Broken

Chapter 38

Makenna blinked away the loneliness that snuck up on her after she'd tried to pluck her gaze from every person at the café. They were either with someone that made them smile so hard their cheeks turned red or laughing with a friend or just eating and smiling with family. She'd tried to look anywhere but at them but had finally dragged her focus to the table which seemed to be the only thing that she could look at without feeling any of those things. Her hands slowly clenched on her lap as the feelings and the sound of laughter and happy chatter closed in on her and soon it was the only thing she could hear. She closed her eyes to shut it all off and tried to focus on her breathing.

When she opened her eyes, it was all gone. She lifted her gaze and met Atlas' piercing blue ones staring right at her and for half a second it felt like he was looking right into her soul, her heart leapt at her vulnerability. But she blinked and quickly pushed it away before he got the chance to see much more than he already had.

She raised a brow at him in question as to his curious gaze,
"What?"

"You don't have to hide."

Makenna's head tilted to the side just a little like she was trying to see him from a different angle and hear him clearly.
"Excuse me?"

Atlas had no idea why he'd just said that. She was clearly hiding something tragic just like he was and he felt like a hypocrite calling her out like that,
"Maybe we're not so different."

Makenna blinked at him as she thought back to the conversation she had with Killian.
"What makes you say that?"

Atlas shrugged with one shoulder,
"Probably because of what I just saw in your beautiful emerald eyes."

He thought her eyes were beautiful?
Makenna thought that was hilarious and actually clenched her teeth to keep from laughing out.

"And what is it you think you saw?"

She had him there.
Atlas thought. He'd had barely a second to decipher what he thought he saw and just like that it was gone, so he couldn't be sure, but she didn't know that.

"Something familiar."

Makenna's gaze shifted from one of his eyes to the other trying to see if she could find also find the 'something familiar' he was talking about.
"You're probably just projecting."

Atlas smiled to himself but Makenna saw a hint of humor as the corner of his lips quirked up a tiny bit,
"It takes one to know one, right?"

Atlas waited a moment for her to reply but Makenna just stared at him trying to figure out if Killian was right. There was a part of her that was curious to uncover what he was hiding but if it was at the risk of uncovering hers as well, she didn't want any part in it. She'd rather not know than risk her sanity.

"I understand if you'd rather not talk about it." Atlas said, "It's..."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Makenna interrupted him, "You're seeing things that aren't there."

Atlas smiled then, his gaze shifting somewhere else before focusing back on her,
"From what I know, when people say they don't know what you're talking about, chances are they actually do."

Makenna inhaled deeply, her shoulders rising and falling as she exhaled.

How could one person, a complete stranger at that, figure out you had demons when people you've known for longer can't even figure out when or if you're telling the truth?
Makenna thought.

Atlas watched her closely, noticing her breathing had changed as they stared into each other's eyes.

He had her and she knew it.
He thought.

Makenna hated the way he was studying her so openly, not even trying to hide the fact that he was trying to uncover something he wasn't sure was there.

She would give him something.

Makenna exhaled slowly and held her breath before she smiled slowly at him like she knew he was crazy. She knew he had something on her but he was trying to dig to find something substantial to confirm his suspicion. But by him doing that, he had only confirmed that everything he was saying about her, even though he was right but wasn't sure, was true in his case. But just like he wasn't sure about her, she wasn't sure about him either.

Atlas' train of thought faltered when she smiled at him like he was insane.

"Careful now." She said slowly, "You're grasping at straws. All you're doing is revealing things about yourself."

"Things like what?"

Makenna raised a brow,
"I don't know. You tell me."

Atlas' jaw clenched to hold himself back from reaching across the table to shake her until she spilled all her secrets.

Makenna shifted her gaze from him, looking around the café like she was ready to walk out of there, and she was. She looked at him,
"If you ever need to talk," She paused, "Don't look for me."

With that, she got up, turned around and walked away with Atlas staring after her wondering what in the heck just happened. How had the conversation escalated so quickly?

Thea.
He thought.

She had put things in his head and he couldn't believe he'd let it get to him.
Atlas sighed as he watched Makenna walk away.

Makenna walked out of Bostwick, taking out her phone ready to text Killian that she wouldn't be able to make it but as she pulled up his chat, there were bubbles dancing underneath his name. She stopped outside Bostwick and waited for his message to come through.

Kill-i-Him: Sorry, got caught up at work. Raincheck?

That little...weasel!
Makenna reigned in her curse.

But really? Weasel?

That word wasn't in her vocabulary and she had a feeling it only came to her because she'd just spoken to a Brit. Probably a lot of Americans used the word but she thought it sounded more British.

She sighed loudly, turned and headed back the same way she came.

Atlas' phone dinged with a message and he picked up his phone and read the message from Thea.

Thee: Sorry, I got held up at work. Reschedule?

He texted back his reply.

Atlas: Of course. Anytime. <3

Thee: Thanks. <3

Atlas ordered some dinner to go and a drink, thinking about his conversation with Makenna. Just when he thought he had her, she'd turned the tables on him and he hated every second of it. He was starting to doubt everything Thea had said to him about her and was angling toward his initial thoughts about her.

She was simply the person on the inside that she was on the outside. No pretences, no masks, no layers, nothing. She was simply herself and he hated it.

He had been secretly hoping that he'd catch a glimpse of the girl he'd seen that first day or the second day, outside the library. But sadly, he was starting to figure out that the more he spent time with her, the further she got from being the girl he'd seen those two times to someone so completely different.

Whoever said the first impression was the last impression didn't know Makenna. Because for Makenna, the last impression was the last impression.