16. CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 16

Chyler

Atlas and I were inseparable over the last few weeks. When he wasn’t in the office working, and I wasn’t filling in for a shift at the bar, we were together. Last week, he took me to a Twins game, said that his boss had extra tickets, and offered them to him. We managed to end the night in the bathroom of Austin’s Bar—not surprising in the least.

The stall where I ended Brodie still had a broken lock and the tiles were shattered on the wall behind the toilet, clean but shattered. I couldn’t help but smirk, remembering the look on her face as I squeezed out the last breath from her lungs. Dark and morbid, maybe, but I am only here to please one person these days. Atlas.

Another night, we went on an evening river cruise along the Mississippi. It was a beautiful night, and we spent the entire cruise on the top deck, taking in the view. He caged me in against the rail, my back pressed into his chest, and peppered kisses along my neck and behind my ear .

If this was the honeymoon phase of a relationship, I never wanted to leave it. Everything was perfect in our little bubble of life. I didn’t regret dropping my walls for him and letting him in. Telling him about my parents was a giant weight off my shoulders. He held me all day and night as I finally grieved every second of their death. He even took the following day off from work to ensure I was okay. And I was; because of him. For the first time since my fifteenth birthday. I had come to terms with the loss of my parents, and he held me as I finally allowed myself to grieve them.

Atlas and I were sitting at our favorite coffee shop—Caribou, enjoying the cool morning before the weather became a hot and humid mess. I turned my gaze to him and tilted my head in question.

“You know, you’ve never told me about your family.” I had told him about my parent’s accident, and after that, we kind of just fell off the topic of family. I was curious about his.

“There really isn’t too much to tell. My parents live out in Virginia, and my brother passed away about eleven years ago.” He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.

“Passed? How old were you?” I pressed. If he didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t push him further, but I was genuinely curious. I didn’t know he had a brother.

“We were nineteen, and he was my twin. I don’t really talk about him anymore.” My heart squeezed. Losing my parents was devastating, but I couldn’t imagine losing a twin sibling. The bonding between them of over eighteen years together …

“Kaleb wasn’t just my brother and twin; he was my best friend. We did everything together and even chased the same girls if you could believe it.” He chuckled, making light of the conversation.

“Do you think you both would have chased me?” I asked with an amused tone. It was a stupid question to ask, but I was curious about what it would be like to have twins chasing after me simultaneously, especially him and his brother.

“Oh, without a doubt, and he might have won you over me, though. He was a catch. The girls always ran to him first.” He winked and swirled his coffee cup around.

After a few minutes, he blew out a breath and continued.

“When we were seventeen, he got heavy into drugs. My parents and I tried everything to get him help, but he refused at every turn. Nothing we did worked for him, and eventually, he died of a drug overdose at nineteen.” He looked up at me, and his eyes were heavy with the thoughts of his brother. I couldn’t help but get lost in them.

“We can only control so much in our lives.” His voice cracked slightly as he spoke. I could see him holding back his true feelings about the situation. I placed my hand on his and squeezed it.

“I’m so sorry about your brother, Atlas. I wished you could have helped him more.” I said softly, looking deep into the blues, greens, and browns of his beautiful eyes. The pain and regret he felt for his brother was a heavy burden. I could tell he blamed himself for his brother’s actions .

“So do I, Chy… So do I.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. He then cleared his throat to change the subject.

“Your place or mine tonight?” He asked.

“Let’s go to yours this time; we always go to mine, and I think we need a change of scenery—and sheets.” I chuckled into my coffee cup as I pressed it to my lips.

Atlas had to buy me new sheets a few days ago when we got a little too rough and ended up tearing a hole in the middle. I can’t even begin to explain how that happened, but thoughts of it sent my blood heating. Sex with him was incredible. He knew just how I liked it and was never afraid to try something new or different with me. We were the perfect match in that aspect.

“Alright, I’ll meet you there after work.” He stood from his chair and kissed me on the top of my head before taking his leave of me for the day. I let my eyes rove his body as he walked down the street. He was wearing light blue denim jeans and a white t-shirt and styled his hair the usual way, with the front spiked upwards. What I wouldn’t give to run my hands through his hair just one more time this morning.

Pulling me from my incredible view of Atlas’s ass, my phone started ringing, and I looked to see who was calling me.

“Madison,” I answered my phone with an amused tone. She didn’t call me often; she usually sent a text message when she needed something from me. Since this was a phone call, I can only assume it was urgent and work-related .

“Get yourself to the penthouse right now. Charlotte is waiting for us ,” she demanded. Her tone was clipped and rushed as if she assumed I would already be there and that I was late.

Firstly, I had no idea I needed to be at the penthouse today…

“What’s going on?” Secondly, I didn’t appreciate her attitude this morning.

“Michael August just landed at LAX and is on his way to Minneapolis. He is expected to arrive by this afternoon.” Good and bad news there.

We can now make our move and finally get the information on Roman that we’ve been so desperate for after all these months. The bad thing is that I couldn’t see Atlas tonight. I was going to have to cancel on him.

“I’m on my way right now.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it into my bag, standing up and making my way to the penthouse.

I was going to need to figure out what I was going to say to cancel on Atlas tonight—which I really didn’t want to do. I had been thinking about just how much I still kept hidden from him, and I really didn’t want to build our relationship around secrets and lies anymore.

Last night, while he was cooking me dinner, I decided that once this job was done and over, I would quit working for Charlotte. If things between Atlas and I didn’t work out in the end, I could always go back, but I couldn’t continue to be with him, knowing I would have to make up lies and excuses when I was pulled away for work. Not to mention, I just wanted to have the freedom to be in an honest relationship with him.

I entered the hotel and made my way to the elevators, already pulling the black card out of my bag. When the elevator doors opened, I stepped inside and quickly closed the doors, scanning my card and pressing the button for the penthouse. When the doors opened on the top floor, Simon greeted me; he already had a glass of my favorite infused water in his hand.

“Right this way, Miss Tate. Miss Scott and Miss Lochlan are awaiting you in the living room.” He bowed his head, holding out the glass of water to me, and I took it, following him into the sunken living room.

“There she is! Madison was finally able to get you out from under Atlas, I see.” Alexis laughed, stretching her arms out along the back of the couch. She wasn’t wrong; I had chosen to spend time with him over them these past weeks, but I didn’t care. They have had me for years; he’s had me for a little over a month. I poked my tongue out at her and plopped down in the space between Madison and the end of the couch.

“I’m just glad we are almost done with this assignment. Michael took his sweet ass time getting back here.” Madison sighed and leaned back into the cushions.

She looked exhausted. Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun, her under-eye area was a deep purple, and she was still wearing her scrubs. They had spatters of bodily fluids on them from god knows what. I wondered if she had been moved to the night shift at the emergency room again. Scheduling would move her there over the summer when there was a higher demand in that department, and she always hated it.

“Yeah, well. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We still have to get the information out of him and hope that it is accurate.” Alexis always had the glass-half-full attitude, but she wasn’t wrong. If the information we got from Michael proved to be wrong, we were back where we started—with absolutely fucking nothing.

“Can I get you ladies anything more before I leave you?” Simon chimed in with a smile. We all shook our heads, and he gave a single nod before leaving the room.

Right on queue, the black phone in the center of the coffee table began ringing the moment Simon had left, and I leaned forward to press the blinking button.

“Charlotte,” I spoke, confirming that we had answered her.

“Good morning, ladies. I hope you are ready for tonight. We just received confirmation of Michael’s flight landing at seven this evening. He has hired a private black car service, and you will be the ones to pick him up. He will, of course, need to be sedated once you have him in the vehicle—to avoid any problems that might arise. Alexis, how is the new work site coming along?”

One time, we didn’t sedate the target, and he almost flew out of the car on the highway. We never made that mistake again.

“We are completely set up and ready to go at the manufacturing plant. However, Madison and I will not be in the same location as Chyler and Michael. We will be in the office building across the street from hers.” She pulled out her laptop to check on her camera feeds and show us the plant layout.

It looked similar to the warehouse we had used previously, except this building was near a railroad depot instead of the river.

“Great. Chyler, you will be leading the questioning as usual. The key is getting information on Roman’s location, but we also want more information about the drug he has been working on. The client has requested a direct history of it if you can get it out of him. If not, then that question will be left for Roman once we have him detained.”

“Got it. I’ll get what we need out of him.” I ran my hand through my hair and twirled it around my finger. I was starting to get antsy with this knowledge. We were almost there.

“At this point, he is our last chance. If we can’t get what we need from him, this client is done with us. Based on our reputation, they expected us to have Roman in our hands over a month ago. Do. Not. Disappoint me.”

The phone disconnected, and the three of us sat silently for a few minutes, staring at the phone. Madison blew out a long breath and then stood up from the couch.

“Well, I am going to go and get some sleep before tonight. I have a feeling it will be a long one.” She stretched her arms above her head, rolling her wrists, and then dropped them at her sides.

“Are we meeting at your townhouse? Or Alexis, are you picking us up at our own places?” I looked between the two of them. I would prefer to be picked up, but if I had to get myself to Madison’s, then I would do it, of course .

“I’ll pick you up from your apartment, Chyler.” Alexis smiled, “I think we should all get some rest. Madison is right. It will be a long night, and we need to be prepared for anything.”

I nodded my head and got up to follow Madison to the elevators.

Pulling out my phone to check the time, I still needed to figure out what to say to Atlas about canceling our plans tonight. He was going to be just as disappointed as me.