Page 43 of Lethal Game

“Can I sleep a little closer to you?”

She hadn’t even finished talking and his gaze was on her face. Whatever he saw made him approach her and cup her cheeks.

“You’re starting to feel the effects, aren’t you?”

“If you mean shaking, nausea, and dizziness, then yes.” She wasn’t sure when it had started, probably sometime after they arrived in Con’s room, but it was getting progressively worse as the seconds went by.

It was like her whole body was going haywire. Something short-circuited somewhere.

Con coaxed her to sit on his bed, then he pulled her cot right over so there was no space between their sleeping areas.

The shaking got worse and she began to have trouble breathing. An invisible weight sat on her chest and she couldn’t seem to breathe around it.

Con sat down beside her and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his long arms around her. He crooned into her ear, “I’ve got you. You’re okay. You’re safe now.” Over and over.

She turned her face into his chest and began to cry. “What’s wrong with me?”

He rocked her a little and said, “It’s your body coming down off the adrenaline high and the stress reaction to the ugliness of what you experienced all wrapped up in one nasty package.”

“But I wasn’t hu...hurt.”

“The threat is often more than enough.” He sighed into her hair and kissed her temple.

“You must think me a pretty po...poor partner, to fa...fall apart like this.”

“Hey, none of that now,” he said in a stern tone. “Something similar happened to me during my first year of training.”

“You cried?”

“Like a fucking baby.”

She lifted her head to study his face, but there was nothing closed about it. He looked at her, his eyes and mouth drooping with sadness.

“And my battle buddy...” His voice died. After a hard swallow, he cleared his throat, then continued, “held me while I blew snot nuggets into his shirt.”

It should be physiologically impossible to laugh and cry at the same time. It kind of hurt in a hiccupy, sneezy sort of way.

It did help to calm her down, and she was able to stop after a few more minutes. She wiped her nose on his shirt and eased off his lap. “Thanks.”

He looked askance at his shirt. “Anytime, partner.”

“You said you were going to have a shower anyway,” she said, wincing.

“You going to be okay if I have that shower?”

“Yeah, I think I’m done blubbering all over you.” Now that she was calm, exhaustion made her limbs feel like they weighed ten times what they normally did. “I’m kind of sleepy.”

He nodded. “I’ll only be a few minutes. Don’t open the door to anyone. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you’re not here.”

She yawned. “I understand.” Sophia stretched out on the edge of his bed, intending to move to her cot in a second or two. “Go. Get clean.”

He made little noise as he grabbed his toiletry kit and towel. She barely heard the door close behind him.

***

Con would have likedto have someone he could pound on, but a shower in the hottest water he could stand was all he had time for. He was finished and checking on her in three minutes. Clean and wearing only the towel around his waist.

Sophia was fast asleep on his bed.

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