Page 60 of Silent Desires

I sigh, pushing my hair back from my face as I lean my hip against the counter. “Yeah. it looked like she had to build up the courage to enter.”

“I told you!” Atlas yells, pointing at Dom. “We should just kidnap her!”

“Yes!” Max yells, pointing at Atlas in excitement.

“Whoa, who said anything about kidnapping her?” I ask in confusion.

Atlas turns to me, jamming his finger into the counter to make his point. “She’s not safe there. We would keep her safe.”

“Atlas…” Gideon says worriedly. “She’s a seventeen year old minor, she can’t live with seven grown ass men. And we definitely can’t kidnap her, we’d go to jail if we were caught.”

Atlas crosses his arms and shrugs like that’s the least of his worries. “So we won’t get caught. Ben can create a better fake identity than the one they’re using now. And in six months, when she turns eighteen, it won’t matter anymore.”

He was gunning for her to live with us. He wasn’t suggesting we get her out of her home, then put her somewhere safe. No, he wanted herherespecifically.

“Atlas?” I ask, drawing all of their attention to me. “You want her to live here, with us?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His brows furrow as if he doesn’t understand what I’m asking. “Why?” he repeats in confusion.

“Yeah, why? I’m tired of nobody saying what we’re all thinking. You like her. You all like her,” I say, my gaze roaming over all six of my brothers. “And you want to, what? Date her?”

He shakes his head. “No. I mean, yes. But that makes it sound… less than it is. I don’t just want to date her. I want to own her.”

“Atl—” Gideon and I start to argue with him, but he cuts us off quickly.

“No, wait—” he says, his palms out towards us. “Just listen. I want to own her, but she would own me, too. Dating doesn’t feel like it would be enough with her, but if we need to start there, then fine.”

“Okay, but that all being said, she’s still a minor,” Ben adds.

“In this state she is, but we could move to one where it’s seventeen,” Tucker says, surprising me. “What?” he says with a shrug when we all look at him. “You think I enjoy being her teacher and keeping her at arm’s length? It’s obvious she’ll fit perfectly with us. We just have to figure out this fucking case so we can stop pretending.”

“Okay,” Dom says, placing both palms on the countertop and taking control of the conversation. “I think everybody agrees they are interested in exploring something with her…” He pauses, waiting for any of us to disagree, but as he looks around, everyone nods and he continues. “She is above the legal age of consent but not considered an adult. So try to keep things PG-13 for now until we figure out this case. Once that’s over with, we can tell her who we really are and find out if she’s even interested, and we go from there. If we have to stay back until she turns eighteen, then we will. Understood?”

“Yes,” I say, and it’s echoed around the room.

“Good. Now, let’s talk about any potential leads from the other students,” he says. And our conversation turns to two of my least favorite topics: locker room gossip and upcoming high school parties.

An hour later, as we finish up, my phone buzzes, and Mina’s name lights up the screen. I smirk as I jog up to my room to chat with her in private.

Angel:Hi.

Me:Hi Angel, did you get home ok?

Angel:Yes, thanks.

Me:I wish you’d let us drive you home.

Angel:I can’t, not yet.

Yet?That was progress, at least.

Me:Just tell me when you’re ready.

Angel:I will.

---