Heartbreak You - T.L. Smith Page 0,2

it true?” Atlas asks.

“Is what true?” Lucy states, sounding so much more polite than when she speaks to me.

“Don’t play with me, Lucy. Today is not the day for your games,” he says, and I imagine he’s running his fingers through his perfectly styled hair.

With my back to the wall, I slide to the floor, not sure if I should leave.

Why do I feel the need to always look out for Lucy, even after everything she’s done? I have no answer to this question, and the only person who can change that is me.

Standing, I turn and look into the room.

Lucy’s brows bunch together when she sees me.

“I’m leaving,” I tell her. “And I’m not coming back this time, Lucy.”

She flicks her hair over her shoulder. “I never wanted you to save me, Thea.”

My eyes shift to Atlas, who’s looking at Lucy, but I speak to him anyway. “I’m giving two weeks’ notice. Thank you for giving me my job back, and…” I trail off as I look to Lucy, who’s glaring at me as if I can’t get away from her fast enough.

Atlas keeps his back to me, not once looking my way. I bite my tongue as I turn and walk away.

Why should I finish what I was going to say when that man doesn’t seem to care?

Did he ever care, though?

Or, was he simply a great pretender?

I feel it was the latter.

As soon as I arrive home, I walk up to Tina who’s sitting on my doorstep. She glances up at me, and her face instantly falls.

“I can’t talk now, Tina,” I manage to say. My eyes are heavy, my body is sore, and I’m afraid to walk into my own home. Will I have nightmares? Especially after seeing everything that has happened in there. “Will you stay the night?” I manage to ask.

Tina nods and puts her arm around me as we walk inside.

I try not to look, I do, I really do, but when Tina lets out a gasp, my eyes instantly go to the spot I know she can see. The blood on the floor, the lines in the shape of a body, my couch splattered in red.

Tina turns to me, with her eyes wide. “You go to bed.”

For some reason, I go to step toward the blood like it’s calling me, but Tina places her hand out to stop me. “Go to bed! I’ll be there soon.”

Heading off, I strip out of my clothes and lie in my bed, and that’s when I hear her cleaning. The carpet shampooer is working overtime, the vacuum buzzing away, and I also hear her dragging the couch outside.

Much later, when she crawls into bed beside me, I’m still awake but dozing. Her arm goes over my hip, and that simple movement instantly soothes me. Soon after, we both fall asleep, and I dream of a man with angry, tormented eyes.

Atlas.

Chapter Two

Theadora

“Okay, tell me. I know this isn’t paint, so no lying about it.”

“It’s not paint.” I bring the coffee to my lips.

“Why did you come here?” I ask, confused. I never texted Tina to tell her I needed her, even if I am glad to have her here with me right now.

“I couldn’t sleep, and when I rang your cell the other night, Atlas answered and said you were asleep and you would be home by yourself since he had to work...” she pauses. “He said it as if he didn’t want you to be alone. I thought it was sweet, but I’m guessing this was before whatever happened here?”

I nod. She rang when I was happy, when I saw a future with Atlas.

“You were sitting out here all night?” I ask.

She shrugs as if it’s no big deal.

“It’s Lucy’s and her husband’s blood. Plus…” I shake my head. “It’s their blood,” I tell her, not able to finish the sentence.

“Okay, where is Lucy?”

“Hospital.”

“Well, at least the bitch didn’t die.” Tina smiles, but I don’t. I can’t bring myself to have any sort of emotion. Because people did die, and my house is now forever tainted to prove it. I look back where the blood was, which I have been avoiding, and see no trace of it.

“You cleaned it all?”

“I threw out the rug and the couch, there was no saving them.” The floor looks like there was never any pool of blood or a dead body, but when I look in that area I know otherwise.

“I’m moving,” I tell her. “I gave notice, and I’m