"Why are you so bothered that he apologized?" Jared laughed, licking the last bit of yogurt off his spoon.
I had just finished telling him about everything that happened after the driveway incident the night before, how Atlas showed up, apologized, and then just… left. I must have looked more irritated than I realized for him to call it out like that. And, honestly, he wasn't wrong.
I was bothered.
I had barely slept all night, which probably explained why I was up so early. Now here I was, standing in the kitchen with Jared, half-focused on making breakfast while we waited for everyone else to wake up.
When I didn't laugh along and only rolled my eyes at him, he shrugged. "I told you, Jerry. Atlas is weird, but he's not a bad person. I mean, aside from what he did last night, he's literally the best person in my family." He paused, then added with a small smirk, "And believe it or not, he's the most sane one."
I couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle.
I knew Jared's family. They were all a little… off. And not in a charming, quirky way. He came from a seriously messed-up family. So, when you looked at it like that… Atlas actually started to make a strange kind of sense.
And no, he didn't come from an abusive family, not exactly. He came from a neglected one.
Both his parents were alive, still married even, but they were never really there for their children. According to Jared, they should have divorced years ago, or one of them should have died. His words, not mine. They cheated on each other constantly, yet stayed together anyway.
"They got married for money," he had told me once, back when we were still in school. "And that's the only reason they're still together." That's probably why he has never been very proud of his wealthy background.
Jared and his two brothers barely had a relationship with either of their parents… hell, even the brothers barely have any relationship with each other. The feeling was mutual. Their parents didn't seem to care, especially his mother. She was almost never around. I'd seen his father a handful of times over the years, but his mother? Always absent.
"She's in London with her new lover," Jared had muttered once when I asked if she had wished him on his eighteenth birthday. "Honestly, I'm glad she's not around. She's nuts."
After that, I stopped bringing up his family. It always seemed to sour his mood, and it wasn't worth it. Not that Jared cared much, anyway. Like parents, like son.
He once told me his father wanted him to join the family business, and surprisingly, he didn't mind. It made sense to him.
"My dad doesn't give a fuck about us… what we do, how we do it… he doesn't care," Jared had said with a shrug. "As long as we bring money into the family, he is happy with us and leaves us to ourselves. And honestly? That's all I want too. I don't want them in my life. The more money he makes, the more he'll leave for us when he dies, and with his drinking habit, that'll probably be sooner rather than later. So yeah… a win is a win." Yeah, Jared definitely has a very different way of looking at things; maybe that's exactly what makes him so much cooler than everyone else.
I glanced over at Jared, watching as he cracked an egg and slid it into the hot oil. It sizzled instantly, tiny droplets of oil splattering around the stove. Without missing a beat, he reached for a kitchen towel and wiped the mess away like it was second nature.
Jared was the kind of person who could do just about anything. Cooking, cleaning, fixing electrical issues, handling plumbing, even working on his car… whatever it was, he knew how to deal with it. I had never really asked him how he managed to learn all of it. It didn't seem necessary. He was probably self-taught.
And that was exactly why he could survive so easily on his own.
I hadn't even said anything or asked a question, but Jared kept going on his own.
"I mean, the fact that Atlas comes from my mother's side… where, honestly, no one is even close to sane…"
I frowned, blinking at him. "Wait… wait," I cut in. "Atlas is your mother's brother?" I asked, genuine shock slipping into my voice.
It didn't make sense. I'd seen his mother before, and Atlas looked nothing like her. Not even close. They didn't just look different; they looked like they came from completely different backgrounds. And more than that… Jared hated his mother's side of the family. He never talked about them, never even mentioned them unless he absolutely had to.
So, how the hell had he gotten so close to Atlas?
He let out a long sigh. "Well… my mother's father married Atlas's mother after divorcing my grandmother. From Hannah, he had only one child: Atlas," he explained, glancing at me. "Hannah was Korean-American, in case you were wondering why Atlas looks a little Asian," Jared added with a shrug.
Of course, I had been wondering that, but I hadn't known how to ask without sounding racist.
Jared continued, exhaling as if preparing for a lecture. "Anyway, he gets most of his good looks and his wealth from his maternal side. That's why my mom doesn't like him. He's way richer than she is," he said, smirking as though that fact gave him immense satisfaction. He leaned back slightly. "This also explains why Atlas is much younger than his siblings. Hannah was way younger than my grandfather, so she had him long after my grandfather's other kids."
All this information made my head spin, and a hundred questions were buzzing in my mind. I was dying to ask Jared everything, but before I could get a word in, everyone came downstairs. The once peaceful, quiet kitchen conversation had instantly turned into a laughter-filled chaos.
I glanced at Jared, still chuckling at some joke Liam had just cracked. He seemed so effortlessly relaxed, completely at ease, while I was itching to know more about the stranger who had nearly flattened me last night.
Speaking of him, Atlas hadn't been seen since last night. His car was still parked in the driveway, but he was nowhere around. Maybe he was a late riser, someone like me who didn't exactly enjoy early mornings.
Before I could dwell on it any longer, the guys pulled me into their banter, jokes, teasing, and the usual nonsense, and just like that, the crazy stranger slipped from my mind.
Once everyone finished breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the clear sky and head outside. After days of gloomy weather, none of us wanted to miss the sun. Ken and Liam were the first to head out, while Zayd and I lingered behind with Jared, nursing our second cups of coffee.
"Who's picking Ivory up from the airport tonight?" Zayd asked, leaning back against the counter.
"I already asked her," Jared replied. "She insisted on taking a cab. I'll check with her again before she leaves, though."
Zayd nodded thoughtfully. "When I saw the new car in the driveway, I thought Ivory had already arrived. Ken told me it was your uncle's." He glanced around. "I didn't get to meet him. Where is he? I should thank him for letting us stay in this amazing beach house for two months," he added with a light chuckle.
Jared smiled and briefly glanced at me. "He's not around right now. I'll introduce you guys when he's back."
"Oh, you didn't meet him either?" Zayd turned to me.
"Hm?" I blinked, pulled out of my thoughts. "Oh, uh…" What was I supposed to say? I didn't have the energy to explain everything…not now. So I forced a small smile and shook my head. "No," I lied, exchanging a quick glance with Jared.
Thankfully, Zayd dropped the subject of Atlas after that. We stayed in the kitchen a few minutes longer, talking about nothing in particular, until Ken and Liam started shouting our names from outside like maniacs.
We laughed and headed out to join them.
None of us had bothered to change. We were all still in the clothes we'd slept in. Shirts came off as we ran, and the next second we were charging straight into the water. It hit me all at once, warm and cold at the same time, sharp enough to make me gasp, but not enough to stop me.
We laughed, splashing each other like idiots. Liam and Jared even started throwing handfuls of sand, which somehow made everything worse and funnier at the same time. We swam, let the waves carry us, dove under and came back up again, over and over, until I lost track of time completely.
All I knew was how it felt. Light. For the first time in a long while, I felt like a teenager again.
And that was exactly why I had come here. To forget, even if just for a little while, what it felt like to be a messed-up, unsuccessful, completely broken adult.
The others were still in the water, but I dragged myself out, running a hand through my soaked hair as droplets slid down my skin. Water clung to me, trailing along my chest, my arms, slipping down my spine as I stepped away from the waves.
I barely made it a few steps before my gaze lifted, almost absentmindedly, toward the beach house. And then I froze. It was like something shifted. The sun didn't feel as warm anymore. The laughter behind me faded into nothing. The ocean, the noise, the moment, it all slipped away. Just like that, I wasn't a carefree teenager in the water anymore.
I was painfully, sharply aware. An adult again.
Because he was there. Standing on the balcony.
Atlas.
Dressed in a crisp white button-down, the fabric catching the light, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing the ink winding along his forearms. The shirt fit him too well… clean, sharp, deliberate. Paired with grey trousers, he looked like he belonged anywhere but here, like the beach couldn't touch him.
Like he was above it. Untouched.
He leaned slightly forward against the railing, his hands wrapped firmly around it, his grip strong and steady. The same hands that had gripped me the night before. The memory flickered through me, uninvited, unwanted… and yet, impossible to ignore.
His lips were set in a thin line, not twisted in anger like before, but not soft either. They were controlled.
And his eyes… His eyes were locked on me. Sharp. Unmoving. Intense. The same as last night.
The longer I held his gaze, the more something twisted low in my chest. Something reckless. Something that made no sense. It wasn't just anger anymore. It wasn't just fear.
It was something else entirely… something electric, something dangerous, something I knew I should shut down immediately. But I didn't. I couldn't.
Because whatever this was… it pulled me in just as much as it warned me to stay away.