Atlas

ꜰᴏʀᴛʏ-ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

I know my question is odd, especially in this moment. But I need to feel the only woman that ever made me want to laugh. My brain won't believe she's still here if I don't.

Clearly, I can see her, hear her, God, I can smell her scent; fruity with a mix of floral. Mostly berries. She always smells so much like a mix of cranberries, blackberries and roses.

Sierra doesn't seem like she'd like it in this moment, which I totally understand. She's mad at me. She's jealous. I mean, she thought I was cheating on her. God knows that would never happen. Not even if that'd save my life. I'd rather die than betray the love of my life like that.

I admit, I should have told her about Lisa way before. I should have done it when Sierra moved in, every single day since then. And just yesterday—okay, two days ago as it's three fucking in the morning—Lisa has been mentioned. Not name-wise, but as my ex-girlfriend.

Sierra shakes her head, and yet she scoots right over and falls into my arms. She straddles me with her legs, her face hiding in the crook of my neck as she sobs. "Altas, please tell me you're not cheating on me."

I wrap my arms around Sierra, exhaling deeply as I press her closer to me. "I would never, sweetheart." She should know it. My family means everything to me. She means everything to me.

I breathe her in a little more, pushing the thought of her leaving me as far away as only possible. She won't leave me. Sierra loves me, I know she does. There is no way a minor misunderstanding like this would cause a divorce, right?

"No cheating," she repeats, though I think it's meant for herself, not me. I can feel the hot air roll over my skin as she lets out a deep breath. "But she's not just an employee."

I shake my head and press Sierra a little tighter against me out of fear she might vanish, disappear into nothingness. "She was more than that. Once."

"The ex-girlfriend?" I nod. "Why is she working here in this house, Atlas?"

"I took everything she had. I owed her a job."

She tries to pull back from the hug, and the only reason I let her is because I don't want her to fear me. I don't want her to think I'd force her to stay. Though, as much as I'd want to do that, I wouldn't. Ever.

Her eyebrows frown as she looks at me. Her nose is red and puffy from crying, so are her eyes, even her lips are swollen. I just want to kiss every single tear on her face away and make sure she never has a reason to cry ever again. But more importantly, I have to make sure I'll never be the reason of her tears ever again.

"What did you do?" she asks, hands resting on my shoulders. She doesn't push away or attempt to get off my lap, which is somewhat a relief for my nerves.

I sigh. "Your bother is going to kill me for telling you this, but—" Sierra chuckles breathy, it's not quite a chuckle but something really close to it "—we had this bet going. Lisa just recently transferred to our school from Germany, I think. She knew absolutely no one, which is quite the bait for wanna-be bad boyish and horny teenagers."