Page 6 of Catch Me

Despite thinking I can’t get any air, I take a breath and realize it’s just an illusion. My lungs fill with oxygen. “I can’t—”

Reid gets to his knees in front of me with a wince. The look on his face throws me into another bout. I clutch my chest as my heart feels like it explodes out of a racing gate.

“Should we call an ambulance?” Jules asks.

“She’ll be okay,” Lex and Mrs. Parker say at the same time. Lex continues with, “She just needs a moment.”

Reid picks my hand off my chest and kisses my fingers. Instead of looking at his injury, I stare into his unwavering eyes. I can’t believe I left this. I can’t believe I lefthim.

I quickly change my thoughts because another feeling of helplessness starts to rise. Reid kisses my knuckles one by one, keeping his eyes on me. When his shoulders move up as he takes a breath, I follow suit, trying to even out.

“I’m sorry,” I say immediately after the feeling passes. “I don’t know what that was.”

“That’s your body reminding you that you need me,” Reid says.

Mrs. Parker whispers something to Mr. Parker, and he disappears for a moment before returning with a glass of water. She squeezes in between Lex and Reid to hand it to me. “Sit up, Briar. Slowly. There you go.” She puts a steady hand on my shoulders and offers me the glass. “I’m going to make something to eat. You look like you’ve lost weight.” She stands, and Mr. Parker puts his arm around her shoulders as they move into the kitchen.

“Now I can’t even be mad at you right now,” Jules says. “Nice trick.”

She grins, but I can tell she means it. Her eyes tell me we’re going to have to discuss my leaving…at length. But there’s guilt there, too.

Cade puts an arm around her shoulders. “I think she’s in good hands for right now, why don’t we give them some time?”

Jules nods. Lex and Reid part for her to give me a hug. Cade sneaks in to kiss me on the cheek, and they leave, the front door shutting behind them. When I look back, Reid has edged Lex out. He stands off to the side, his arms crossed as he watches.

I turn on my side, facing Reid. I know why I tried to shut all this out. If I remembered how good it felt to be so close to him, I would’ve come running back within the hour. “Are you okay?” I ask.

He grabs my hands again. “Areyouokay? What did Sasha do?”

I shake my head. “Reid…” My throat thickens, threatening to keep everything inside again. “Your head. Are you okay?”

“I don’t care about me,” he grinds out.

“He’s fine,” Lex says, speaking up. “He got the laceration from the helmet. He had to get stitches, and he was out for a few hours. It’s the concussion we’re all worried about, but he’s over the worst of it. He just needs to be monitored now.”

An angry scowl makes its way across Reid’s face. When Lex finishes giving me Reid’s health update, Reid says, “Your turn. What happened? Are you okay?”

I shrug. “I’m fine.” It’s a lame answer, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment.

“What were Sasha and Richards doing there?”

I close my eyes, feeling heat creep up my neck and spread over my cheeks.

Lex moves closer. “Richards had his shirt off. When I walked in, Briar was running toward the door, and Richards was holding his nuts.”

A shadow falls over Reid. “Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?” With each question, his voice rises and the urgency behind his words promises he’ll make this guy pay. All I have to do is say the words, and Reid would be out of this house in the next second, tracking that lowlife down. Concussion be damned.

I shake my head. I peek around Reid to make sure his parents are still in the kitchen and then say, “I guess Sasha wanted more incriminating pictures of me. To show you. She thought if you saw that I ran away to be with someone else that you’d drop me. She started snapping pictures of that Richards guy standing in front of me with his fly down and his shirt off. When I tried to get away, he pinned me down on the bed. When she told him to move my shirt up, I panicked and kneed him in the balls.”

“That’s what she was doing with her phone, wasn’t it?” Lex asks. When I nod, he sighs. “I should’ve fucking known.” He looks down at Reid. “As soon as she heard the police were coming, she deleted the pictures. I thought she was trying to delete the other pic, so I told her not to bother. The police already saw it. I didn’t know there were more.”

“At least she doesn’t have them anymore,” I say. “Any of them.”

“I’ll kill him,” Reid seethes. “I’ll hunt that fucker down and chop off his nuts.”

“We already owe him for that hit on you, brother,” Lex says, like he’s all down for that plan and then some.

Surrounded by the familiarity of these guys, I feel how tired I am. It’s like I’ve let myself relax for the first time in a week. My defenses are down, and now all I want to do is rest. I didn’t sleep well in the motel. Despite it’s less than stellar cleaning record, my dreams woke me time and time again. “I missed you,” I say, reaching out to touch Reid’s face.

---