Silent Desires (Shattered Silence Duet Book 1)
Silent Desires: Chapter 15

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 record before 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 replace 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?”