30. Ember
Ember
The smell pulled me from a dream I didn’t want to leave.
Warm waves of salty cheese permeated my senses. The image surrounding me rippled away, rushing me back into reality. My eyes fluttered open as my lashes stuck together, but soon, the room came into focus. The ceiling, the bed, and Silas, with a plastic container between us.
Propped up on one elbow, he was lying on his side next to me.
His expression was cautious but focused.
It seemed as if he was watching me like he’d been there for a while.
A small smile curved his mouth when he realized I was awake, but something was off about him.
He pushed the large bowl toward me and handed me a fork.
“I’m not sure if you just talk in your sleep or if you were actually asking me for food, but I got some anyway. ”
My stomach answered him before I did, growling loudly between us.
I’d definitely asked for food on purpose, considering how this man was making a habit out of depleting my energy.
Taking the fork from him, I stretched my arms, reaching over my head until my back popped. “Well, I have been quite busy.”
Silas huffed quietly, almost amused. Then he shifted, reaching over to a side table that wasn’t there before. Grabbing two cold water bottles, he turned back to me. “Plan on being busy for most of your life now.” His smile grew wider as he handed me one. “Drink.”
My throat felt like I swallowed sand, which made sense—considering how many times I’d screamed out his name.
Naturally, I wanted to fight him and his damn instruction, but I twisted the cap off and chugged half of it immediately.
As I pulled the bottle away from my mouth, I noticed the food between us.
My eyes widened as my mouth began to water.
“Oh my god.” I ripped the bowl into my lap like he might take it away from me, as drool continued to form.
Fries. Not just regular fries, but multiple stacks drowned in thick country gravy.
I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face, and suddenly, I felt like a child who’d just received an ice cream cone.
“Silas.” His name came out as a sigh before I shoved the first bite into my mouth and groaned with instant approval.
Every bite was a continuous flood of hot, crispy perfection.
“Is it weird if I say I forgive you? For everything?”
Instead of answering, he looked down, leaning back against the headboard beside me.
“Don’t say that just yet,” he muttered to himself.
I barely caught it but paid it no mind because for the next few minutes, I was solely lost in fries.
He just sat there and watched me devour them with his arms resting loosely over his knees.
It wasn't long before I'd finished the entire container.
I had just wiped my mouth when he spoke.
“Can I ask you something?”
Completely content, I snuggled into the blanket and shrugged. “Go for it.”
“Your friends,” he said, bringing his eyes up to me. “The ones you live with. Tell me about them?”
I gave a shallow nod and closed my eyes as I started talking. “Kinsley is easy, I guess. I mean, we get along well. She’s always been everything I’m not, because life has always come easy for her.” I snorted, opening one eye at him. “Which has always been slightly annoying.”
Silas’s eyes slightly narrowed at that comment, like he was cataloging everything I said.
“She’s funny and doesn’t take no for an answer, been that way for as long as I’ve known her, but sometimes, it’s like we live in two different worlds,” I added.
He nodded slowly before moving to the foot of the bed and taking my leg into his hands. Focusing along the muscle there, he massaged my calf.
“And Bodhi is her other half, basically my brother. He’s a quarterback and stays with us when he can. Sometimes it’s weekends, sometimes just the summer. He’s basically like, the house dad when he’s there, making sure everyone is taken care of.”
Silas’s jaw tightened slightly at that, but his hands kept moving.
“Kolby is Kinsley's brother,” I opened my eyes, feeling myself smile, “They’re fraternal twins but honestly, they couldn’t be more opposite from each other.
I’m surprised he’s survived this long with how he acts sometimes.
Between his impulses and that mouth of his, he tends to get in trouble a lot.
” Dropping the blanket, I dramatically brought my hands up to my throat.
“Kinsley choked him multiple times. Like, physically, with her bare hands.”
The memory of that night played out in my head as I mentally watched Kolby get tackled by Kinsley in front of me, for just merely existing. I laughed involuntarily at the image.
Silas’s hands stopped moving. “His mouth, huh?”
Of course that’s what he would take from that conversation.
“Mouth as in the words that seem to fall out of it—not because of what he can do with it. Despite his multiple attempts at that, I never looked at him in that way.” I leaned toward Silas playfully.
placing my hand lightly on his before I tapped twice.
“But honestly?” I said in a light tone, winking.
“He probably couldn’t manage half of what you do. ”
There was no instant flare of anger in his face. If anything, his expression turned to one of sadness, but his hands twitched, tightening around my leg, and I took that as a win. After a moment, he blinked a few times and casually picked a piece of lint off my leg. “And they all live with you?”
An odd feeling crossed over me then, and I straightened my body.
Something told me this wasn’t just an average conversation.
He wasn’t just trying to learn, like he did with my body earlier.
The questions he asked felt weighted, as if this talk was more like an interrogation.
In just the last few seconds, Silas’s body had tensed and his eyes seemed colder.
I tilted my head, very aware that something had changed. “Yes?”
A slight pain shot up my leg as his thumbs suddenly dug into the muscle there. A short sound of pain escaped me just as he looked down and realized what he’d done. His hands stilled as he looked up at me, gently rubbing over the area before kissing it. “Sorry.”
I pulled my leg away, keeping my eyes on him the whole time. Now I knew something was off. “Well,” I said lightly, brushing my hands over the blanket on my lap, “while we’re asking questions…Am I allowed to ask when I can go home?”
This time, my words pulled a reaction from him. Silas held my gaze for a moment before his eyebrow twitched and he stood. “Why? It's not like you have a job anymore. Am I allowed to ask how you feel about us?”
My jaw dropped at his first response but I wasn't sure why. Silas had been watching me, so of course he knew about that. To be fair though, I had never actually resigned from my job, I had just left the keys out for Atlas. A clear indication I wasn't coming back.
Deciding to let it go, I considered his next question as I watched him gather the trash around us.
When he turned back toward me for my answer, my body automatically shrugged even though my thoughts on that subject were anything but casual.
“I’m still thinking about everything,” I admitted.
“You aren’t exactly an average boyfriend.
” The words sounded silly when I said them out loud, but they were the most honest ones I had.
Silas clicked his tongue once as he tied the bag and unbuckled the restraints from the bed before throwing them into a pile. “I don’t think the term boyfriend fits me very well.”
“Yeah,” I said in full agreement, “I know.” My confession made him stop completely. I stopped fiddling with my fingers to look up at him.
“I think husband would be better.”
I replayed his words just to make sure I heard the right ones, but even then, I was in shock. “I’m sorry, what?!”
He held eye contact for another second before continuing to strip one side of the bed. “I guess that’s something we can discuss later.” His tone left no room for argument, which made me blush and become incredibly uncomfortable.
I stood, trying to change the subject. “If I can't go home, am I allowed to debate the terms of my stay? Like maybe access to a hot shower?”
A slow exhale came from him, as if it was something he hadn’t even thought about. Handing me my clothes, he pulled me into his chest. “If I say yes, will you stay with me longer?”
My cheeks flushed as I pushed up against him and then stepped around his body to get dressed.
While I slipped each leg into my bottoms, he stripped the bed of the dark sheets and threw everything together in the corner of the room.
Then, he walked to the opposite corner and reconnected the wires hanging out of the bottom of the camera.
Twisting together two cords, he stepped back just as a blue light flickered on.
A few seconds passed before he was facing me again and closing the space between us.
“What do you think?” he asked as he grabbed my hand.
I furrowed my eyebrows at him, avoiding the question. “I need a shower, Silas.”
He nodded, pulling us toward the door we entered through. Once we left the hidden hallway, I assumed he would take me to a reserved space in the club, a place meant to wash off the sins that were regularly committed there, but ten minutes later I found myself in his car.
I didn't say anything as he opened the door for me, and I remained quiet as we pulled off onto the road.
The more Silas drove, the more the engine created a steady vibration—one that traveled up through the seat and into my spine, weirdly soothing me.
Outside the window, the world had dissolved into long stretches of dark road and scattered lights.
I decided to focus on that. Resting my head against the cool glass, I watched the night slide by.
The air was too quiet between us and I wasn't sure what to say. Silas was Silas, but not.
As if he heard my thoughts the exact moment I had them, Silas’s hand moved to my thigh and gently squeezed. My eyes moved to his face, where I found him staring straight toward the road. I shifted my gaze down his neck and shoulder, following his arm until the tattoos stopped at his wrist.
I quietly scoffed at myself and the fact I was sitting here, worrying about Silas.
Realistically, he was the person I was supposed to be nervous about, not worried for.
For all I knew, we were driving straight to the middle of nowhere, but here I was, trying to figure out what was going on inside his head.
A quiet breath of amusement slipped out of me before I could stop it.
As I watched him from the corner of my eye, Silas repeatedly glanced over at me. Each time was quick, barely a second, and then his attention snapped back to the road.
I turned my head slightly, studying him in the dim glow of the dashboard lights. The faint blue light caught along the edge of his jaw and the bridge of his nose. “This feels weird,” I said, rotating my hand in a circle between us.
“What does?”
Shifting in the seat, I pulled one leg up underneath me as I leaned back into the leather behind me. “The part where I should probably be panicking again.”
One dark eyebrow lifted, just barely. “You want to panic again?”
“Maybe,” I muttered back.
Silas went quiet again, focusing on a stretch of empty desert around us.
And just like that, it was back again—the strange, subtle tension that had been clinging to him since I’d woken up. I watched from the corner of my eye for a few seconds longer before letting my head fall back against the seat. “It really just depends on you.”
That grabbed his attention.
Dark unreadable eyes slid toward me before returning to the road. “Do you feel panic right now?” he asked.
I gave a slight shrug, watching the side of his face. “Oh, I don’t know,” I said mockingly. “I was actually enjoying your presence and personality before it was replaced by a slightly more brooding version. I don't like this one, he seems disconnected.”
A quiet breath escaped him through his nose. “I’m right here.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said, turning my attention back out the window.
Normally he’d have some type of reply—a sharp comment or a dry insult. His arsenal was always ready to remind me that provoking him was a terrible idea, but that was the end of the conversation. There was nothing else besides the silence that stretched between us.
I eventually decided to fill it. “Do you kidnap everyone, or am I just special?”
A short breathy sigh of an answer told me he didn’t approve of me trying to lighten the mood. “This is not kidnapping. You asked for a shower.”
“So maybe I’m the only victim that’s been smart enough to ask for basic human needs, but still gotta know—am I the only one to get zip tied?'
Silas’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. “You are not my victim.”
“I bet you have a punch card,” I grinned at the windshield, having way too much fun now, “Kidnap ten girls, get the eleventh free. Maybe you should have just put me to sleep, it probably would have been easier.”
“STOP.”
Silas’s voice wasn’t just stern. He was angry. This was the first time I’d ever heard him raise it and I hated the feeling it gave me.
I chose to stay quiet and let him deal with whatever the hell was going on. When we eventually pulled up into a driveaway, I didn’t even have time to look at the house before the car shut off and Silas got out, slamming the door behind him.