Page 87 of Hero's Prize

“I woke up and you weren’t in bed with me, and I missed you.”

More blinks.

“If you want, I can make you something to eat. It won’t necessarily involve rainbow sprinkles, but maybe some food would make us both feel better.”

His breathing seemed to be slowing just the slightest bit.

“That’s right. Come back and talk to me. We’ve always had a good time talking to each other. Do you remember that time in high school when we all got stuck in the gym during that storm? None of us could get home because the bridge washed out, so they made us stay there till nearly midnight?”

She continued on with the story, talking about how they all ate food from the basketball game concession stand and slept on the gym floor.

After that, she launched into another story from even further back about the time Colton and his brother Tucker had snuck out with Lilah and Scarlett. When the girls’ dad, a former Navy SEAL, found out about it, he threatened to kill both thirteen-year-old boys. Only the fact that Gabe Collingwood and Boy Riley were good friends stopped any bloodshed. Ella remembered the story because it had been the weekend her sister had gotten married.

By midway through a third story, Colton’s breathing was almost back to normal.

“Hi,” she said gently when she could see his eyes were more focused than they had been for the past…however long she been talking. “How about we go inside?”

He nodded, moving slowly as he got out of the truck and walked beside her into the house. Once there, he still seemed a little lost, so she guided him over to the couch before grabbing them both bottled water from the fridge. He took his bottle and drank it down in one huge gulp. Then he just stared at the plastic in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “You shouldn’t have had to see me like that.”

She sat down on the couch but gave him space. He didn’t look very receptive to someone being close to him. “We all have low points. There’s no need to apologize for that. But how did you end up in your truck, do you remember?”

For a minute, she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but finally, he found his voice. “Sometimes I can’t sleep. It doesn’t seem to matter what bed I’m in. I discovered that somehow my brain relaxes in my truck, so I try to sleep there. I know that’s stupid.”

“Not at all. It’s good that you have somewhere you can get rest when you need it.”

He just shrugged.

“It didn’t look like you were actually asleep out there.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “No, tonight was bad. I wasn’t able to sleep here. I didn’t want to disturb you, so I thought maybe I’d go sleep in the truck. But then that didn’t work either.”

“So, that was a full-blown panic attack?”

He stood up and began pacing. “Yeah. One of the worst I’ve had in a while. Just when I thought things were finally getting better.”

She so badly wanted to go over and wrap her arms around him. “My parents are forever saying that the healing progress isn’t always?—”

“Linear,” they both finished at the same time.

“My parents say that too. And I know it’s true. But still…” He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, causing it to stand on end. “It’s been months since the accident. I shouldn’t still be having these problems.”

“But—”

He held out a hand. “I know. I know. I need to have patience. I need to be gentle with myself. I went through a traumatic event. Trust me, I’ve heard it all. Mom and Dad asked me to see a therapist, and I did. But it’s just not working.”

“You need more time. You need?—”

“How can someone who does stunts for a fucking living have panic attacks at the thought of danger?” he yelled.

Ella just blinked at him. She couldn’t remember him ever yelling in frustration.

He immediately looked contrite. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you at all. I’m just frustrated that I can’t seem to move past this. I feel like a fraud.”

Her heart cracked. “Don’t say that. You’re not a fraud. There’s nothing wrong with struggling after what you went through. You still do stunts, and everyone still loves you. All those people at the sporting goods store were a prime example of that.”

“They wouldn’t like me if they could have seen me out in my truck a few minutes ago.”

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