Atlas Shrugged Novels & Stories

He’d never met Velmara before, so I could understand his hesitation about venturing into her lair. “She may be skilled but she’s not that dangerous,” I added, “Against three or four wolves especially you she wouldn’t stand a chance.” Atlas blinked at my words. A faint line curved at the corner of his mouth, he was suppressing a laugh. “It’s not that I’m afraid of this woman..." He let the thought hang in the air. I arched a brow, waiting for him to finish. “It’s just-” He stopped again, the rest swallowed in silence. “Whatever, just forget it.”

My voice starting to rise to emphasise the word not. Standing to lean on my desk and glare at my father who was now turning purple in the face. Without another word he spun on his heel and left without closing the door. Standing in the door with an amused look on his face was Atlas. “Don't” He starts laughing “I never said a word but I am guessing it has to do with Una the cling on” He says before bursting out laughing. Atlas has never liked Una, he has always said she is not as innocent as she likes to make out.

But do not blame me, it feels like I am in the middle of a dream that I had never imagined would come true. Atlas held me up and sat down putting me on his laps as his eyes dug directly in to mine. “Why does this seem so unreal to you? Is it because of how weird I am?” He asked me. “What? You’re not weird!” I protested. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. I have never seen him doing that before. “Yes I am!” “No, you’re not.” I insisted. Atlas sighed. “I am weird and you know it. I act like a ghost. No emotions, no expressions, I am weird.” He said.

Jia blanched at his words, but all Atlas did was tilt his head and peer into her face a little more closely when she remained silent. “Ms. Moon, I hope you didn’t think that something as banal as a legal contract would change things between us,” he continued. “You’re still very much in a vulnerable position outside the law, and I don’t envy you for it.” And that was when Jia saw the impassive, immovable Atlas Grayson smile for the first time. It reminded her of ice cubes and razor blades raking across her skin, and when she tried to shrink back, he leaned down until he was speaking directly into her ear.

Fine. “Theo?” Atlas’s voice called after me as I stopped right in the middle of the street, turning back to see him holding a shirt between his arms. “He asked me to give this to you,” Atlas spoke, passing the shirt to me just then. Did it matter? I’d stormed out shirtless. Fuck… I ripped the shirt off Atlas’s clutch. The icy wind blew harshly against my skin. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you both. Seems you had something serious going on. I… I see. I don’t know, man, just don’t want this fight to be my fault or some shit,” Atlas explained honestly.

Iris leaned forward slightly now, resting her forearms on the desk. “Did they see you?” Atlas shook her head again. “I was not inside,” she said. “I was in the hallway.” Of course she was. Atlas did not go where she was not supposed to. She did not need to. She saw enough from the edges. “Did they say what they were building?” Iris asked. “No.” “Did you hear anything specific?” Atlas’s lips pressed together for a second. Then she shook her head. “No words,” she said. “Just how it felt.”

Gods I'm going crazy. I watched Atlas go back to looking for a shirt. I just awkwardly stood there, fixed to my spot. "It's a double XL" Atlas said, making me look up at him. He looked up from what he was doing and met my eyes. "My size" I nodded and stumbled across the room, trying to find a shirt for him and also ignore the immense awkwardness that was blanketing the entire room. Oh goddess...

Which, in my mind, meant we didn’t need to be stressing. “See? It’s all under control,” I said, gesturing vaguely. “We could take a nap right now and nobody would even notice.” Atlas didn’t respond. He was scanning the crowd like a hawk, eyes narrowing every few seconds as if he could spot an error from fifty feet away. I sighed dramatically. “Atlas. Atlas. Atlas.” “What?” “You’re going to give yourself wrinkles.” He shot me a sidelong glance. “If I do, it’ll be your fault.”

“Thank the gods—you had me worried sick.” I couldn’t help the genuine smile that broke across my face. “Zarek.” But even as I reached for him, I caught the subtle shift in Atlas’ posture from the corner of my eye. He stepped back, his expression darkening, unreadable again. “Seems you have company,” Atlas said smoothly, but there was an edge in his voice now. Without another word, he turned on his heel and left the ward, his footsteps echoing down the corridor. Zarek frowned after him. “What was he doing here?”

he lied. Daniel’s thumb brushed over the inside of his wrist, lingering. “No,” he murmured. “You’re not.” Evan’s knees felt weak. Every instinct screamed to pull away, but he didn’t. He stood there, caught in Daniel’s gaze, chest heaving like he’d just run a mile. “Daniel…” His own voice startled him—thin, hushed, almost pleading.