Bonus Content #4
I take her backpack before she can even grab it. “Nope. New girl privilege,” I say, slinging it over my shoulder, along with my own bag. I grab her hand as we head out of the classroom.
“So, I hear you met my brother, Jasper, yesterday,” I say, pulling her to the side of the hall. “He’s in your science class. He’ll take you there next. Oh, here he is.”
I see Jasper standing by, and I wave him over. He spots Mina and gives her a warm smile. “Good morning, Angel. It’s good to see you in class today. Ready for science?” he asks, holding out his hand for her to take.
She looks up at me, like she’s asking for permission to go, and it warms something inside of me. She trusts me. I smile at her and nod. “Same thing goes with Jasp. If you feel like you need to get out of there, just tap his hand twice and he’ll get you somewhere quiet as quickly as he can, okay?”
She nods, giving my hand a squeeze of understanding before she lets go and takes Jasper’s hand. It hits me in the chest harder than it should. I smile back at her, letting her go to Jasper as I hand him her bag.
I rest my palm on her cheek for a moment. “Alright, Sweetheart, I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”
She nods, and I feel my heart give a quick flutter. Then, I turn to head off in the opposite direction, before I do something stupid like kiss her.
Tucker
Those blue eyes don’t stop looking at me from the moment I enter the small study room. I can’t look away either. I get it. It only takes a split second to understand why my brothers are so invested in her and her safety. Something about her eyes begs me to save her.
I wish I wasn’t in a school, wasn’t her teacher, and that she wasn’t seventeen. I’d walk over to her, pick her up, and place her in my lap while I wrap my arms around her, keeping her safe from whatever haunts her.
Gideon said her mother implied something traumatic happened in her past to make her start acting out. But I know why he doesn’t buy that story. You don’t go from a troubled kid to… this. She’s scared, soft and shy, and I want to wrap her up and make her smile.
“Hello there, Sugar! I’m Tucker,” I say as I walk toward her.
Gideon gives a fake cough.
“Uh, well, Mr. Stone. Or Tucker Stone. My students call me Stone. But you can call me whatever you like.” I fumble over my words, then remember she doesn’t talk. “Or, well… You know… Umm…”
I’ve never fumbled over words when flirting with a woman before. Jasper and Max burst out laughing, and a smile grows on Gideon’s face.
“There’s a first time for everything,” Gideon says quietly while passing out the food around the table. I see Mina look at him with confusion. He shrugs and gives her a smile.
“Max bought too much, so you’ll have to help us eat some of it, or it’ll go to waste.”
She watches as we all take seats around the study table and start digging in.
She stares at the burger and fries in front of her, finally reaching out to grab a fry.
She takes a tiny bite, chews, and her eyebrows rise.
Then she shoves the rest in her mouth. She starts piling fries in faster and faster, and we go quiet, watching the show.
The second she finishes, she picks up the burger, tries a tiny bite, then proceeds to take huge bites until it’s gone.
None of us take another bite as she shovels food into her mouth, afraid to break the spell. She’s clearly hungry, and that though has my stomach clenching with worry for her. She’s too thin. When she looks up and sees us all watching her, her face goes bright red.
I give her a big smile as I ask, “enjoyed that, did ya, Sugar? No harm in that.”
I take a huge bite of my burger to show her she hasn’t done anything wrong. She seems to relax as the rest of the guys start eating again.
After a minute, she jumps up, hands flying to her mouth, eyes darting to Jasper. He seems to understand and, in seconds, has the garbage can in front of her. She bends over and pukes into it. Max goes over and rubs her back while Jasper holds her hair.
“That’s it, Angel, just let it out.” Jasper looks over his shoulder at me and Gideon as he asks, “I guess she ate too fast?”
We exchange glances. We know you only throw up from eating that fast if you’ve been starved. We’ve seen it a few times over the years. After going without food for an extended period, you have to reintroduce it slowly—liquids first, then small amounts of solid food.
Max grabs a water bottle off the table and hands it to her as Jasper helps her stand up. Jasper gives her a napkin to wipe her mouth, then she chugs the water.
“We need to get you something lighter to eat first. I’m gonna grab you some soup,” Jasper tells her, turning to leave.
She reaches out, grabs his arm, and shakes her head, placing her other hand on her stomach.
“Your stomach hurts, so you don’t want to eat anything right now?” he guesses.
She nods and lets go of his arm, sitting down.
“All right, just sit there and relax, okay? We still have thirty minutes left before third period. What class does she have?” He looks to Gideon for an answer.
“Art.”
“Hmm. Neither of us are in that class. Angel?” She looks up at him. “Do you think you’ll be okay in that class by yourself, or would you rather stay here?”
She bites her lip and looks down, like she’s considering it, then points to the ground.
“Okay, that’s fine. You have gym fourth period,” Gideon tells her.
I clap my hands together, startling her, then rub them. “Perfect! Then it’s my turn!”
She looks at me with wide eyes.
“Ah, don’t worry, Sugar. I’m your gym teacher! I’ll take it easy on you.” I wink, and she looks around like she’s searching for an explanation for my behavior, making me laugh.
“Really, though, it’ll be fine. Just give me the old double tap if you need help, okay? If you’re not standing by me, just double tap something so I can see—like your head!”
Her eyes dart to the twins in confusion.
“Mina?” I call her name, pulling her attention back to me. “You don’t have to go. You can stay here. But if you want, you could go to gym class and just watch for today. You’d be sitting on your own, away from the others. Then maybe tomorrow you can join in—if you want, that is.”
She thinks about it for a minute then seems to come to some sort of decision as she gives me a small nod, and I take it as agreement.
“All right, you can sit on the bleachers during class. We’re outside today. Can y’all show her where to go? I’ll be setting up stuff for class,” I say, my Southern drawl coming through.
The guys nod and we chat about baseball for a while. The whole time she sits there quietly coloring. Does she enjoy that? Based on the interactions we just had, I’m sure she can handle real classwork. So why was her mother adamant that she only colors? Was she really connected to the murders?
I watch her shy, sweet face, as she focuses her attention on her coloring book, wishing those beautiful green eyes would focus on me instead. She’s special, I’m sure of it. I know barely anything about this girl, but I’m dying to learn everything there is to know.
Atlas
The moment Jasper steps into the house, with the girl in his arms, my eyes are glued to her.
She’s so small and fragile and my jaw tightens as I take in the sight of her curling into him, seeking comfort.
She looks up at me, and I see the fear in her eyes.
Is she afraid of me? That thought settles uncomfortably in my chest. The last thing I want is for her to be scared of me. I need to rectify this.
Jasper holds her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Max steps in, blocking her view of me, as he speaks. “Don’t worry, that’s Atlas. He’s like a huge teddy bear when you get to know him.”
I grunt at that, and Max just grins. He kneels, slipping off her shoes, and when socks fall out of the toes, both he and Jasper pause, glancing between her feet and the too-big shoes she’s been wearing.
“I’ve heard of guys stuffing socks in their pants before, but I didn’t know girls did that with their shoes,” Max quips, making Jasper laugh.
I watch as she hesitates before smiling slightly, and Max lights up at the small response. He holds up one of her shoes next to her foot, the size difference glaringly obvious. “Hmm. Why don’t you have shoes the right size?”
She only shrugs, offering no answer. A sense of protectiveness rises in me. How long has she been without proper shoes?
She wiggles, trying to get Jasper to put her down, but he only holds her tighter. “No.” Her eyebrows raise at his refusal, and he meets her gaze with an expression that looks almost like pleading. “Just let me hold you right now, okay?”
She doesn’t seem to understand, but she nods anyway. Good. Jasper isn’t one to ask for much, and I can tell he needs this as much as she does.