Page 46 of Honey Bee Hearts

“It’s gonna be okay,” Gunnar says, reaching up to squeeze my shoulder. “It’s just fifteen minutes.”

I nod, my heart beating so hard I can feel it in my throat. “Just fifteen minutes,” I repeat.

The moment that Rhett puts it in drive and pulls out, I start to shake, my fingers clutching onto the door, holding on as if we’re going faster than the thirty miles per hour we actually are. When tears start dripping from my eyes and I start hyperventilating, Rhett curses and jerks the truck over to the side of the road.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he says, leaning across the seat. “It’s okay. Fable, look at me.”

Gunnar leans over the seat and tries to comfort me, but it doesn’t stop. I can’t control it. No matter what either of them says, my body only starts to remember the pain, the panic, the agony.

“Just go fast,” Colt orders. “Get it over with!”

“We can’t just drive with her like this,” Rhett argues.

I can’t breathe. Oh, fuck, I can’t breathe. I wrap my hand around my throat, as if that’ll help matters any. I can barely see through the tears. Fuck, I’m embarrassing myself. Get it together, Fable. This isn’t the same vehicle. This isn’t that day.

“Just go!” Colt growls, and Rhett drops it in gear again, his tires spinning out on the gravel along the side of the road as he jerks back onto the road.

I gasp for breath, my head growing fuzzy as he guns his truck down the road. The fifteen minutes isn’t all highways. Halfof it is the driveway up Circle Bee, but we gotta get through the highway first. The whole time Rhett speeds down the road, Gunnar is rubbing my shoulder, trying to calm me down, trying to break through, but it doesn’t work.

The image of Jinx beside me in the back seat flickers in my mind and I devolve into full on sobs, my chest tight with lack of oxygen.

“For fuck’s sake! She’s going to pass out!” Rhett shouts, slowing down.

“Get to the driveway at least,” Colt orders.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Gunnar tries, but there’s panic in all their voices.

I don’t blame them. Here I am, being a freak and sobbing in their passenger seat, having a full-on panic attack because I’m not driving. When the flashbacks start, my sobs only get louder. Oh, fuck. Rhett’s right. I think I’m going to pass out.

“Stop,” Trent’s voice commands. “Here.”

Rhett immediately slams on the brakes, but before we’re fully stopped, I hear the rear passenger door open. Mine opens a second later and Trent is there with his massive presence. He unbuckles my seatbelt and lifts me out of the truck like I weigh nothing, his strong arms caging me in.

“What are you goin’?” Gunnar growls.

“Helping her. Stay in the truck,” Trent orders.

I’m still hyperventilating, still can’t breathe, as Trent carries me to the back of the truck and hoists me over the tailgate. He immediately climbs up behind me before directing me toward the cab of the truck.

“I’ve got you,” Trent says as he presses my front against the cab of the truck. His warmth envelopes me and the fuzziness in my head starts to ease as my breaths grow deeper. “You ever seen Titanic?”

I nod through my tears. Who hasn’t seen Titanic?

“Good,” he grunts. He grabs my arms and lifts them out to my sides. “We used to do this when we were younger,” he explains. “If you do it right, it feels a little bit like flyin’ on the front of a great ship.”

He thumps on the top of the cab and the truck starts to ease forward again over the gravel road. But back here, outside of the truck, it feels different. My sobs slow down, and I blink through the tears to get a look at the night sky above us. The stars shine so bright out here, like a blanket draped across the sky. There’re so many.

“That’s it,” he whispers, his arms caging me in, so I don’t fall. “Breathe for me.”

I take a deep breath, and then another, and another, until my heartbeat starts to slow. Carefully, Trent’s hands touch my shoulders and hold me steady as Rhett begins to speed up, a little at first and then fast enough that the wind whips my hair back from my face. Trent’s hands trail down my arms, to my hands, and then spread out like mine. His body keeps me pressed against the cab, strong and sure.

My heart skips a beat for a different reason now. And he’s right. As we start to go down the driveway, it does feel a little bit like we’re flying. A chuckle trickles out, unsure, a little afraid.

“There it is,” he leans down to whisper in my ear. “There you are.”

The laughter grows as we fly, as he holds me and keeps me from falling back into my memories. Instead, we make a new one. Instead, I have this to hold onto.

But the moment we pull into the big house, I feel him tense behind me. Hell, I even feel Rhett’s hesitation on the gas pedal.

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