Page 9 of Choosing Skyler

I can’t look up. I’m afraid if I do, it’ll start all over again. Or worse, I’ll cry.

“Look at me, Beautiful,” he says, trying to coax my attention to him.

Even through the panic and the embarrassment I feel my skin heat up at the nickname he’s given me.

“Look. At. Me. Skyler,” he says in a much firmer tone, and I lift my head and look at him. “There you are. Are you okay?” he asks, rubbing a thumb under my eye catching an errant tear.

I nod. “I’m…”

He holds his hand up. “Do NOT say you’re sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for.Iam sorry I scared you. I know you don’t know me well, but please believe me when I say that I will NEVER hurt you and if I make you uncomfortable in any way feel free to knock the shit out of me. Or tell Devon.” Then, lower, almost under his breath he murmurs, “Though, he’ll probably kill me when he finds out about this.”

That gets my attention. I straighten up and shake off the rest of the panic attack as a new fear sets in.

“Please, don’t tell Devon about this,” I practically beg. When he looks taken aback, I explain. “He’ll worry. I don’t want him to worry about me like that again. This was just a fluke. It won’t happen again. I’ll keep it under control. Please, please don’t tell Devon,” I beg again.

He sits up and runs his hand down his face. “I don’t know that I can keep this from him, Skyler. He can read me like a damn book, and you know he can read you too, right? Hell, he can read everyone. No one can hide shit from him. And what did you mean, you don’t want him to worry about you like that,again?”

“Um…” I try to think of how to answer him.

This man I barely know but was somehow able to talk me out of a panic attack faster than I’ve ever been able to get one under control. Even Devon can’t talk me down that easily. This still veryalmostnaked man that I’m now staring at like he’s a damn knight here to save the princess.

When he notices my gaze drop down his body, he jumps up, grabbing the towel around his waist. “Shit, I’m sorry. Let me go throw some clothes on and we’ll talk about this,” he says, turning toward the hallway. Just when I think I’ve dodged a bullet he spins back around and pins me with a serious look. “And we ARE going to talk about this.”

Brady

Fuck! What did I do? I mean, I didn’tdoanything. But if she’s this uncomfortable with me here, I can't stay. She just had a full-blown panic attack because…Why? Yeah, she’s definitely gonna talk to me. Especially if she thinks we’re not going to tell Devon what just happened. He may kick my ass right now, but he’ll kill me if he finds out later and I didn’t tell him about it. With that decided, I grab my boxers and basketball shorts off the shelf in the bathroom where I left them and get dressed. I can’t help thinking that me being undressed is somehow to blame, at least in part. So, I grab the t-shirt I was wearing earlier and throw it back on.

I walk back into the living room and find Skyler still on the couch, but she’s not sitting up anymore. She’s curled up on her side wrapped in the blanket I pulled around her, sound asleep.Shit. I look up at the clock and see that it’s almost four thirty. Devon gets off work at five. So, I have about an hour to decide how to handle this before he gets home. I’m not waking her up. She worked ten hours today and then came home to have a damn panic attack.

I hear the front door open around five thirty and Devon strolls in. I can see him from where I’m standing on the balcony with my vape. I stick my head in the open door and wave for him to come outside. As he walks through the living room, he catches sight of Skyler still curled up asleep on the couch. She hasn’t moved at all. I’d be worried she wasn’t breathing if I didn’t notice her hair occasionally flutter in front of her face when she exhales. I’ve been clenching my fists for an hour, fighting the urge to sweep that hair off her forehead.

Devon tosses me a wicked grin as he walks out onto the balcony and closes the sliding door. He lounges back in one of the Adirondack chairs, gleaming up at me like he’s waiting for the sordid details of our afternoon. But as soon as he sees the look on my face he jumps up, on high alert.Oh, shit. Here we go.

“What happened? Is she okay?” he asks, walking back to the door to look in at Skyler sleeping on the couch.

“How the hell do you do that, man?” I ask. “How do you know I didn’t just have a shitty day all on my own? How do you know it’s about Skyler?”

“Because. You were all good when I talked to you three hours ago. You were jazzed that Skyler agreed for you to move in with us. You were talking about going out to dinner to celebrate and shit. Then, I get home, my girl is asleep on the couch and you’re out here vaping, looking torn to pieces. So, I’ll ask again. What happened and issheokay?!”

“Your girl, huh?” I stall but quickly throw my hands up in surrender when he shoots me a death glare. “Okay, okay. You’re right. Something happened but I promise she’s okay. I didn’t take my eyes off her, but I didn’t touch her after she fell asleep, either.”

He glances between me and the door. “Not making me feel any better, man. Spit it out. Are we going to kick someone’s ass or what?”

“Or what, I hope,” I mumble. Then, I start again. “Listen. She didn’t want me to tell you and I planned to get more from her onwhyshe didn’t want you to know but she fell asleep when I went to get dressed.” His eyes shoot to mine, and I backtrack real quick. “Wait! That’s not… We didn’t… I didn’t… Shit.” I run my hand down my face. “She had a panic attack,” I blurt out.

“While you wereundressed? What the hell happened?!” he yells.

Devon never yells. Not at me. I’m gonna have to tell him everything and hope Skyler doesn’t hate me for it.

“Would you just shut up and let me get this out?” I bark back before telling him everything.

I tell him that I wanted to get a shower and shave before they both got home and needed the bathroom. I tell him that I didn’t hear the bathroom door open over the water running while I was shaving, but I couldn’tnothear the moan that left her throat when she walked in on me standing at the sink in a towel. I tell him that I looked up and met her gaze in the mirror but couldn’t see anything but her face because she was standing behind me. I tell him that when I turned around to see more of that spark of lust in her eyes, I realized she was in nothing but a simple black bra and cotton panties, but she looked better than any Victoria’s Secret model I’d ever seen. Then, I tell him the rest.

“…and when I went to get dressed so she would be more comfortable talking to me, she fell asleep before I came back out. So, I left her there and came out here where I could keep an eye on her, but not freak her out if she woke up—and here we are,” I finish with a heavy sigh.

“Fuck!” is all he says as he runs his hands through his hair.Yep, that was my thought too.

“She really asked you not to tell me?” he asks, looking a little hurt.

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