velvet sins

Chapter 7: Quiet Storm

Chapter 7: Quiet Storm

Micky’s POV

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She said it was nothing.

But her hands were shaking.

Her voice cracked halfway through the lie.

And her eyes—her goddamn eyes—looked like they’d seen something that still haunted her in the dark.

I didn’t ask again.

Not because I believed her…

But because I knew what it was like to carry s**t you weren’t ready to say out loud.

She needed space.

She needed time.

So I gave her both.

But while she stood in the kitchen pretending to read the back of a cereal box, I stood at the edge of the room—watching, memorizing. Her bare legs, the way she twisted her fingers together when she was nervous, the flicker in her gaze when she thought she was alone with her thoughts.

I didn’t say a word.

But inside?

I was already hunting.

Who the f**k called her like that?

What did they say to make her voice drop like a cornered animal’s?

Whoever it was, I’d find them. And if they ever showed up at her door again—I’d make sure they never made it to mine.

She caught me staring. “You’re quiet.”

I smiled softly. “So are you.”

She tried to brush it off, turning to pour milk into a bowl like we weren’t standing in the tension. “Don’t do that thing where you act sweet but your brain is planning murder.”

I walked over, slid my arms around her waist, and pressed my lips to her neck. “If I were planning murder,” I whispered, “you wouldn’t know it until I was wiping the blood off my hands.”

She shivered.

I felt it. And I didn’t miss the way her breath hitched.

“You don’t have to protect me,” she said under her breath.

I tightened my grip just enough to remind her she was mine. “I’m not protecting you because I have to, Tia. I’m doing it because I want to.”

She went quiet.

But this time, it wasn’t fear in her silence.

It was something else.

Something closer to trust.

I kissed her cheek. “You hungry?”

“Only for trouble,” she whispered with a smirk.

I chuckled low in her ear. “Then you picked the right guy.”

She turned around in my arms and rested her head against my chest. We stood like that for a while—no more words, no more lies, no more running.

I didn’t need to hear her secrets yet.

Because when the time came?

I’d be ready to burn down the world to keep her safe.

Even if she never asked me to.