Page 67 of Ask No Questions

I admired her ability to hold still while the women worked through our pedicures. I was fidgeting and giggling as my feet were rubbed and polished. It was a double-edged sword. It was such a luxury to be spoiled and massaged, but I was so ticklish.

I smiled and apologized to the lady when she asked me to stand to move to a manicure station. At least the majority of torture was done.

Mckayla was still on top of things. She appeared next to me and dropped off a bottle of nude nail polish.

“Don’t match your toes, it’s weird.” Without another word, she walked to her station.

Thirty minutes later, I was finished and waiting for Mckayla at the front of the lobby. While I was browsing through other polish colors, movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I glanced through the window and caught the back of a man walking away from me. From his looks and his walk, he reminded me of someone. I thought about it for a brief second before it hit me.

Morgan.

For the third time in a few weeks, my ability to breathe was lost. I fell into a chair next to me and put my head between my knees.

There was no way I was seeing him. It had to be a trick, just my mind freaking me out. I knew he was locked up far away from me. My mom told me.

I was gasping for air when I felt a hand on my back.

“Are you okay, Aubrey?”

I struggled to nod and didn’t bother making an effort to sit up.

“What’s wrong? You need to breathe. Just try to do it slowly. In… and out….”

I desperately tried to calm myself enough to focus on her words. A few centuries later I got it under control and sat up. Her face was streaked with worry, her brows were scrunched together, and she was holding her phone.

“Brandon’s on his way. Are you going to be okay?”

I shook my head trying to tell her not to have Brandon come, but of course she saw it as me signaling I wasn’t okay.

“Should I call 911?”

I took a shaky breath. “No, I’m okay. Tell Brandon not to come. I just had a panic attack. I’m fine now.”

She looked at me for a moment before looking down at her phone and texting. “Fine, I told him we would be home in a minute.”

“Thanks. Sorry to freak you out.”

“What was that about? Why did you have a panic attack?”

I paused considering whether or not I was going to sound like a crazy person.

“I thought I saw someone.”

“Who?”

“Morgan.”

She shot up and looked outside.

“He walked away. I’m sure it wasn’t him. It just surprised me.”

“Let’s go home. We can talk to Brandon about this.”

Dread filled me during the drive. I tried so hard to not be a burden. I didn’t want anyone to worry about me. Not when there wasn’t anything they could do to help.

Brandon knew all about the first panic attack with Carter, but I never mentioned the one with Gage. After Mckayla explained what happened, he asked me if it had happened at any other time. He wasn’t very happy with me when I admitted this was the third time. He made me call Paula and have an emergency video conference with her so she could help me cope with the attacks and learn how to manage them.

It was a long night, but I didn’t have the dream. Talking to people must be helping. Funny how that worked.