Page 82 of Silver Tears

Charlie scrambles into his dressing gown and I help him put his slippers on. He’s now wide awake and bursting with energy. I get the feeling he won’t go back to sleep for a while now. He runs downstairs and into the front room, but he hesitates when he spots Rafe and Archer. I think it would intimidate anyone finding my two best friends in their living room in the middle of the night. Charlie spots Mills sitting in the armchair, and he moves over to her, not taking his eyes off my friends.

“Milly, we’re having a sleepover at Seb’s! Isn’t it exciting?” He pats her arm repeatedly, struggling to control his joy. Milly paints on a smile and nods her head.

“It is exciting. Don’t be afraid of Archer and Rafe. They are Seb’s best friend. They might look like they bite, but they don’t,” she reassures him, and he looks over at them both, studying them.

“Hey buddy,” Archer says approaching him slowly and getting down to his level. “That’s a cool dragon. What’s his name?”

Charlie smiles and holds out his cuddly toy. “He’s called Bruce and he can blow fire out of his mouth. This is George. Seb got him for me when we went to the zoo.”

Archer raises a brow, pretending to be impressed. “That is pretty amazing. You ready to go now?” Whatever worries Charlie had about the boys have evaporated as he slips his hand in Archers and smiles up at him. Kids. They’re so damn trusting. I don’t miss the pain in my best friend's eyes as he looks down at Chops. No doubt he’s thinking about the baby that he and Eliza had lost. The pregnancy was a shock for all of us. Yes, they were young, but I fully believe they would have been great parents to the baby. I squeeze his shoulder and he swallows before guiding Charlie to the door, with Rafe following behind him.

“Are you ready?” I ask Mills, who stares after her brother. She nods her head and looks around the house.

“Everything is back to normal,” I assure her. “The boys have cleaned up all the blood and removed the knife.”

She nods her head and chews on her fingernails. “Where do you think he went?”

I reach for her and pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her waist. “He’ll crawl under a rock somewhere to recover, but we’ll find him and deal with him. Where’s your mum? How come he was here at the house without her?”

She blows out a shaky breath. “They left together, but he returned about twenty minutes later. Lenny said he’d left her at the club and had come back to teach me a lesson. That he didn’t like my snotty attitude towards him.”

I clench my fists. Fucker was going to pay in blood. “Text her. Tell her something’s come up and I can’t meet her. That you and Charlie are with me. If she asks about Lenny, you haven’t seen him since he left with her. Okay?”

She bobs her head in agreement and shoots a text to her mum. I usher her out into the cool, dark night and lock the door behind us, handing her the key. We both climb into the back of the car with Charlie. Archer drives my car, knowing I want to be near to Mills.

Charlie looks out the window, brimming with excitement, and asks me a shit tonne of questions about the house. By the time we arrive, though, he’s fast asleep, no longer able to fight his exhaustion. Archer reaches into the back of the car and carries him into the house while I help Mills out. Rafe grabs their bags from the boot. Mills studies the house as we walk to the door.

“Is this yours?” she asks me, the surprise clear in her voice.

“It belongs to the three of us. It’s where we come to escape. To be free from the family expectations. Very few people know about this place. Come on, let’s get you inside and warmed up.”

We get them inside, and Archer takes Charlie off to his room for the night. I task Rafe with calling Don and updating him. He looks surprised when I tell him I’ve had Don investigating Lenny. I’ve been keeping a lot from my brothers, and I know they’ll have a tonne of questions later.

Milly says she’s not tired, so she settles on the sofa, and I make her a cup of tea. The television is on, but she isn’t watching it. She’s staring at it, but her head isn’t in this room. It’s back there in that kitchen. I sit with her, and she rests her head on my shoulder. I don’t pepper her with questions. I just be there for her. She’ll talk to me when she’s ready. Mills eventually nods off and I carefully lift her and carry her to my room. Standing at the side of the bed, I watch her for a while. He almost raped her tonight, and it’s tearing me in half. I wasn’t there to protect her, but I am now. I’ll make damn sure that fucker never breathes the same air as her again.

MILLY

Iawake with a jolt and sit bolt upright, my eyes scanning the unfamiliar room. I jump when an arm brushes mine. My breathing settles when I realise it’s Seb.

“Are you okay?” he asks me, stroking my arm and hovering over me like I’m a fragile doll who’ll break at any second.

“When I sleep, I’m back there in that kitchen with him breathing all over me, pressed against me.”

“What can I do to help?” Seb asks me, tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. His touch is so soft. I close my eyes, savouring the contact.

“I need to forget,” I share. “I need to replace those horrible memories with good ones. Ones that I have chosen.” I don’t know where I find the courage, but I sit up on my knees and straddle him, dropping onto his lap. I reach for the bottom of my T-shirt and pull it up and off, throwing it somewhere beside the bed. Seb freezes, his eyes moving over my breasts.

“This isn’t what you want. You’ll regret this in the morning. What you need is someone to hold you and help you get to sleep,” he says, frowning at me.

I shake my head firmly. “Don’t tell me what I need, Collings. Look, I know this isn’t real. But right now, I need your lips on mine and your hands on my body. Please don’t make me beg.” My voice breaks as I try to rein in my emotions. “Please don’t reject me right now. Not now, after tonight.”

He still doesn’t move. I want to know what he’s thinking right now.

“Seb, I—”

His lips press against mine, and I whimper in relief. I kiss him back, shuffling forward on his lap, wanting to be closer. I want to get lost in him tonight. He cups the back of my neck and kisses me with such care, like he wants to cherish me. I take his bottom lip between my teeth and gently tug it. “I won’t break. Kiss me like you mean it.”

I feel his smile against my mouth, before he dives back in, holding my head steady in his hands as he pours everything into the kiss. I kiss him back, like I’m starved. I need this. To replace the stench of sweat and tobacco with the scent of spice and myrrh. To replace the feel of large sweaty hands with soft and exploratory ones.