Sin and Sinner

36

~Darlina's POV~

"Hey." I felt someone gently shake my shoulder, causing me to peel my eyes open reluctantly. "Hm?" I hummed, pushing my hair out of my eyes. I was still sitting in Emmett's truck, leaned against the car door, and I realized that I must've fallen asleep during the ride. "We're here." Atlas said, gesturing out the window beside me.

I looked out the window and saw that we were parked in front of the cabin that Em had rented, though only Atlas and I remained in the vehicle. "Oh." I mumbled sleepily, unbuckling my seatbelt. "Did Emmett already leave?" I asked the obvious, peering up at him. He nodded, leaning away from me so I had room to move. "Yeah, he's inside." He answered, placing his tattooed hand on the headrest of my seat.

"Thanks for waking me. Clearly Em didn't care to." I said, huffing at the fact that he'd just left me in the car. Atlas chuckled lowly and allowed me to carefully get out of the truck, waiting until I was firmly on my feet before he hopped out like it was nothing.

He grabbed my bag from the trunk of the truck and handed it to me, to which I smiled and quietly gave him my thanks. We entered the small cabin and Atlas shut the door, locking it while I looked around my new surroundings. "Wow." I said to myself, lips parting in surprise at just how nice it was. Em had said it was nice, but I hadn't seen any pictures of it. He was right, though. It looked very nice, though it looked to be slightly up in the mountains from what I had seen outside.

The interior was dark but still very pretty, which was most definitely Emmett's style of interior decor, so it made sense why he had liked this cabin so much. I looked out the large window along the back of the cabin, spanning from floor to ceiling, and saw that there was a big pool attached to the cabin. "A pool!" I gasped, excited. Swimming had always been something I enjoyed doing, but I didn't get to be in private pools very often. We had a pool in our apartment complex, sure, but it wasn't like it was only for us to use. This one was ours, while we were going to be here anyway.

Emmett suddenly emerged from a hallway, entering the living room that Atlas and I were standing in together. "There you are. Took you long enough to get in here!" He said to us, a big grin on his face.

A huff left me as I turned towards him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Well, I would've been in here sooner if you had bothered to wake me up instead of leaving Atlas to do it." I told him, my sass causing Atlas to snort with amusement, a smirk seen tugging at the edge of his lips when I glanced at him. "Someone's a little bit grumpy." Em remarked, cocking up an eyebrow. "Besides, I'm sure Atlas was just fine with waking you." He said. The two exchanged a look that I didn't understand the meaning of, making me huff.

"Where are we sleeping?" I asked, ignoring their secret little conversation. I was indeed a little bit grumpy, as Emmett had said. Em smiled and gestured for us to follow him, which I happily did when he turned back down the hallway he'd come from. Atlas followed right behind me, his bag thrown over his shoulder, and walking close enough that I couldn't help but to notice his proximity behind me.

We passed by one door and then stopped between two other doors, one of them being swung open by Emmett. "You two can pick your rooms. There's this room, and the other is right there." He said, gesturing to the other door.

I opened the still closed door and poked my head inside after taking a glance into the other door, looking over my shoulder at Atlas. "Do you have a preference? I'm okay with either one." I said, peering up at him curiously. Both of the rooms looked nice, so it didn't really matter which room I stayed in. As long as I had a bed, I was pretty easy to please. "I'll just take this one. You can have that." He muttered, nodding his head to the opposite room which I wasn't standing in the doorway of.

Happy with that, I nodded and lugged my bag into my room, leaving the door open as I set my bag on the floor at the foot of the bed. The bed was a little high up off the ground, but it looked comfy. I took about fifteen minutes to unpack my things before I left the room, wandering down the hall and to the living room, where I heard the voices of Emmett and Atlas.

"Hey, Li." Em greeted. "Anything you want for dinner? I figured we could just order some place in for tonight. I don't exactly feel like getting back in the car to drive somewhere for food." He said, which I heavily agreed with. I sat down on the couch and gasped at the way I sunk into the cushions, surprised. "Um, pizza sounds really good to me." I answered honestly, crossing one leg over the other. 

Atlas' interest seemed to be piqued by that because he lifted his head at my words, finally looking at us instead of his phone. "Pizza sounds fuckin' great." He agreed, giving Em a look that said he wasn't about to settle for anything but pizza. I tried, and failed, to hide a giggle.

"What's your favorite kind?" I asked him, curious. He met my gaze, throwing an arm around the back of the couch as he leaned into the cushions with his muscular thighs spread comfortably. "Usually I get sausage, pepperoni and stuffed crust pizza." He answered, scanning his gaze over the length of my figure. I sat up a little straighter, my heart hammering unnecessarily fast at the weight of his gaze. "S-Sounds really good." I said quietly.

"Li sticks with the basic bitch cheese pizza." Emmett told his friend with a chuckle, clearly teasing me. He always thought it was funny how plain I liked my pizza, but I had always been that way about pizza. For me, less is more. 

"Don't make fun of me." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. "Cheese pizza is good, no matter what you say." I said defensively. He just snorted, shaking his head, but didn't try to convince me otherwise. He had given up on doing that a long time ago.

"Okay, then, pizza it is." Em agreed, standing from the couch suddenly. "I'm gonna go place the order, yeah? I'll be back." He noted to the two of us, exiting the living room to head to his room. That left Atlas and I alone, and I nervously flicked my gaze over to him, kicking my sock covered foot. 

I bit my lip, trailing my gaze over the tattoos on his arms as he focused on his phone again, and my eyes zeroed in on the ink disappearing beneath his white t-shirt. He looked so utterly handsome even doing nothing at all, and I clenched my thighs slightly as the stirring in the pit of my belly grew slightly. It was still an unfamiliar feeling, but the fact that I was growing used to it around him was frustrating. 

"Atlas?" I called softly, causing his attention to snap up to me, those dark eyes practically looking right through me. "Hm?" He hummed, cocking up an eyebrow lazily. My cheeks warmed at the low, gravely tone of his voice. "Do...Do you think cheese pizza is basic too?" I asked, to which he stared at me for a moment as if wondering if I was just messing with him. An amused smile then pulled at one side of his mouth. "Quite frankly, smalls, I don't give a shit." He answered, tossing his phone onto the cushion beside him.

"Though the fact that you seem so worried about it is maybe a little bit cute." He murmured, the random compliment causing my eyes to widen in surprise. "C-Cute?" I stammered, stunned at the fact that he had just willingly complimented me. Was I dreaming or something?

"Don't let it get to your head, Lina." He stated simply, glancing down at what I was sure was my mouth. "I only said maybe." He reminded me. Yet I just grinned, already having taken the compliment. "That's the first time you've complimented me." I smiled, flattered. A moment passed as he looked at me, taking in my features and the happiness on my face, before he quickly ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. Shaking his head, he muttered, "For fuck's sake, I'm fucked, or I need to be."

Extremely confused, I tilted my head to the side. "What?" I asked, lost as to what he meant by that. He ran a large hand over his face and stood up from the couch suddenly, to which I tilted my head back to look at him. "Nothing. Could you let me know when the pizza gets here, or ask Emmett to if you don't wanna?" He asked, to which I slowly nodded my head, still a bit confused as to the way he was now acting.

He muttered his thanks before he left the living room, and then it was just me there, sitting on the couch.