I Swear I Still Hate Him (Atlas Lawson) novel Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Adu POV

“Oh, great? My mum’s voice came through the speaker, dripping with sarcasm. It’s nice to know my son’s sill dive?

I winced, phone plumed to my car as I crossed the kitchen in my locks. I grabbed a glass from the calder like hydration could protect me from parental guilt

“Hey, Mom” I said, trying for casual while the faucet ran. “Miss you too

“Don’t hey, Mom’ me I could practically hear her pointing at air. “You know I’m mad at you?

Hleaned my hip against the counter, filling the glass, and let my ad fall back for a second.

“C’mon” I tried, slipping into the voice that used to get me out trouble when I was twelve. “There’s no way my favorite

“Atlas” Her tone sharpened, “Do not flirt your way out of this?

I took a sip of water and stared at my reflection in the microwave door like it might offer advice.

Yeah. She was mad-mad

“You promised me,” she said.

“I know” I swallowed. “I know, Mom. I’m sorry”

“You don’t just bail on people” Her voice softened a fraction, but somehow made it worse. “She was an amazing girl”

“I know.”

“And she was excited,” Mom went on, the disappointment landing heavier than anger. “Do you have any idea how hurt the was when you stood her up?”

My jaw tightened. I didn’t answer right away because I didn’t have a clean excuse. I had a thousand reasons, but none of them sounded good out loud.

Mom kept talking, and I let her. I deserved it.

She’d been trying to get me back out there. Blind dates, set-ups random” dinners with her friends’ daughters. I showed up I always showed up, I made conversation, smiled, paid the bill it had to, and then went home feeling like I’d just acted in a scene I didn’t audition for

I’d told her over and over that I wasn’t ready. Or,more honest, I wasn’t interested. Why? Simple, Because none of them were her.

Last night was the first time I’d bailed. And I wasn’t a bail-on-people kind of guy. I knew how that felt. I wasn’t trying to be that dude.

But then I heard her name.

And that was it.

Fifteen percent of me had known I should get in the car and go ect… Bailey, Belle. Whatever her name was. The other eighty-five percent had screamed one word so loud it drowned everything else out.

Emery.

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Chapter 142

So I’d gone. And do I regret it?

Not even a little.

I stared at the kitchen island, the glass cold in my hand, and my mind betrayed me with a replay of this morning, her in my

space

like she’d never left it. The way she rolled her eyes when she got flustered. The way she bit her lip, like she was trying to swallow her own thoughts before they slipped out.

And when she’d stepped between my knees to wipe the water off my chest…

I’d been seconds from kissing her.

ま

Seconds from saying the three words that had lived in my throat for ten damn years.

If only she knew.

“Atlas.”

I blinked hard, the word snapping me out of it. My fingers tightened around the glass.

“Yeah, Mom,” I said, forcing my voice back to normal.

“What is going on in that head of yours?” she asked. “Because I know when you’re not listening. You’ve had that same I’m somewhere else’ silence since you were a kid.

I rubbed the back of my neck, shifting my weight like I could physically shake my thoughts loose.

“Just… work,” I lied, staring down at the water like it was super interesting. “Practice. Games. NHL stuff.”

A big lie. A bold lie. An Olympic-level lie.

Mom sighed, and it sounded tired. “Honey… I get that you’re busy. And I’m proud of you. You know I am.” Her voice gentled. and I could picture her sitting on the couch, brows pinched, being too kind for her own good. “But you can’t keep doing this alone.”

I swallowed.

“You need someone,” she continued, “who makes you feel happy

I do, I thought.

“Someone who gets you,” she said, “and loves you for real.”

I had that person.

And one night with her had my whole body acting like a starving man who’d been given a single bite and told to walk away.

“I’ll apologize,” I said quietly. “To… uh… Belle-”

“Her name is Bailey, Atlas.” The correction came fast, deadly accurate.

“Right.” I exhaled through my nose. “Bailey. I’ll apologize.”

“Mhm.”

I could hear the I’m still not over it in that sound.

So I shifted gears, lifting my glass like it was a peace offering even though she couldn’t see it.

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Chapter 149

“Okay okay” I said, trying to lighten the air “Truce. Talk to me How are you and Hory doing?” I paused sul lighting for your lives over those pussles

That got her

A quiet laugh slipped out of her, the tension cracking. “Don’t stay. Rory bought another one?

“Oh my God.” I sand, grinning despite myself. “The man is single handedly keeping the puzzle industry alive?

“He said it’s good for our brains,” she replied, the smile obvious in her voice now. “Like we’re eighty

I took another drink, relaxing a little. “Well, you are obsessed with those little pieces. I think it’s a cry for control”

“Oh, hush,” she said, but she was amused now. “Anyway, Rory sa to tell you he misses you. And he’s still waiting for that rematch in chess,”

I snorted. “He misses losing to me.”

“What? It’s true,”

Mom chuckled again, and I stared out at the city from my kitchen window, feeling that familiar pinch in my chest, this mix of gratitude and guilt.

I was glad she was happy. She deserved it. After Steve… after everything she deserved a man like Rory who showed up and staved.

And maybe that’s why she wanted that for me so badly.

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