Chapter 22
Atlas
I’m lying my ass off. I know good and damn well I will not give True up. No matter what. I will go take care of this Victor situation and then I will come back and True and I will work through this and put it behind us. I go downstairs to ask for one more favor and I hope he doesn’t ask too many questions. I knock on their door and wait for them to tell me to come in. Last time I walked in without knocking Josh almost knocked my ass out seeing that Savvy was walking naked out of the shower. I hadn’t gotten used to her being here and was used to just walking in and talking to my brother. Luckily for me, I did not see anything and I hustled my ass out of there before I was missing one or both of my eyes. Come in! I hear Jag bellow. The door quietly swings open and I walk down the hall to their living room and have to pick my jaw up off the ground at the sight that greets me.
My seven-foot, three-hundred-and-fifty-pound brother is reclining in his seat with an Aztec clay face mask on his face with cucumber slices over his eyes while Savvy is giving him a manicure. I look down at his feet that he has propped up on a footrest and his toes are painted the same bubble gum pink as Savannah’s toes. I blink then blink again because I cannot be seeing what I am seeing.
You better have a damn good reason for disturbing my spa time Atlas, he says and my eyebrows touch my hairline. I stand there dumbfounded and truly cannot find any words to say. He eventually reaches up and plucks both cucumber slices off his eyes and looks at me. I’m still standing there blinking at this scene. Say what you want or get the hell out he barks at me and finally I snap out of it. Um, I, I need your help. I stutter out. Now it’s time for his eyebrows to touch his hairline, help? What kind of help? he asks.
“I need Savvy to keep True here.” At this point Josh sits all the way up, Savvy gets up and goes over to make her and Jag some tea. Tea is her favorite drink outside of her peach lemonade, she drinks it by the gallons especially when she’s writing. When he saw her using two different flavors of tea bags to get the flavor she wanted in true Joshua fashion, he had a blend created and named after her. Not to be outdone, Savvy went and had a custom blend made for him and is also named after him. Give me a minute he says and walks down the hall, when he returns he has washed the face mask off and I swear his skin is glowing. “Is your skin glowing?” I ask him.
“You can kiss my ass,” he returns.
“Why is Savvy keeping True here?” he says as he takes the cup of tea from her, and she sits next to him.
“We kinda got into a discussion and she’s threatened to leave, and I need to leave to handle some business so I would feel better knowing that she’s here so we can work this out when I get back,” I say leaving out…...everything.
“What was the argument about that would make her threaten to leave you?” Savvy asks.
“You can’t ask what we argued about. I don't want to get into it right now.”
“Wrong,” he says instantly. “I’m going to ask all the damn questions when it comes to asking my wife to keep a person held against their will!”
“Jag baby let him talk,” Savvy says before he can get more wound up. And just like that he sits back and snaps" talk!" at me.
“Could you give Savannah up under any circumstances?”
“Don’t be ridiculous” Atlas he growls out “I would never do anything so stupid. ‘
“Well, I feel the same way about True. I would do almost anything to keep her. Tempers flared and we both said some things we didn’t mean; I just don’t want her to run off before we get the chance to talk again.”
“And what business do you need to attend to that's so important you can’t work things out with True first?” Jag asks, looking straight through me.
I just look at him. After a second he realizes I’m not going to answer and he just grunts. The tea mug clatters as he sets it down because what he’s drinking out of can in no way be considered a teacup, and stands to his full height and walks over to me so close we are practically touching chest to chest. He looks me in my eyes and says, please do not put me in the position of having to bury your ass because something has happened to Savannah behind your bullshit. I love you both but she is my greatest treasure and if I was to lose her I would not go on living. Not that I wouldn’t want to, I would simply stop existing without her, she is my beating heart and my immortal soul. But make no mistake I would annihilate your ass before I go into the afterlife with her. He looks me dead in the eyes, ten toes down, and says this with truth burning in his eyes and I completely believe him.
For a second I falter, I do not want anything to happen to Savvy and I do not want to lose my brother behind it because I believe he would literally die without Savannah, but I know Savvy’s help to keep True here. I stand there at a loss again not knowing what to say to Jag. So I tell him the truth as much as I can, I need Savvy’s help. I love True the same way you love Savvy, and I do not want anything to happen to either one of them. He stares at me for a second before he says, this is getting to be too much for you, promise me you will come to me, give me the chance to get Savvy someplace safe. I promise I say with no hesitation. We stare at each other for a few more seconds, understanding passing between the two of us. As I turn to go back to my room I hear him call out to me.
“Atlas!”
“Yeah”
“Times up”
Fuck!
I go back to my room once I have ensured True cannot leave me and I prepare for the war I am getting ready to fight. I plan on taking Victor by surprise, I am sure he would not be expecting me to show up as soon as he gets back to US soil. I plan on blowing up some shit and that should take out a good majority of the men he’s bought with him. When I walk in my bedroom True is sitting in the same spot I left her in and I can tell she’s been crying. I go to her and pull her into my arms, she tries to fight me but it’s a feeble fight she puts up. I hold her to my chest and tell her how much I love her and I beg her to wait for me. I release her and go to my hidden weapons closet, put the code in and walk-in when the door slides open. I grab my favorite set of knives, my guns, grenades, the rocket launcher is in the weapons locker in the garage. I fill up the duffle bag with all my equipment and change into all-black fatigues. I plan on hitting Victor’s house under the cover of night. Once I have all the weapons I want and can carry I close the closet and set the bag on the bed. True is in the same spot.
“Will you at least give me a kiss before I leave?” I say reaching out my hand to her.
She hesitates for a few seconds but comes willingly into my arms. I take my time kissing her, pouring all the love I have for her into the kiss. When I break the connection, I caress her face and gaze into her eyes.
“Wait for me,” I say, turning on my heels, and walking out the room.
I get to the garage, grab the rest of the weapons I need, load everything in the car and begin the twelve or so hour trip to finish what was started over thirty years ago.
True
I cannot believe he actually left me, I mean I know giving him an ultimatum was a coward move but I was willing to try anything to keep him here. The odds of him making it back to me without help is slim to none, how do I navigate this world without him in it. Who will take me to the fair, and skating, and the kiddie arcades? Who will make me feel like a whole woman even though I know I will never be a mother? He has done more for me than I have done for him. He won’t ask for help from his brothers or allow me to help him, stubborn bastard and he made me promise not to tell his brothers.