They’d known this day would come eventually. Luke had been dropping hints. Atlas couldn’t blame him. If it’d been him with a baby on the way, he was sure he’d see things from a whole new perspective.
Fox spoke first. “So you’re quitting?”
“I need to be around more for Ophelia.” He winced at Fox’s look of betrayal. “I can’t expect her to run a big company and raise kids while I . . . play around.”
“Playing?” Fox spat. “That’s what this is to you?”
“You know what I mean.”
“So you’re gonna play Daddy Daycare instead?” Fox chuckled humorlessly.
Luke glared at him. “It’s not daycare when it’s your own kids, idiot.”
Addison wrapped her arms around Fox’s neck, probably trying to distract him. “Let’s just . . . take this all in and talk about it again later, okay? Getting offended and fighting isn’t going to solve anything.”
Fox huffed and looked away.
“I respect your decision,” Atlas told Luke. “I’d do the same thing in your position.”
His cousin smiled slightly. “Thanks.”
Fox stood up, nearly dumping Addison on the floor. “Great. Everyone is fucking over the family business.” He threw a hand out toward Luke—“This one’s leaving”—then gestured at Atlas—“and this one is fucking a cop. I guess I’m the only one who cares about how we were raised.”
He stormed out, and Addison smiled apologetically. “He’ll be fine once he calms down. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him.”
Atlas nodded and Luke sighed and excused himself to go home to Ophelia.
***
Atlas wasted a few hours watching mindless television alone in the living room, mulling over the mess with Luke and Fox. His brother was going to have to get used to the idea that he wasn’t the boss anymore, and that Luke’s priorities had changed. Had he really expected that life would stay the same forever? They weren’t kids anymore, and just because their fathers had stolen cars until retirement didn’t mean they had to follow suit.
He’d always sort of envied people who didn’t have to worry about prison, and he fantasized about being the kind of person who didn’t have to keep so many secrets. Maybe having spent time in the kids’ version of prison had given him more of a healthy respect for the adult version than Fox could understand. Fox had never experienced what could happen to a small twelve-year-old boy when the guards weren’t looking, or when one guard took a special interest. He never wanted to be vulnerable like that again.
Fox finally emerged from his basement bedroom with a tousled Addison in tow. It appeared as if Fox had taken his frustration out on her. Poor girl. Though she seemed to glow with a post-orgasm haze. He was still tense and snappish, and wouldn’t stop bugging Atlas about Mila.
“Come on, you’ve got her right where we want her,” Fox said again. “Just bring her by. We’ll introduce her to everyone, show her we’re legit, then you can bang her and send her home.”
Atlas glared at Fox. “Just fucking drop it, okay?” he grumbled. The game Fox was asking him to play with Mila was making his guts twist. A few weeks before he would have been game. But now?
Waking up with Mila at Fitte had been perfect. She’d kissed him awake to ask him permission to use the bathroom, because she’d stayed collared and leashed to the bed. The fact that she had stayed even without his explicit command made him want to eat her alive. They’d showered together, then spent a second whole day together. The only problem was that no matter how good it had been, it also made him feel like the worst sort of liar. At Fitte they could pretend, but the wall of lies between them seemed insurmountable when he thought about it. The last thing he wanted to do was add more.
He was seriously fucked.
Three days later, and it was at the point where they were texting back and forth all day, and he was fantasizing about her voice. He’d have to think of an excuse to call her later, but no matter what his idiot brother wanted, Atlas sure as hell didn’t want any part of tricking her anymore.
Addison gave Atlas a long, searching look, then grimaced.
“Don’t start, Addison.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch. “I don’t want to discuss it.”
“Dude, we know the magic cop pussy is making you crazy,” she said sympathetically. “I tried to warn you.”
He sat up and looked at her, needing to make her understand that all of this had happened by accident. “I did listen, but if you got to know her . . . you’d fucking love her.”
“Oh no. No, no, no.” Addison shook her head and waggled a finger at him. “This is bad. Do you love her?”
He ran a hand through his hair in irritation. “I barely even know her. I try not to lie to her unless I have to, but who knows how much of what she tells me is true? For all I know, she even lied about her favorite color. Maybe nothing she’s told me is true.”
Addison gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.