Page 105 of Silent Betrayal

I give her a nod before replying. “Sometimes I worry about that, yes. I think you’re gonna wake up one day and realize you don’t need me.”

“Gideon,” she says, grabbing my hands and turning us more towards each other. “I have not been doing my job as your girlfriend if you don’t realize how much you mean to me. You’re my rock. You’ve been there since my first day of school, you were the first person I met who was kind to me, who saw me. We might have had a slower start than the others, but it doesn’t mean I love you any less. You aremine, Gideon, and I’m yours. I love you.

“How did I get so lucky to have a woman as amazing as you—love me?” She gives me a shrug and I lean in close. “I love you, too,” I whisper before selling my lips to hers.

“Oh my goodness, Gideon!” she says, laughing right before I spin her around and dip her backwards. Pulling her back up, I grab her hips, pulling her against me as we sway back and forth to the beat of the music. “I had no idea dancing was so fun!” she says with a huge smile.

The restaurant I had chosen was located in a hotel, which happened to also have a pretty decent bar that had a bit of a dance scene on Saturday nights, which is where we found ourselves after dinner.

The music starts to change songs and Mina pulls me down to talk in my ear so I can hear her over the roar of the music. “My feet are sore!” she yells. I immediately bend down and lift her up bridal style and headfor the bar to settle up my tab. We both had an additional two glasses of wine, which Mina learned she loved.

“I just need to settle the bill, Love,” I tell her, placing her on one of the bar stools as I flag the bartender down.

“Mina, I want to ask you something, but I don’t want you to agree just to make me happy, there is absolutely no pressure.”

“Okaaaaaay…” she says, her smile slipping a little.

“Would you like to spend the night with me—” Her shoulders immediately drop in relief.

“Oh! Of course I will.”

“There’s more,” I hedge. “I was going to say, would you like to spend the night with me here? In this hotel?”

Her eyebrows slightly furrow before a huge smile takes over her face. “I’d love that.”

I give her a firm but heated kiss before pulling back to smile at her, turning to finish paying my tab.

“Hey! I know you! You’re that bitch that got my son killed!”

The second the man starts speaking, I place myself between him and Mina. He tries to get around me and I have to physically push him backwards. “Hey, back off!” I tell him sternly.

“That little psycho lied about my son touching her, then she got him killed for her lies!” His voice gets louder and louder causing people to start staring.

I’ve never seen this man before, but he looks incredibly drunk, stumbling all over the place. He probably has her mixed up with someone else.

“Are you Brad’s dad?” Mina asks softly from over my shoulder. My eyes shoot back to the man in question, and I see the resemblance.

“Don’t you dare say his name you little bitch!” he yells as he tries to move around me to lunge for her. I manage to hold him back, but Mina still lets out a squeal of fear as she jumps off the stool to try to move further away from him.

“You need to leave, sir. If you try to touch her one more—” before I can finish my sentence, he throws his entire body in Mina’s direction, making her scream.

That’s the moment I lose control.Nobody touches mygirl.

Chapter forty-seven

One second Brad’s dad is lunging for me, the next he lays unconscious on his back with Gideon breathing heavily over him. Before I can say a word, he swiftly turns to face me, his hands skimming my arms as he looks me over.

“Did he touch you?” he asks in a tone I’ve never heard from him before.

I shake my head as my wide eyes bounce between his. “You punched him.”

He nods his head. “I lost control of my temper. That seems to happen a lot around you, I don’t think I’ve ever punched someone before.”

“Really? Cause you’re really good at it.”

His hard eyes turn soft and he offers me a small smile. “I’d do anything to keep you safe, you know that, right?”

“I’m starting to see that, yeah.”

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