24. Mina
Mina
“Hello?” a tired sounding man answers after three rings.
I squeeze Atlas’s hand tighter, glad for his strength, as my stomach twists with nerves.
“H-hi. Is this… Paul Stevens?” I ask shakily.
There’s a pause before he answers, “yes, who is this?”
“M-my name is Mina.” He gasps and I can hear the shock as my eyes move up to where I catch Ben watching me. He gives me a reassuring smile that helps to give me strength.
“Mina? As in… my Mina? Where have you been?” he asks with worry and hope threaded through his tone.
“Umm…” I mumble, not sure how to answer.
“You’re calling me, so you must know who I am? Do you remember me?”
“I do. You… You left me. You said you’d come back.
But you didn’t! You left me alone with her!
” I sob out the last word. I didn’t expect to immediately yell at him like that.
I hadn’t planned on saying anything, but after all this time, it just sort of exploded out of me.
I sniffle and try to calm myself so I can finish the conversation.
Gideon passes me a handkerchief and I use it to wipe my face and blow my nose.
“Oh, honey. I’m so, so sorry! I… There… I can explain. Can I meet you? I need to see you with my own eyes. Where have you been this whole time?” I push my face into Atlas’s chest as I try to contain my cries, and thankfully, Gideon takes the phone from me.
“Hello sir,” Gideon says into the phone.
“Who is this?” His tone immediately changes, and he sounds furious.
“My name is Gideon. I—”
“Put my daughter back on the phone, now!” he demands loudly, making me jump. Atlas holds me tighter, rubbing my back as I sniffle against him.
“Sir, she is right here beside me, you are on speaker phone with us all. But she is upset right now and can’t speak at the moment.”
“Who are you? And who else is there? What’s going on?” he demands answers as Gideon looks at me.
“Mina? Is it okay if I give him a brief history of what’s going on here?” I think for a second, then nod. I’m not sure I could get the words out again.
“Paul?”
“Yes, what is going on? I want to talk to Mina.”
“Look, Mina is upset. She didn’t even know you were still alive or that you’ve been looking for until we found out about you a couple days ago. She says I can tell you a bit about what’s going on, then we can arrange for you two to meet.”
“Alright, I’m listening,” he says gruffly.
“From what we can gather, when you went into rehab, Helen took her and has been moving her around the country ever since. She… She wasn’t treated well. Her mother kept her locked in the basement and beat her frequently.” Atlas grips me harder at those words, nuzzling my head with his.
“Oh god. I—I’m sorry, honey. Can you hear me?”
“She can hear you.”
“I want to explain, but let’s do it in person. Where are you?”
“We are in Blue River, Montana.”
“Okay, I’ll take the first flight out, can I reach you back at this number?”
“Yes, but it’s Dominic’s phone, so he’ll be the one answering it.”
“And who are you both to, my daughter?” Gideon looks me in the eye as he answers, “we’re her family.”
“Hmm, Well… You two better take care of her and keep her safe until I can get there, I’ll text you the details of when I should arrive.”
They say their goodbyes, and Gideon passes the phone back to Dom. My tears have stopped and I grab Gideon’s hand as I tell him, “thank you.”
He smiles at me, then grabs his flask and moves to the kitchen, probably for a refill, since he seems to have a bit of a tea addiction.
“Why don’t we watch some tv and relax for the rest of the night?
” Tucker asks, switching it on as we all get comfortable.
I snuggle into Atlas’s side, deciding to forget the fact that I’m mad at them right now.
I don’t want to be alone. I know I’m going to have enough trouble falling asleep tonight as it is, with so much going on between my mom, Simon and now, my dad.
Sleeping alone the past two nights has been awful.
I kept having nightmares and tossing and turning all night long…
It felt like I was constantly on the brink of a panic attack.
But I knew that if I left my door unlocked, and Dom or Atlas came in, I wouldn’t be able to say no to cuddling them, and I was still mad.
Maybe mad was a strong word. I’m frustrated and confused now. I’m frustrated at what they did, but confused about why I still care about them. Shouldn’t I hate them? Shouldn’t the last thing I want is to be touched by them? I thought I couldn’t trust them.
But if I didn’t, then why am I leaning against Atlas right now? Why did I tell them about everything Simon did to me?
When Dom reached out to touch me, then stopped himself.
I felt frozen with disbelief. I could see it, clear as day in his expression, he wanted to hold me.
But he stopped because he thought I didn’t want him to do it.
And he was right, I wasn’t sure at that moment.
I wasn’t sure if I trusted them. At least that’s what my head says.
My heart never stopped loving them, not even for a moment.
Tucker puts on The Office for us as Atlas runs his fingers up and down my arm in a soothing motion. It’s become my favorite tv show, always making me laugh and feel better. Gideon gets up to grab us drinks and Tucker steals his spot at my other side, sitting against me without really touching me.
Gideon and Tucker have been a bit more reserved with their attention and affection than the others have, Gideon even more so.
Them and Ben are the only ones I haven’t slept with.
But, despite everything going on, I know that I want to do that with them, at some point.
I fear Gideon and Tucker see me more as their student still, and that’s why they haven’t pressed anything with me, or asked me to be their girlfriend yet.
I shouldn’t even be worrying about that right now, I need to decide if I even want to pursue anything with all of them.
Of course you do! My head screams at me, clearly coming onboard with my heart, telling me I can’t live without them, that I never lost trust in them and that, even if we did have a rough start, they have always been trying to take care of me, even from afar.
What more could a girl want?
I play with the coffee mug in front of me as we sit in the diner, waiting for my dad to show up. I can’t believe I’m actually going to see him after all this time.
Atlas and Dom sit on either side of me in this large booth. It’s shaped like a giant U, and the other guys sit along the back, on the other side of Dom.
When Paul, my dad, arrives, he’ll have to sit on the opposite side across from me, giving me some space from him. The guys are worried about my safety. I understand, but I’m sure he’s going to feel uncomfortable sitting here with seven guys staring at him.
But until we get some answers, they aren’t willing to let me be alone with him yet, and I’m thankful for their protection. They make me feel safe, so I’m willing to listen to them on this.
The bell chimes at the door, and we all look over.
I recognize him right away. It takes him a minute to spot me, sitting with all the men around me.
His eyes widen at the group, then his gaze locks on mine, and I know he recognizes me, too.
Part of me wants to run to him and throw my arms around his neck, but the other part is still angry that he left me and unsure of where it leaves us now.
He walks up to the table, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Mina,” he says with a sigh. “Gods, I’ve been looking for you for so long. I never thought I’d actually see you again. You’ve grown into such a beautiful young woman.”
I don’t really know what to say to him, so I give him an awkward smile and say, “hi.”
He glances around the table, and Dom speaks. “Mr. Stevens, I’m Dominic. Please, take a seat.” He motions to the empty chair at the end, beside Tucker.
Paul takes a seat as he speaks. “So you’re one of the men claiming to be my daughter’s family?” He says the word like it tastes bad. “And who’s the other one?”
A chorus of, “I am,” goes around the table, and his eyes go wide as I bite my lip nervously.
“Excuse me? What is this? Some sort of orgy? What are you mixed up in, Mina?”
“Oh my god, Dad!” I gasp, my hands covering my heated cheeks. His eyes go wide and he freezes, staring at me. Then a huge smile slowly crosses his face.
“God, you don’t know how good that is to hear after all these years.”
“Tell me what happened,” I demand, wanting to move past the orgy comment and get the information I’m desperate for.
“Fair enough,” he says with a sigh as he nods.
“It all started before you were even born. I met your mother and fell for her instantly. It was love at first sight. We had some good times together over the next couple of years. Then she got pregnant. I was ecstatic, I’ve always wanted to be a dad.
She gave birth to your brother, Simon.” He looks at me, and I nod, confirming I know who he is, unfortunately.
“He was a cute kid. A little troublesome, but what you’d expect from a toddler.
When he started daycare, there were always complaints of him picking on other kids, biting them, or pushing them around, pulling girls’ hair.
I figured it was just a phase. The behavior seemed to calm down as he got a little older, but I soon realized he had just learned to hide it.
Sometimes I’d find him outside playing with dead animals.
It was more than a little creepy, but I was more worried about disease than the reasons he did it.
Whenever I talked to Helen about it, she just said that boys will be boys.
“There was an incident at school where he broke another kid’s arm.
They weren’t even fighting or fooling around.
The other kids who saw it said the kid was begging him to stop, but he just held his arm out over the edge of the playground for a couple of minutes, listening to him beg, before snapping it backward with a smile on his face.