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Cold. Everything is cold.
I feel hands on me, but they aren’t Blake’s dainty ones. No, these hands belong to a man. Remembering Blake’s words from earlier, the panic inside me goes from numbing to burning. She was speaking to someone. She asked them to help. Is that who is touching me now? My mind goes back to Jett.
“Elizabeth.” The gigantic hands grip my shoulders.
No. I don’t want him touching me. My body fights back, trying to shrug off the hands. I don’t want them on my body. Never again.
“Libby.” The voice sounds desperate.
Libby. He never calls me Libby. It’s only ever my given name unless he’s annoyed with me, and then it’s Liza. “Come on, Little Bird, I know you can hear me.” Relief rushes through me and my surroundings come into focus. It's not Jett. I should have known Blake would never do that to me.
“Ty?” The realization coils around each never ending, slowly letting my body know that it's no longer in danger. The panic seeps from my body, leaving a shell of a girl behind.
“Hey,” he soothes with a crooked smile. “I’m here. You’re okay. Everything is okay.” As my mind becomes more aware, I realize just how cold and exhausted I am, and my body starts to shake. “Jesus, Libby, come here.” Tyson moves to sit by my side and wraps his arm around me, pulling me into him. The warmth from his body pours over my rigid muscles.
“You’re here.” It comes out as a statement, but I’m confused. Why would Tyson be here? Why would Blake call him?
“Yeah, I’m here.” He squeezes me tighter. “Blake called, and we got here as fast as we could.”
“I’m sorry.” I feel so pathetic. The only thing worse than having anxiety is people feeling that they have to save you from it.
“No.” He looks me square in the face. “There is nothing to be sorry for. I’m glad B called me. I didn’t think we would make it as fast as we did, but I’m happy to be here.”
“We?”
“Hmm?” He’s mindlessly stroking my arm with his thumb. This is the closest we've ever been. Aside from hugs, Tyson has always kept his hands to himself. He talks a big game, but I know he'd never push anything without a green light.
“You said we got here as fast as you could.”
“Oh, me and Colt. I was out with him when Blake called me and asked him to drop me off at my car, but he insisted on driving. I was pretty surprised how fast that truck could go. It’s no Porsche, but he put that pedal to the metal. Only took us thirty minutes to get here.” He shrugs a shoulder. ”I could have made it in twenty.”
Colt. The roommate. My body instantly heats at the thought of him having been close to me. Even if he stayed outside when he dropped him off, the proximity alone sends tendrils of warmth down my spine.
“It was nice of him to drop you off.” Tyson lives an hour away. If it took them thirty minutes to get here, that means I’ve been in a panic attack for at least forty-five minutes. No wonder I’m so exhausted.
“He didn’t drop me off. I mean, he technically dropped me off at the door, but he parked his truck and came up. He hasn't left.” Oh. That’s… unexpected. Why would he stay? This has nothing to do with him, and he has no connection to me.
“Blake?” I can't imagine what I just put her through. She's never seen me have a panic attack, and I know they're not pretty.
“She’s in the living room with Colt. A little stressed out, but she’s okay. Do you want me to go get her?”
I nod, and he carefully lets go of me to stand up. “Hey, Ty?”
“Yeah?” He looks down at me on the floor.
“Thank you for being here.” I try to manage what feels like a smile, but Tyson shows me up with one of his panty-dropping grins. There's no denying that he's incredibly attractive. Maybe in another world, I would have given in to one of his offers. But at the end of the day, he's my best friend's brother, and that's not something I'd ever jeopardize.
“No problem, Little Bird,” Tyson says with a wink and he leaves the room.
Only a moment passes before Blake gives a light knock on the door and comes in. “Hey,” she says. “How are you feeling?”
I pat the floor next to me for her to sit. “I’m doing okay. Sorry you had to deal with that. I don’t even know how I ended up here.”
“Please don’t apologize. I’m happy you came here. I just wish I knew what happened, or what to do. Don’t hate me for calling Ty, but he always makes you smile, and he’s good at being comforting. That gene did not get passed onto me.” Her eyes are so sad. Not like the Blake Miller I know.
I grab her hand in mine. “You did great. You took care of me the way you know best. And it’s always surprising just how good he is at it.”
“Right? Because he’s always joking around about everything, it’s hard to imagine him being serious. But as soon as I told him what was going on, he never hesitated.” I can see the love in her eyes. As much as they give each other shit, they really are fond of each other. I wonder what it’s like to have that kind of relationship. Being an only child makes it hard to understand what it's like to wholly trust someone without fear of them leaving. “Can I get you anything?”
