Page 43 of Other Side Of Never
“Isaiah!Are you okay?”I rasped frantically.
He lay flat on his back, his small face paler than usual, eyes panicked as he clawed at his throat.
“Where are you hurt?”I screamed in his face.
Oh, God, not again.
Shaking his head back and forth, he pushed himself up to sitting and opened his mouth.No sound escaped.
“You can’t breathe?Is that it, buddy?”
Without waiting for an answer, I hauled him to his feet and grasped the back of his neck.Clamping down, I pumped him up and down like I was drawing water from an old-fashioned well.After what felt like a decade, he sucked in a much-needed breath of air.
“I couldn’t breathe,” he whispered, face red, eyes brimming with tears.
“Yeah, bud.”I pulled him tightly against my stomach, my heart hammering in my chest.“You got the wind knocked out of you.Daddy will be back in a minute.”My head reeled with dizziness.“Let’s go sit down for a few minutes until you catch your breath.”
And I catch mine.
I led him across the sand and eased down onto the bench, my legs trembling like jelly.A properly-subdued Isaiah plopped down beside me and leaned his little body against my side.
My chest vibrated with every beat of my thundering heart.Struggling to text Kian, my thumbs stumbled over the tiny keyboard.
Isaiah shifted beside me.“I’m sorry,” he sniffed.
“Sorry?”My gaze snapped to his face.“What for?”
“For being a moron,” he answered morosely.
“What?”Setting aside my phone, I barked out a disbelieving laugh.“Who told you you’re a moron?”
He sighed.“Billy Chase.”
A second burst of adrenaline surged through my system.“Who the fuck is Billy Chase?”I needed a good run from a mountain lion to burn it off.Or I could fuck it out of my system.I refocussed on Isaiah.“I think he’s a moron,” I stressed.
His brow furrowed.Side-eying me and letting the curse word go for the moment, he protested, “You don’t even know him.”
I snorted.“I know I don’t like him if he called you a moron.”I looked around, ready to beat the little fucker into the ground.“Is he here?”I scanned the faces of the other adults dotting the playground.“Which one’s his mother?”
“He doesn’t live here.He goes to my old school in Mapleville.”
“Oh,” I huffed out a breath, my system in overdrive from the fear of Isaiah’s fall and the confrontation I was no longer having.
My ass half-lifted off the bench.“You want to go find your dad?”I needed to offload this kid as soon as possible before I did any more damage.
Isaiah sat with his eyes glued to the grass beneath our feet, legs swinging back and forth slowly.He looked the very picture of dejection.
My heart.
I settled back down beside him.“I think you’re a pretty cool kid,” I admitted softly.
He ducked his head further.
I elbowed him lightly and rose to my feet, twitching the longer I tried to sit still.“You’re so cool, you’re icy,” I joked.
He guffawed and swiped the backs of his hands across his eyes.Sliding a hopeful glance in my direction, he heaved himself off the bench.Beneath the thick fringe of his lashes, his watery blue eyes pierced me even as a tiny smirk teased at the corner of his mouth.
With a surge of delight, I realized I elicited that smile.
