Page 121 of Silver Linings

“I’m fine, Lily. You stay here. I need to get going. I’m sure you all understand. Excuse me.”

Her feet moved on autopilot, directing her down the hallway and out onto the sidewalk. Sloane just needed to get to her car. She could lock the doors and get her breathing under control. She could get back to her house and fall apart there.

She was just a few steps into the alley when her vision tunneled. Her body shook so violently that she fell to the ground, drawing her legs up into her chest while she tried to hold on to the reality of being in Silver Springs and not back in Ashwood Falls.

Her vision darkened as she tried to force air into her lungs. Three things she could see…three things…It wasn’t working, she was going to lose herself to the panic.

What the hell had just happened? One minute Sloane was fine, the next all the blood drained from her face and she’d run like an entire colony of fire ants were crawling up her legs.

“We’re going to get more cameras set up here and at the new facility. We have faith that Corrine is going to be in prison for a really long time, but I’m not having Lily go back to working at Sloane’s until there are cameras there, even with the threat of James and Paul eliminated.”

“Don’t say it like that, Gunner. She can decide about her office,” Lily scolded.

“I’m going to go check on her. I’ll ask. If she’s still uncomfortable with it, we’ll just have to make sure our cameras cover her part of the building, too,” Gage said.

He walked over to Sloane’s office, still thinking about how pale she’d looked as she scurried out of the conference room. Gage pulled on the door, but it was locked. Weird.

He walked back to the office to see if maybe she stopped in their bathroom before leaving and he’d somehow gotten ahead of her, but a sound in the alley caught his attention.

Gage turned the corner and froze. Sloane was on the ground, curled up as small as she could get, her red hair a curtain of protection draped all around her. As he walked closer, he could see her shaking, and hear the way her breath rattled in and out of her chest.

He’d seen this before. Hell, he’d fucking experienced it himself when Melody and Mikey were killed. She was having a panic attack.

“Sloane?” He softly called out her name, crouching down in front of her. Panicked eyes jumped to meet his and her hand shot out towards him. He didn’t want to scare her by touching her, but the way she was hyperventilating, Gage knew he needed to try anything before she passed out.

His hand slid into hers and squeezed. “I’m right here, Red. You’re safe.”

Red. Why the hell had he felt so compelled to give her a nickname?

“R-red?” she whispered.

“Yeah. You kinda need a nickname now that you’re part of the group. Doc is already taken, so I figured Red would be the next best fit.” His fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

She flinched and his stomach soured. “I’m sorry, Sloane. I won’t do that again. Can you just take some deep breaths for me?”

She nodded, her eyes glued to his. He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, both taking in deep breaths.

Finally, she released his hand and he helped her to her feet.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know why it just hit me all of a sudden.”

“This is normal, Sloane. You of all people should know that reactions to stressful situations can sometimes take time to manifest. Your brain is processing through what happened. It’s okay to not be okay.”

Even when he didn’t think it was possible, her face went even more pale.

“Do you need to sit back down? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m not.” She shook her head. “It’s just like you said. A lot to process with what happened.”

“What did happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did they…” Gage swallowed thickly. “Did they hurt you, Sloane? More than just your face?”

She placed her hands on her knees and drew in a deep breath. He had suspected Sloane suffered more that night than she was letting on, but he didn’t know how much to push. In that moment, he would have given anything to take the pain away that he saw written on her face.

“I can’t talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

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