Atlas

ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ

Atlas Storm has lost his mind.

There is no other explanation. Not one.

Who the hell just moves in with someone they don't know? Apparently my boss does.

"You're not moving in here," I say, sounding way harsher than usual. "You own a perfectly fine house, sir. One big enough for you to stay in together with your ego. I don't have the space for you here, and even if I did, I wouldn't let you stay."

"Why not?" he asks. Why not?! Why the hell would I?

"I dug up a few information about you," he tells me, leaning back on my sofa.

What is there to find out about me? Not once in my life have I signed up for any social media. I have not been active online at all, except for work. And my work doesn't include me signing up for anything with my real data. It's usually work data I'm using.

"Turns out, if one googles your name, there are a few articles about an incident that happened a couple of years ago."

"An incident?" My brows fall into a confused frown at the same time as I let my arms fall from my chest as well. "What incident are you talking about?"

"You tell me, Sierra. What happened to you?"

"Excuse me?" I seriously have no idea what he's referring to. As far as I'm concerned, there have never been any records about "the incident." There can't be any because I have never reported it in the first place. "Mr. Storm, if you came here to make fun of me or something, then I'd politely ask you to leave. I really can't deal with this tonight. Or ever."

"I'm not making fun of you, Sierra," he says and stands up, slowly making his way over to me.

The closer he gets, the faster my blood rushes through my veins. My breath quickens, and yet it feels like I can't breathe. "Please stop," I beg, feeling as my hands begin to shake.

Storm stands right in front of me, looking down. He doesn't touch me, but even although my eyes are closed, I can feel him close. Way too close. I can feel his breath roll over my skin, I can feel his torso close to mine, I can feel his eyes on my body.

And as I begin to feel tears dwell up, I want nothing more but to run out of my own apartment and get as far away as possible. "Why are you here, Mr. Storm?" I ask with a shaky voice. I'm pretty sure he can hear the anxiety within me through my words.

He ignores my question. "You're starting to show. People will ask questions. I won't let you tell everyone you wouldn't know who the father is, Sierra."

I still haven't opened my eyes. "Could you please take a step back?" I ask. He doesn't answer, doesn't ask why either. But I can hear him step away, giving me a little more space to breathe.

"I'm not going to ask you again about what happened. It's clear it had to be something traumatic if it makes you react the way you do," he speaks in a soft tone. The softest tone I've ever heard Storm speak in. "But I also won't continue to ask you to move in with me. We're in this together, Sierra. It's your body, with no doubt, but I want to be a part of all this."