Page 80 of Silent Betrayal

“You’re forgiving me too easily, Princess,” he says, a smile playing at his lips as he sighs.

“Oh? Who says I’ve forgiven you? I’m pretty sure I was promised a gift of some sort and a full day with you?” I ask him, feeling confident as I raise an eyebrow up at him in question, making him chuckle.

He reaches into his back pocket. “You were indeed. And Princess, I’ll spend every day for the rest of our lives apologizing to you if that’s what it takes.”

Caught in the gaze of his beautiful brown eyes, I’m only able to swallow the lump in my throat and nod. He breaks the connection as he looks down at the small box he holds out to me. I reach out and lift the lid revealing a sleek rose gold watch.

“Oh! It’s so pretty, Ben. Thank you.”

“This is no ordinary watch. It’s a phone, so if you ever lose your own phone, you can still call us on this,” he says, showing me the call buttonwhere all their names are listed. “And it has a gps tracker in it, so we can always find you.” My heart leaps to my throat at that thought as my wide eyes meet his.

“So if… If someone takes me, if I’m wearing this, you’ll be able to find me?”

“Anywhere in the world,” he replies softly.

I try not to cry from such a thoughtful gift. Having that extra level of safety means everything to me. And if the way Ben pulls me into his chest, hugging me firmly, tells me anything, it’s that he knows it.

He kisses the top of my head. “We just want you to feel safe, Princess.”

“Thank you, this is… This is amazing.”

He helps me put it on as the front door opens and Atlas steps out. I instantly feel the tension as we look at each other. We haven’t really had time to speak since the whole incident happened, and I’ve been feeling uneasy about him and Dom asking me to be their girlfriend before telling me the truth about who they were.

Sooner or later, we were going to have words. But despite his scary appearance, Atlas was like a teddy bear on the inside, and I didn’t want to hurt him, even though he’d hurt me. I’m afraid if I tell him how I’m really feeling, it would make things worse. I’m not sure where we stand now, if he’s even still my boyfriend or not, and that thought alone makes me anxious enough that I know I need answers. Whatever the answer is, I need to know… today.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Ben says, taking my hand and directing me to the SUV. He opens the passenger door for me, but I turn to Atlas as I speak. “You can sit in the front. I’m sure it’s crammed in the back for your long legs.”

“It’s fine,” he says, not looking at me as he opens the back and jumps in, closing it behind him. I look up at Ben, who shrugs, then gestures for me to climb into the passenger seat.

“Oh my goodness, look at the babies!” I tell Ben and Atlas as we look into the penguin exhibit. We watch them waddle around all adorably, making me coo at the cuteness.

“I didn’t know you liked penguins so much,” Ben says with a smile, watching me more than the animals, which is something I’ve noticed them both doing all day.

“Neither did I, but they’re so cute. Even the adults are cute, the way they waddle around like that.”

“Are they your favorite animal you’ve seen?” Atlas asks, surprising me. He’s been pretty quiet today, even when I’ve tried to get him to join in our conversation. But I still enjoyed his company. He’s normally quieter than the others anyway, so it’s not totally out of character for him.

“Yep, definitely,” I reply, answering his question.

“Well, Princess,” Ben says, turning away from the exhibit and offering his hand to me, which I take. “That was the last exhibit, anything you want to see again?”

“No, I’m exhausted, my feet are killing me, actually.”

Atlas grunts before dropping to a knee in front of me, giving me his back.

“Uhh….” I mumble in confusion, wondering what he’s doing.

Ben laughs as he explains, “he’s trying to give you a piggy-back ride, Princess. Jump on.”

“Oh! Um, okay, thanks,” I say as I climb onto his back. It was on the top of my tongue to refuse. But honestly, he’s massive, and I knew he could easily carry me, and if I was being honest, it was a huge relief to get off my feet. They’d been hurting for the past two hours, but I didn’t want to say anything before we’d seen all the animals, afraid they’d make us leave.

Atlas stands, boosting me up as he goes, and I wrap my arms around his neck, resting my chin on his shoulder. I can feel all the muscles in his back as he moves, making me realize this has another benefit I hadn’t considered.

I wiggle against him, partially trying to get comfortable and partly trying to get closer to him.

“Thanks for the ride, big guy,” I whisper in his ear. He grunts in response, making me smile. “You’re like a gorilla,” I reply, making Ben laugh. He wiggles his fingers where he holds my thighs, making me squeal at my ticklishness, and a smile pulls at the corner of his mouth.

“Be careful, big guy, I could choke you out from this position, you know?”

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