Page 23 of Second Chance Mates

My entire body trembles as I take in his face.

“Goddess,” he hisses and lowers down to my level. “You’re bleeding.”

I stare up into his dark brown eyes and shiver. He looks genuinely concerned, but I shake at the proximity between us. “Please, get away from me,” I murmur.

Nausea rips through my stomach. The waves of embedded anxiety through my bloodstream heighten, and I struggle to inhale.

Kayden pulls back slowly and raises his hands in defence. “I’m not going to touch you,” he clarifies before looking down at my hands. “But you need to clean those wounds and make sure there is no glass in the cuts.”

I stare at him long and hard, trying my best not to let my eyes leak tears, but it’s nearly impossible. My entire body shivers at his presence. He might not have done anything to me personally, but I can’t take chances. Not when I’m certain I’ll break this time. I’m barely hanging on.

My blood drips against the floor, and I don’t realise I’m clutching the shards of glass. I don’t take my eyes off him. The air in the room grows thinner, and I can’t inhale.

“Ava.” Kayden’s face turns to stone. “Drop the glass. You’re hurting yourself.”

When he reaches over, I’m convinced he’s about to touch me. I open my mouth and release the loudest scream. It deafens me. It wrenches from my chest because my body jumps into fight mode. It’s the last resort.

I close my eyes to try and block out all the crucifying emotions that clutter my head. Blood pounds in my ears, and everything slows down to the point I’m disorientated.

Voices start talking, but I don’t hear what they’re saying. My breaths become shorter, and I’m out of oxygen, yet at the same time, I can’t get enough. My vision blurs when another silhouette settles in front of me.

“Ava.” The sound is muffled. “Ava, you’re hyperventilating.”

Why do I sound like I’m in a bubble? I don’t even know if I’m alive right now.

“Breathe, Ava.” The voice softens. “There is so much air in this room. Okay? Don’t let yourself think there is no air. You have it. Breathe. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

It feels like it might. I’m going to die.

Just breathe, Ava. You can do this, I tell myself.

“Please, can I see your hands?”

I’m far too in my head to protest. I raise my shaky palms towards the soothing voice. A soft hand clasps the back of my wrist, and an instant rush of calmness takes over my body. It makes my skin rise in pimples like an electric shock.

“Okay, okay,” he says. “Hear me. Listen to me. Take down as much oxygen as possible, and when you breathe out, hold it for as long as you can. Four counts, six counts, eight counts. Each time, you move higher and higher.”

My eyes leak tears. Four counts? I attempt the technique because I literally have nothing else to lose. I don’t succeed the first time. But on the third attempt, I manage to breathe out for four long beats before sucking in air like I’m suffocating again.

“There.” The voice makes me relax. “You’ve got it. Now, for six. Ready? Let me count with you.”

His thumb swipes across my knuckles gently, and I tell my lungs this is the one that will calm me down.

“One, two, three,” he whispers through my exhale. “Four, five, six.”

It takes me another few minutes to calm down to a pace that reminds me I’m alive. I sniffle at the exhaustion coursing through my veins.

“Open your eyes, Ava.”

My sore eyes obey slowly. I’m met with Jaxon’s dark sapphire eyes full of concern and care—I forgot what that looked like.

He got me out of a panic attack. No one has ever done that for me.

“It’s okay,” he tells me again. “I’ve got you.”

I take in his face—light stubble on his jaw and dark hair messily placed from his sleep. A single tear rolls down my cheek in distress, and Jaxon’s hand raises to wipe it away with his thumb. I don’t flinch. I don’t even move. I’m numb.

“I’m sorry,” he replies under a harsh rasp directed at himself. I follow his eye-line to my hand. They’re splattered with blood stains. “They’re only shallow.”

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