Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,73

his wet black hair off his face. His green eyes match the color of the cedars today. “Okay,” he says with a tired sigh. “I knew this was coming.”

“What else do you supposedly know?” Dex squints at him.

“More than any man should,” Atlas answers. “I saw a coffee shop around the corner,” he says and then starts walking.

“You don’t want the umbrella?” Dex asks, though I’m momentarily horrified that if he’s offering his spot, that means I have to share it with Atlas.

Atlas waves his hand dismissively. “I like the rain. It’s cleansing.”

He keeps going.

I exchange a wary glance with Dex, and we follow.

Fifteen

In hindsight, walking wasn’t the best idea. It would have been better to drive, and by the time we finally get to the hole-in-the-wall coffee shop turned diner, my jeans are splashed with water and I’m freezing. Of course Atlas looks like a drowned rat, but it doesn’t seem to bother him at all.

The shop is dim and almost empty except for an elderly couple in a booth in the corner and a blue-collar type man at the counter, talking to the waitress.

We take a booth by the window and Atlas excuses himself to use the restroom.

“He better fucking talk,” Dex practically growls as Atlas walks away, though the minute the waitress comes by he turns on all the charm.

“Hello, Flo,” he says to her, though her nametag says Kim. “What kind of pie do you have on this beautiful day?”

I kick Dex under the table but it does no good.

She gives him a wry look and absently taps her nametag. “Apple.”

“What kind of apples?”

“Apple,” Kim repeats, looking at him like he’s stupid. “Like from a tree.”

“We’ll just have two coffees,” I tell her quickly, smiling big to make up for Dex. “Cream and sugar.”

“Okie dokie,” she says, walking away.

“You never let me have any fun anymore,” Dex whines. “You know I’m particular about my pie.” Then he straightens up when Atlas walks back.

For whatever reason, Atlas is mostly dry now. Like his hair is only wet at the ends.

“How the hell are you dry?” I ask him.

He slides into the seat across from us and gives me an odd glance. “Huh?”

“You were soaked.”

“Oh,” he says, trying to catch the waitress’ attention. “I used the hand dryer.”

“In two minutes?” Dex questions.

Atlas gives him a tight smile that does not meet his eyes. I swear the color in them is different than earlier, not so much a cedar but the blue gray of a spruce on a cold day. “I suppose you want to get down to business.”

We do. But I mean, I’m also intrigued by how he dried off so fast, like there’s no way that’s possible.

But the waitress comes by with our coffees, which look thicker than motor oil, and Atlas puts in an order for green tea.

“What do you want to know?” he finally asks, folding his hands in front of himself. He has a lot of silver rings on his fingers, something I never noticed before. Maybe because I’ve never been this close to him in the daylight, inside a public building.

I look at Dex, trying to figure out who should go first. He gives me a nod to take the lead. I guess it’s mainly my story now.

“Atlas…” I begin. “I’m not really sure how to say this, but I think your mother is haunting me.”

Of course the waitress picks this moment to drop off his green tea, giving the three of us quite the look before she quickly leaves. I don’t think she’ll be by to offer us a refill.

He picks up the string on the tea and moves the bag back and forth in the hot water, not saying anything for a minute. Then, “How do you know it’s my mother?”

“What really happened to her?” Dex asks, plowing on through. So much for me taking the lead. “You lied to us.”

“I never lied to you,” he says simply in that vacant tone he does so well, staring down at the mug.

“You fucking did. You said she drowned. You left out the part about her drowning in a pool of her own blood. Did she kill herself? Did someone kill her? What happened in that house?”

Dex’s leg is starting to bounce, the adrenaline running through him, and I put my hand on his thigh to remind him to calm down. He’s already in a mood.

Atlas finally looks up, meeting Dex’s eyes. “Harry said she drowned because he couldn’t face the truth of