Page 63 of Aviatrix

A cop.

Has to be.

I twist just enough to catch a glimpse.

Blue uniform. Badge glinting. I exhale.

Not much.

Just a little.

He showed up too fast. Too perfect to be anything but coincidence.

Walker inhales the pie, shoving it into his mouth like it’s the last food he’ll ever eat. The gun stays pointed at the cop. I don’t think Eli even breathes the entire time it’s out.

When the plate is finally licked clean, Walker stands, tucks the gun into the back of his dirty jeans, and grabs the cigarettes off the table. Then he looks right at me.

“You have your father’s eyes,” he says. “Tell him I said hi.”

My breath catches. No one’s ever said that to me before. My father’s eyes? How would he—?

But he’s already walking away.

I don’t know how long we sit there afterward.

Finally, I whip my head toward Eli. “How the hell did you know where Lark was stationed?”

Eli drops his elbows to the table and buries his face in his hands. His breath comes in sharp, fast pulls, like he’s suffocating.

I place a hand on his back. “Hey. Are you okay?”

He nods, but it’s unconvincing.

I rub slow circles across his back, feeling the rise and fall of each breath as he lets the episode pass. When he finally sits up, he leans back against the booth and runs a hand through his hair.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” he lies.

But I know what this is. He used to wake like this at the Academy, gasping in the middle of the night. Just like Mom did after Dad disappeared. Panic attacks.

“What can I do?” I whisper.

Eli shuts his eyes and reaches for my hand. “Just… stay here. A minute.”

I tried getting him to talk to someone back then. Tried to help. But he always insisted he was fine. And now, eight years later, he’s still carrying it. And I’m still trying to figure out how to help him. All I can think to do is hold onto his hand a little tighter.

“I haven’t had one in a while,” he murmurs.

“What triggered it?”

“Guns,” he says quietly. “Especially near people I care about.”

I shift closer until our thighs touch. “We’re okay, Eli. We’re perfectly fine.”

He looks at me, green eyes stormy. “When you got engaged to him, I looked into him.”

“What?”