Page 87 of Savage Cravings

Her lips twisted from the nickname as she shifted on her feet. I made her feel uneasy. That much was clear to see.

I raised one eyebrow at her. “Is that a problem?”

“It’s not me who has a problem with that. Did Silas force you to drive me to work?”

“Silas doesn’t force me to do anything. Now, get in the car.”

She hesitated. I moved to the passenger side of the black truck that blended easily into the city, waiting for her to decide.

Slowly, she moved over to me and climbed in, her elbow brushing against my side. She tensed slightly, meeting my eyes before quickly looking away once more. I closed the door behind her with a small, amused smile. What an enigma this girl had turned out to be.

I could still remember watching her come undone in my brother’s arms. I probably shouldn’t have watched, and she should have stopped me. She didn’t, and I didn’t regret it.

Not one fucking bit.

And that was a problem I didn’t want to get into.

I got to the driver’s side and pulled the car out of the lot. She fidgeted in her seat in silence for about half the ride before she turned slightly to me, her eyes raking up and down the side of my profile.

“You stare any harder, little monster, and I might blush,” I deadpanned.

I didn’t need to see her to know she was blushing. I didn’t think I had ever met a girl who blushed as much as she did. Of course, most of the women I interacted with weren’t the blushing type. The life they lived had hardened them too much. Which made me wonder why, after living with the club and being under Hayes’ thumb for most of her life, she could still be so… soft.

Soft and delicate in the worst way possible.

“Why ‘little monster’?” she asked.

I smiled but didn’t answer her. Had she forgotten the T-shirt she wore when we firstofficiallymet? A line of cartoonish-looking creatures that were supposed to pass for monsters. The shirt was so fucking ridiculous, I found myself wondering when I would get the chance to see her wear it once more.

Little monster was an ironic nickname. Out of the two of us, I was the real monster. Not Mila fucking Hayes. She was?—

Hell, I didn’t even know what she was.

She huffed in annoyance at my non-answer, prompting me to smile just a little wider. How amusing.

We didn’t talk the rest of the way, and after a small moment, she seemed to settle into the silence. I was a man who’d made comfort with the silence a long time ago. Especially with how volatile Killian was, and howloudSilas was. I learned to be the sturdy foundation for both of them to stand on.

I liked that she seemed comfortable in the silence as well. Why that mattered, I didn’t fucking know.

I pulled up in front of the shitty restaurant she was working in.

She shifted awkwardly before turning to me. “Thanks for the ride.”

I nodded. “I’ll be here when you get off.”

She shook her head. “You don’t?—”

“I’ll be here when you get off,” I repeated. She closed her mouth, and after a moment of hesitation, she nodded and got out of the car. I watched as she made her way up the steps leading to the front door of the restaurant. She turned before going in. She couldn’t see me through the tinted window, but the lights around the restaurant offered me a clear view of her.

My eyes made a slow perusal up and down her body, stopping on her heart-shaped face. Another awkward wave from her before she disappeared inside. I stayed parked where I was for a beat before driving into an empty spot in the restaurant parking space.

I could say to myself that I was simply here to keep an eye on the girl, for Silas’ sake. He would be pissed if something happened to his new toy. Yet somehow, the words felt like a fucking lie I wasn’t ready to delve into.

It wasa little past eleven o’clock at night when the doors pushed open, and out came Mila’s delicate frame.

For a small moment in time, her guard dropped, leaving her looking lost.

Not for the first time, I found myself wondering what had happened to this girl to make her look like this.

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