74

~Darlina's POV~

When Atlas and I entered his bedroom later that night, I felt him smack my ass as I entered in front of him, causing me to jump in surprise. I sent him a look over my shoulder and he just smirked, shutting the door behind him with one arm.

I shook my head at his antics and began to dig through my bag, locating a pair of pajamas that I quickly began to change into once he entered the attached bathroom. Right as I pulled my pajama pants up, Atlas came walking out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants with a black stripe up the side. The band of his boxers was exposed with how low his sweatpants hung off his hips, all of his tattoos and defined muscles making my cheeks warm.

The mattress sunk beneath my weight as I crawled into his bed and slipped beneath the thin covers, his large body cocooning mine when he joined me in the bed. I smiled at the warmth of his body and the familiar, comforting smell of lemon and vanilla that came with his presence. I gripped his arm around my waist and pulled him tighter against my back, wanting him closer to me.

"Ma seems to really like you." He told me. His lips brushed my ear as he spoke in a low murmur. "She never liked any of the girls I brought home before, the few ones I did when Doug wasn't around for them to see."

And I couldn't help but to giggle at that, admittedly feeling a little bit smug.

"Is that so?" I hummed softly, allowing my eyes to flutter shut. "Sure fuckin' is." He muttered, sliding his hands down over the curve of my waist. I flushed as his hips pushed firmly against my butt and his warm breath fanned over my neck before a pair of soft lips closed over a sensitive spot beneath my ear, sucking softly. "Atlas..." I whispered in warning, grasping tightly at his wrist to stop him.

"You know we can't do that here." I told him quietly, causing him to groan in complaint but he still stopped nonetheless. "You don't want her to hear, do you?" He guessed, earning a nod of affirmation from me. "Besides, we've had sex practically every night since you took my virginity. How often do you need it?" I teased, and he huffed softly as he wrapped his arm around my waist again. "As often as I can get it. I've been fuckin' my fist the last four years, Lina. Forgive me if I wanna pound your pussy when you allow it of me." He grunted. His filthy words caused my face to burn with embarrassment, yet I found it sexy at the same time.

"God, you're shameless." I whispered to him with a shake of my head, but he just chuckled, a smirk on his lips as he kissed my shoulder. "And you love that." He said knowingly.

Blushing, I trailed my hand down and began to play with his tattooed fingers. "Will you really take me to that river?" I asked, able to feel his nod above my head. "Yeah, whenever you want, smalls. Just say the word and I'll take you there." He promised, causing a small smile to rise to my lips. I really wanted to see it at least once before we left, especially if it was someplace that he liked.

A brief moment of silence passed between us before I spoke again. "Your mom actually seems really nice." I stated softly, intertwining my fingers with his. "I mean, she seemed like she missed you, what with the way she was telling stories about you to me all night. She...doesn't seem like she hates you at all, even though she claimed she wanted nothing to do with you. It kind of caught me off guard." I told him.

His thumb brushed back and forth over the back of my hand. "I know my ma pretty well, smalls." He muttered. "She always said that, and I believed it until tonight, honestly. Until she started talking to you. Well, I never seen her talk about me like that to somebody, not since before I went in. Hell, even before then, she just seemed a little...I dunno, consumed by Doug. I was on the back burner in her mind for a while."

"Not that that's her fault. I knew how it was with him, how he treated her, so it wasn't something I blamed her for. But it certainly made it easier to believe when she said she wanted nothing to do with me." He admitted, voice low as he spoke.

Atlas chuckled softly. "And then tonight kinda made me doubt all that shit. The shit I thought was certain about how she felt about me after what I did. Now I think that maybe she just needed to really feel like she was actually going to lose me, lose our relationship to realize that she hadn't yet." He told me, still rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand absentmindedly, like it was a habit.

I felt a small smile form on my lips at that. "I'm just glad that she seems to have come to her senses." I admitted, my eyelids beginning to flutter slightly as I grew a bit drowsy.

From behind me I heard him faintly murmur his agreement before kissing the top of my head gently. My eyes fluttered some more and I happily cuddled into him, loving his embrace. "I love you." He muttered, causing a flush to creep up my neck. I tightened my grip on his hand, my voice coming out a whisper when I responded. "I love you, too." I reciprocated, and then a silence fell over the room as we both slowly drifted off to sleep.

**

When I woke up in the morning, Atlas was laying comfortably beside me, wide awake as I laid with my head on his chest. I rubbed a hand over my eyes and looked up at him. "Good morning." I mumbled, cuddling closer to him with an arm wrapped around his waist.

Atlas smiled down at me and brushed his tattooed fingers through my hair. "Good morning to you, too." He hummed, deep blue eyes flicking over my sleepy features. I slid my leg between his, tracing my fingers over his bare chest. "Have you been awake for very long?" I asked, because he looked wide awake and it was only seven in the morning.

"Just as early as I usually wake up at, yeah." He answered, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger. I pouted, knowing that indeed meant he had been awake for a while now and had just been laying here while I slept on him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to keep you from getting up. You should've woke me." I apologized, quickly trying to scoot away so that I wasn't laid on top of him anymore.

He didn't let me get very far away before he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back towards him, my body now practically half on top of him.

"You weren't keepin' me from doing anything at all. I just wanted to lay here with you, so I did. That's why I didn't wake you." He told me rather matter of factly, shooting me a look when I went to open my mouth, ready to disagree. I promptly closed my mouth at the expression on his face. "Okay." I mumbled instead, embarrassed.

A comfortable silence settled over us and in that, I realized how quiet the rest of the house seemed to be. "Do you think your mom is awake yet?" I asked him, wondering if he and I should get washed up to go keep her company. However, Atlas shook his head. "Absolutely not. Ma sleeps in really late, even on the nights she gets to bed at a decent hour. She just sleeps late." He responded with a shrug, causing me to nod in acknowledgment. "I see." I whispered. "Sounds like Emmett." I added, earning a snort of amusement from him that made me bite the inside of my cheek to smother a smile.

"I'm not sure which one of them might be more insulted that you say that." He said with a snicker, drawing a giggle from me. I smacked his chest, glancing up at him as I grinned. "Certainly not your mom, judging by how much she seems to like him." I retorted.

A small smile tugged at his full lips but he didn't respond, allowing the silence to take up the space of the conversation instead. I traced his tattoos for a while as I thought to myself.

"You said your mom never liked any of your previous girlfriends." I stated, unable to help myself. I had been a little bit curious about it since he had mentioned it last night, but had fallen asleep before I could really ask anything about it. "Mm, girlfriend is definitely a strong word for the girls I brought around. Like, a real fuckin' strong word." He scoffed. "They were really just girls that I'd screw on and off, basically." He admitted, causing me to shoot him an appalled look.

Finding my reaction funny, Atlas just smirked. "What?" He chuckled huskily. "I'm just bein' honest. I was a dumb teenager, having fun." He shrugged. My teeth clamped into my bottom lip harshly as I briefly wondered if I had been missing out on that sort of thing when I was a teen. I'd never even so much as been allowed to spend the night at my friend's houses, and obviously no boys were ever allowed at mine. Only girls, though I hadn't minded that at the time. I still had fun with my friends.

"What are you thinkin' of, Lina?" Atlas murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I searched his gaze quietly and then shrugged feebly. "Well, about that." I grumbled. "That I never got to do things even remotely close to that when I was a teenager. I didn't want to, really, but I guess now I wonder if I had missed out or something." I confided in him, looking away as my cheeks burned with embarrassment. He gripped my chin and forced my head up to look at him. "Trust me, smalls, you probably weren't missin' out on shit. Especially not with boys that age." He said with a snort.

"Unfortunately for a lot of women, a lot of guys don't even try to please the women they're with, and even more so when they're stupid teenagers." He told me, causing my lips to part in surprise at the new information. "Really?" I gasped, unable to grasp that. I frowned. "But why?" I asked, confused.

His lips twitched up as though he found amusement in my genuine surprise and curiosity. "Dunno, smalls. Probably 'cause they're assholes who only care about getting off." He said ever so bluntly. I huffed, a little bit annoyed at that. "I see." I mumbled to myself before speaking up again. "Then I got lucky. I-I mean..." My cheeks burned as I scanned his handsome face and he looked at me with a sly smirk on his lips. "B-Because you always please me." I whispered to him.

Mortified by the words I'd just said, I cleared my throat and sat up while casting a glance towards the clock. "It's almost eight AM already." I shakily told Atlas, climbing out of his bed. "We should shower."