Page 101 of Shattered Silence Duet

I shrug my shoulders and he gives me a sad smile.

“Move in with us!” Max suddenly yells, making me jump.

“Tact, man. Use it,” Tucker grumbles at him, and Jasper runs his hand over his face, clearly exasperated with his brother.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer! I mean, she’s not a minor, and there is no way we’re letting her go back to that hellhole of a house. I want her to know she has a home with us.” Max beams at me.

My sweet twin. He’s so thoughtful and kind. I hadn’t even had the chance to process what happened with my mother or where I would live.

Do I want to live with them? For so long, I’d imagined moving out on my own, getting out from under my family’s thumb. I never really thought about living with anyone else. But as they all stare at me expectantly for an answer, I know what I want to do. It’s clear I can’t take care of myself, and I’m not too vain to admit I need them. They said they would help me, but I wonder if they really mean that, knowing recovery might not be an easy road for me.

“Malishka?” I turn to look at Atlas. “We would all love it if you came to stay with us. For as long as you want. You need help to recover from what happened, and every one of us wants to be by your side as you heal.” I glance around quickly at the others and they all smile or nod at me, confirming their agreement with him. “Malishka, please stay with us. I need you.”

“Weneed you,” Dom says from my other side.

I can’t imagine what they need me for, but a smile covers my face as I nod in agreement. Max cheers loudly as they all seem to sigh in relief.

I lift my chin again, looking at Jasper for another drink. He indulges me, and as my eyelids grow heavy. Dom smooths my hair down and says, “sleep, Kitten. We’ll be here when you wake up. We’re not going anywhere. You belong with us now.”

Chapter 5

Jasper

She’s okay. I have to keep reminding myself of that over and over as I watch her sleeping in the hospital bed. I was terrified that she wouldn’t wake up. We’ve spent the past twelve days in the hospital room, everyone refusing to go home. We took turns grabbing food and stretching our legs. Right now I’m the only one in here as the others are getting food.

Luckily, we paid to get a VIP room that was extra big and included a shower we could use. There were enough seats between the couches and chairs to seat us all, which was a good thing since we had been eating and sleeping here for almost two weeks.

I wasn’t sure how we were going to keep CPA from taking her. Unfortunately, Ben’s plan to pretend to be her husband fell through when he had no documentation to back his claim. If he had been home, he could have whipped something up, but we didn’t have time. Besides, the chief arrived and called him on his bullshit before we had time to come up with a plan.

But when she woke up and told us she’s twenty-one, I almost passed out from shock. She was pretending to be seventeen, while Max and I were pretending to be eighteen instead of twenty-two. It’s almost funny when you think about it. We thought she was far too young, and she probably thought the same of us.

Seeing her alive and somewhat talking allows me to take the first real breath since I saw her lying on that basement floor, covered in blood.

She’s been out cold for twelve days. Part of that was a forced coma to help her heal. She sustained some serious head injuries, they suspected the front of her head and been hit with something hard, and they were worried about the swelling in her brain. She stayed in the coma for nine days, and then it took another three days for her to finally wake up. The whole time she was unconscious was like something from a nightmare, but the last three days were somehow much worse, knowing she could wake up at any moment and wondering why she hadn’t yet.

I stare at her left hand, all wrapped up with bandages. They reattached the finger, but we won’t know if it will fully reattach or even function until she heals a little more and can test it. When she gripped my hand, I felt such relief that she at least has movement there, but I noticed that she doesn’t seem to be able to lift her arms. It was obvious when she was trying to communicate with us. I’m praying it’s a side effect of the coma and the drugs in her system, and she’ll eventually regain movement.

Her head moves slightly and I shift my gaze to her face. She still has some discoloration, but her face looks much better than it did when we first brought her in. Her face was so badly beaten and covered in blood that I was afraid she had lost her eyes. When the doctor told us it was just swelling and her eyesight should be fine, we were all so relieved.

I watch as her eyelashes flutter, then her eyes open fully. She blinks, looks around, and meets my gaze, smiling. “Jasper,” she rasps. I swear my heart jumps in my chest, hearing my name on her lips for the first time.

“Angel,” I say, softly stroking her face. “How are you feeling today?” She scrunches up her nose. “That bad, huh?”

She starts to move, but I stop her. “Whoa, hang on there. Are you trying to sit up?” She nods.

“Alright, let me help you. Hold on.” I press the button thattilts the bed to a sitting position. Once it’s upright, I help her sit up a bit more by placing pillows behind her.

I grab the water and let her take a few long sips. The door opens, and Tucker and Gideon come in. They see her awake and smile, coming over to kiss her cheek, and I’m delighted when she blushes. Tucker takes the seat on the other side of her and holds her right hand in his.

“I’m glad to see you awake. We were so worried about you, Sugar.”

“C-cowboy,” she whispers, and I smirk at the nickname. “I’m s-sorry.”

He sucks in a sharp breath and looks at her like she’s insane. “What on earth are you apologizing to me for?”

“You said—” She coughs, and I bring the straw to her lips so she can soothe her throat. She drinks gratefully and turns back to him.

“You c-couldn’t handle me getting h-hurt again.” Her voice catches on the last word as a tear rolls down Tucker’s cheek. I’ve never seen this guy cry before meeting Mina.