Page 25 of Silent Desires

I stare, wondering how they could all be so attractive. Was there something in the water here? It’s hard to get past their good looks. Where Atlas was built with muscles upon muscles, this man looked more like a trained fighter, muscular but toned, which was easy to see with the tight gray long-sleeved henley he was wearing. It was paired with a pair of well fitted dark blue jeans that made me worried I was about to start drooling at any moment if I kept staring at him.

There is something about his appearance that screamsboss, like he’s in charge here. He’s as tall as Atlas, but he has wavy, jet black, tousled hairand pale blue eyes that continue to stare at me intently as he waits for my answer.

I wouldn’t have a clue how to begin explaining why I was upset, nor do I want to. I don’t know what they could do about it, even if they knew, so I decide it’s best to keep my mouth shut. Literally. I shake my head and bite my lip. Atlas uses his thumb to pull my lip from my teeth and gives me a soft smile that melts my heart a little.Why do I feel so comfortable around him?

“Okay, take a look, Princess. What do you want to eat?” I turn my head and see Ben has laid out a few options. There’s a tub of what looks like ice cream, a box of cookies, a bag of chips, a plastic container with croissants, some bananas and apples, a bottle of orange juice, and a carton of milk. I’ve never seen so many options and I haven’t had most of these in over a decade. I point to a banana, the safe choice.

“And to drink?” Dom asks, and I point to the milk. Ben pours me a glass of milk as Dom grabs a banana and peels it.

He comes to stand beside me, holding the banana out to me. I don’t know what possesses me to do what I do next. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to release my hold on Atlas’s shirt, which I’m still clutching like it’s a lifeline, or maybe I crave his care, or maybe I just want to see what he’ll do. Whatever it is, instead of taking the banana from him, I lean forward and take a bite while he stares at me with fire burning in his eyes.

Chapter fifteen

Fuck me.Alright, if I wasn’t already sold on the small girl with the sad eyes sitting in my kitchen, the action of her biting a banana from my hand does it for me.

I’ve known for a long time that I have certain urges when it comes to my preferences in relationships. Even though Atlas and I are the oldest of our group, at twenty-eight, neither of us has ever had a girlfriend before. For him, it’s because he’s a possessive, picky asshole. For me, it’s because I’ve never found a woman I connect with. I want someone who will let me love them. Possess them. Dominate them.

I’ve met plenty of women who think they want that, but in the end, they can’t fully trust me in the way I need them to. It’s not just something I need in the bedroom. It’s something I need in all aspects of the relationship. I need someone who can trust me to take care of them in and out of the bedroom. And the way Mina looks in my eyes while she bites into the banana, I know she could be that for me.

I take a deep breath through my nose and let it out, trying to calm my racing heart. She’s eleven years younger than I am, and still in high school. As much as it kills me not to grab her and kiss the living shit out of her right now, to show her how I’d take care of her, I can’t do it yet. I take another deep breath and tell myself,all in good time.

She’s clearly embarrassed, sitting there with her head buried in her hands so I decide there’s no time like the present to start showing her how I can care for her, if she lets me. There is no need to hide from me after an action like that.

I gently pull one of her hands from her face and place the banana in it. She peeks out at me, her face bright red as she drops her other hand and sits up a little taller. “Good girl,” I tell her, taking the glass of milk from Ben and placing it beside her. “Take your time with your snack. There’s no rush.”

I watch her as she tentatively picks up the glass and takes a sip, her eyes darting between Atlas and I. Even the small action of her swallowing makes my dick start to swell. After she’s taken a few sips, her eyes widen, then she starts chugging the glass. When she’s halfway through, I realize she’s going to drink the whole thing. I quickly wrap my hand around hers and gently pull the glass back to stop her.

“Hey, hey now, ease up. You might get sick if you drink that all at once. Small sips, understand?” I let a bit of dominance come through in my command and watch as the blush colors her cheeks again. Interesting…Very interesting. She’s already so responsive to me, making my mind fill with images of things I can do with her.

I take a deep breath to calm myself and decide I need to be very careful around this beautiful woman. She might be seventeen but she doesn’t look like a minor.

“You like milk, do you?” I ask her with a tilt of my head. She nods as she bites her lip. “Uh-uh,” I say as I place my thumb below her bottom lip to pull it free. “Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.” I watch as she stares at me with those big, sad eyes. I wish I knew what she was thinking right now.

Despite being here on a paid job to track down a serial killer, I can’t stop myself from wanting to know everything about this girl. She’s been on our radar since she first stepped foot in the school. But the more the others have told me about her, the less likely I think the chances are of her being involved with this case, and the more I want to know about her personally. Why doesn’t she eat lunch? Why are her shoes so big? Why couldn’t she talk?

The twins have done a good job at keeping their eyes on her at school, despite the hiccup earlier in the week where she stopped communicating with them for a couple days. There is definitely something going on with this girl. The story her mother gave Gideon about her going mute after a car accident and then having anger issues and aggressive episodes doesn’t fit what my brothers had reported, or what I am seeing today with my own eyes. But I can’t think of any good theory as to why she would lie about that. She also told Gideon she can’t read or write and based on the twins report, that was definitely a lie. Is anything she told him true?

At first, Mina was a suspect. But looking at her small frame, it’s highly unlikely. The murdered girls had been raped, and although it could have been done by a woman with some sort of instrument, the brutality shown on their autopsies clearly implied that they struggled. Meaning the attacker was much stronger than the victims were.

That’s the other thing that worried me. Mina fits the exact profile of the most recent victims. Long brown hair, green eyes and five-foot-three, seventeen. She was either connected to the murders or a potential victim. Both were reasons to keep her close.

We need more information on her home life, what she does in the evenings and on the weekends, and what her mother does. All we know is her mother’s name, Helen Davies, that she has no previous recordbefore this town, and nor does Mina. We definitely need Ben to do more digging. If we can get a little more info from her, it might help him find a thread for us to follow.

With all that in mind I consider how to do this carefully. I already knew the twins were having trouble getting information without causing her a panic attack. If she couldn’t even answer what her favorite tv show is without panicking, we needed to be extra careful, and I’m hoping being in a more relaxed environment would help with that.

I watch as she finishes the last of her banana then the last few sips of milk before I speak. “Alright, I think we should all play a little game. What do you think, Mina?”

Chapter sixteen

“Alright, I think we should play a little game. What do you think, Mina?” Dom asks, as he stares at me with his intense gaze. There’s something about him that makes me want to agree with everything he says. I nod my head, swallowing the lump in my throat. The feelings he, and all these men, were stirring up in me has me feeling flustered and nervous.

“Good girl. Ben, see what you can come up with that’s suitable for all of us.”

I start to wonder who these men are, why they aren’t working in the middle of a weekday, and where the twins’ parents are. It’s not like I can ask, though. As I set down my empty glass, Atlas wastes no time snatching me up and carrying me to the couch, placing me beside him, luckily not touching my sore arm in the process. He proceeds to place pillows on my other side, and I giggle at how he’s treating me—like a little doll that can’t sit up on its own. It’s cute, but I have to wonder what’s with these guys carrying me so much today. I don’t think I’ve so much as placed a foot on the ground since Jasper found me on the side of the road this morning.

I realize it’s gone deadly quiet, so I look around and notice all of them staring at me. Max’s eyes are wide, and Atlas looks frozen mid-movementwith a pillow in his hands. I give them a questioning look, and with a shocked voice, Max says, “you—you laughed!”

Holy moly, Ilaughed!I didn’t even know I could laugh anymore. I don’t think I’ve laughed out loud in… Well, more years than I want to count, that’s for sure. They all look like they want to say or ask something, but they hold themselves back. I take a moment to admire all of them. They really were a good-looking group of guys, I wonder how they came to be a family, living together.

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