Page 81 of Silent Betrayal

“Oh really?” he asks, skepticism in his voice as he turns his head just enough to make eye contact with me. “And who taught you how to do that?”

“You did.”

“I did, did I?” he asks with an eyebrow raised.

“Yep, don’t you remember? Oh no, are you losing your memory already, Atlas? It’s a shame you’re getting so old—Ahh!” I squeal with laughter as he tickles me again and I try to squeeze his neck, but it doesn’tseem to restrict his breathing at all, causing me to surrender. “Okay, okay, I give, you win!”

His fingers instantly stop moving, and I release my poor imitation of a choke hold on his neck. My eyes catch Ben’s and he gives me a wink before looking back as we near the zoo exit. But instead of heading to the gate, Atlas walks to the large gift shop and kneels down to let me off his back by a bench.

“You two sit here and don’t move until I get back,” he commands, quickly entering the store.

“He’s bossy,” I whisper to Ben, watching where Atlas went.

He laughs, grabbing my hand and distracting me from Atlas’s abrupt departure. “Did you have fun today?”

“The zoo is awesome! I had no idea how fun it could be looking at the animals. Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Of course. I actually have something for you,” he says, pulling out a tiny little velvet pouch and handing it to me.

I open it up and pull out a new charm for my bracelet, a gorilla. I look at him and we both burst out laughing. “I can exchange it for a penguin, now I know that’s your favorite. I chose the gorilla because I thought it looked nice and I thought you’d appreciate the symbolism. The gorilla represents family and protection.”

“It’s perfect, I love it,” I tell him as he attaches it to my bracelet for me. Along with the horse and popcorn, my bracelet was starting to look more filled out. And I loved that at any time I could just look down and see those charms and be brought back to those fond memories anytime I wanted.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” I ask Ben as he finishes attaching the charm.

He looks up at me in surprise, swallows nervously, then nods, all without muttering a word.Is he nervous?At least that makes two of us. We’ve never even cuddled before. But I have a feeling he’ll be great at it.

Ben’s eyes move behind me and I turn as Atlas comes out of the store and holds up a large white bag to me. My surprised eyes meet his intense gaze and I take it silently, and when I open it up and peek inside, I squeal at what I find.

“Oh my goodness, it’s so cute!” I pull out the giant stuffed baby penguin, clutching it tightly to my chest. Atlas’s eyes soften before he turns and kneels down for me, silently telling me to climb on.

“Here, I can take that for you,” Ben says, reaching for the penguin, but I pull it away as I scold him.

“No, AJ is mine!”

“AJ?” he asks in surprise.

“Yep,” I don’t explain the name, but I think Atlas knows, from the cocky smirk on his face. Tucker had given me a stuffed cow that I named TJ, Tucker Junior, so it was an easy guess as to what AJ stood for.AtlasJunior.

Chapter thirty-six

She is so fucking adorable, it’s impossible to keep myself from smiling around her. I had tried to keep my distance today, but she kept pulling me into their conversations and making sure I could see all the animals as she pointed them out.

When she cooed over those baby penguins, I knew I had to find her a stuffed one to take home. I was just grateful they had them in the store and I didn’t have to order one online, I wasn’t great with that sort of shit.

When we reach the SUV, I regret not finding a moment to pull her aside early to speak, but I’m determined to do it before we get home. I’ve left it too long as it is.

“Malishka, do you want to sit in the back with me? I could rub your sore feet for you?”

“Really? You’d want to do that?” she asks as I set her on her feet and turn to see her clutching her stuffed penguin like it’s her prized possession, making me feel a little more confident in my decision to talk to her.

“Yep, come on, jump in,” I tell her, offering my hand to help her. She climbs in and Ben gives me a wink before silently moving to the driver’s seat.

For the first fifteen minutes, I don’t speak as I think about what to say. She leans back with her eyes closed, offering small moans as I knead the bottoms of her feet, making my cock twitch in my pants, wanting to hear more of her moaning.

“Malishka?” I ask, making sure she hasn’t drifted off to sleep.

“Hmm?” she asks, lifting her head and opening her eyes to look at me in question.

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