Chapter 29

[Cordelia]

“Cordelia, please sit down,” Atlas makes enough room for me to sit next to him. I stand in the doorway, stubbornly refusing to budge, preferring to shiver in the cold than to spend any more time with him.

“Look, I promise I won’t do anything but talk to you,” he holds up his hands in surrender. “If I do, you can just punch me.”

I glower at his cavalier attitude over his previous attack and my threat. Does he really think I’ll be okay with him in the back seat of the car after he had treated me so roughly?

“Please Cordelia,” he pleads. He is usually so arrogant but right now he seems so vulnerable. “I just want to make sure you get home safely.”

I think of fighting back, of waiting out in the cold just for spite, but that would be useless, silly, and only hurt me. Hesitantly I agree to his offer for a ride home. His whole body relaxes as the door shuts behind me.

Atlas doesn’t look like his usual self. It isn’t just that he is still dressed in his beach clothes, but he lo