't think Frost is," I said. "I think he likes you too. And Dallas has been telling them to lay off you, so you might also have a supporter there."

"Frosty and Tex have good taste," Atlas said. "So does Jay. Storm might too, for all I know, but he's too busy with his head up his ass."

"You're tight with Ferris Ramsey too, aren't you?" I asked, trying to keep my tone casual.

Atlas lifted his head and regarded me with curious eyes. "Kinda. He's the only guy on the team who made us feel welcome. Everyone else treats Jay and I like we have the plague."

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "You might have more familiar faces coming soon." I told him about Otis Skinner, and Doctor Stuart's speculation that Dominic King might be the new GM.

"Interesting," Atlas said slowly. "Former Devils might take over here." He seemed to like the idea.

"We're all Smashers here," I scolded lightly.

He smiled. "That's appropriate, because I want to smash you." One hand on my hip, he lowered his mouth to mine, kissing me gently at first before diving in deeper, like he might devour me.

I put my hands on his waist, feeling his firm warmth under the fabric of his T-shirt. I worked my way underneath it, running my palms up and down his sculpted abs and over his flat stomach.

At the same time, my lips and tongue explored his, tasting a hint of coffee in his mouth. I groaned as his other hand wandered up my body, the heel of his hand sliding over my nipple, making it pebble.

He kissed the side of my mouth and trailed kisses down my cheek, to my neck. Lightly, he grazed his teeth over my skin before biting down on my shoulder.

The sudden jolt of delicious pain sent a shiver all the way through my body. I whispered, "Atlas."

"You're so fucking beautiful." He bit me again, this time lower down. "Fucking tasty too. I bet anything your pussy tastes like heaven." He ran the tip of his tongue over where he bit before lowering himself to his knees and pushing my skirt up. He grabbed the front of my panties and tore them, leaving the lacy fabric in shreds.

"When do you start working here?" He looked up at me. "Officially."

"The day after tomorrow," I said breathlessly.

"Good, I'm going to tear your panties off then too, first thing in the morning, so you can walk around all day without them." He grabbed my leg and draped it over his shoulder before diving in deeper, his tongue raking over my already wet pussy.

I moaned, mostly from his expert touch, but partly at the idea of working while commando. The guys would love that, especially Dallas. One less piece of fabric between me and their cocks.

"I was right," Atlas said between licks. "So tasty."

"So good," I whispered. I ran my fingers through his hair, while watching him flick his tongue over and around my clit. He slid a couple of fingers inside me and curled around to start stroking my insides.

"Come for me, Chelsea," he said. "I want to hear how you sound when you come."

I groaned again. "I'm so close. Don't stop." Every time he lapped his tongue over me, he touched my piercing as well as my clit, making them come together and drive me crazy.

He didn't stop. He went on licking and stroking until I shattered into too many pieces to count. My vision went dark, broken only by the flare of fireworks that sounded a lot like the roar of blood. Nothing in any universe existed at that moment but absolute pleasure.

He didn't stop until I came all the way down from my orgasm and slumped against the wall, trying to catch my breath. He circled my insides with his fingers a couple of times before pulling them out and rising to his feet. He pressed them between my lips. "Taste yourself," he whispered. "See how delicious you are."

I opened my mouth and sucked on his fingers, tasting salt and tang. I hummed my appreciation. "So good."

"Very good." He pulled his fingers out and kissed me. "For the record, the sound of you coming is even better than Ice Blue Roses."

"With a smaller audience," I said.

He snorted softly. "This time. When the other guys fuck you, do they do it in front of each other?"

"Yes, they do," I said. "In front of each other and with each other."

"They'll want to watch us?" It seemed more of a statement than a question.

"Watch, participate," I agreed. "They're getting very open with each other. If you and I are involved, they'll want to get open with you too. Is that something you want?"

He only hesitated for a moment before simultaneously nodding and shrugging. "If that's what it means to be with you, then I'm in. I'm not shy, no reason to start now. Although…" He cocked his head.

"What?" I prompted.

"If Storm is going to give a running commentary or critique on my methods, I'm going to knock his block off."

I laughed. "I'm sure he'll be able to contain himself. I think he's going to be too busy taking part to bother criticising your skills. Who knows, you might enjoy each other some day."

A hint of pink crept up Atlas' cheeks. "Is this one of those 'he must like you, because he's being a prick to you,' things?"

"I hadn't thought about that, but it might be." Now I desperately wanted to see Storm and Atlas kiss each other.

"Huh. We'll see, I guess." He smoothed down the side of my skirt. "I want to fuck you, but you're right. I should speak to Jay first. Otherwise, I feel like I'd be cheating. Even though we haven't really talked about…you know, us."

I pushed away the bubble of disappointment. I wanted to feel his cock inside me, but this was about more than sex. Everyone had to be on board with this, or it could blow up in all our faces.