Page 10 of Callum
Her eyes were on her shoulder, her chest heaving so quickly each breath was a whip of air. “Blood…”
His throat closed. There was blood? Where?
He scanned her face. Her shoulders. But he couldn’t see a damn drop. Was someone bleeding in the bathroom?
“His blood,” she gasped. “It’s all over me! Someone…someone shot him.”
Realization hit him like a punch to the gut. She wasn’t talking about here and now. She was talking about that night. She was having a flashback…a panic attack.
Quickly, he slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her close to his side. Her skin was too damn cold and her breathing still uneven. He maneuvered them through the crowd, sliding past people who were laughing and drinking, constantly watching both Fiona and the exit.
The second the cool outside air brushed his skin, he felt her breathing begin to slow. Heard her pulse return to an almost normal rate.
But he didn’t move away from her. Instead, he eased in front of her and touched his palm to her cheek, trying to bring some warmth back to her body. “Talk to me, Fi. Are you okay?”
Slowly, her gaze slipped up his stomach, his chest, then finally, her chestnut eyes met his. When she spoke, her voice was low with an audible tremble. “I thought I was okay. It wasn’t until I stepped into the bathroom that…”
That she realized she wasn’t. It wasn’t a surprise. The bathroom was where the asshole had grabbed her. Fuck, Callum wished he could protect her from the memories. He wanted to turn back time and keep Levi from taking her to begin with.
“I’m sorry.” He felt responsible because it had been his team’s job to catch the guy who’d grabbed her. They hadn’t. At least, not in time.
Her lips parted. There was so much fear and torment in her expression that he couldn’t stop himself. He pulled her against his chest and held her. For a split second, she was rigid. So still in his arms, he wondered if she’d push away. Then she eased into him, her shaky breaths brushing his chest. When her arms wrapped around his waist, she held him tightly, like he was the only thing keeping her grounded. Keeping her here, in this reality, and not in the past.
Minutes ticked by, calming the storms within each of them. It wasn’t until a woman’s voice sounded that he pulled back.
“Fiona.” The woman stopped a foot away, one hand pressed over her heart and looking at them, unsure.
Fiona pushed back, and it took a hell of a lot of strength to release her.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said quietly. “I couldn’t find you. I asked the bartender if he saw you go anywhere, and he said some guy led you out of here. I was worried.”
“I’m okay.”
The woman nodded, then finally looked up at him, and her eyes widened. “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?”
“No.” Fiona stepped away from him, like she was cementing that there was nothing going on. “I just had a moment. I’m fine now, but I think my night’s done.”
He opened his mouth to say he’d take her home, because damn, he wanted to stay close. To make sure she was as okay as she insisted she was.
“Are you okay driving me home, Jen?” Fiona asked.
Her friend nodded. “Of course.”
Fiona glanced up at him, the normal sassiness nowhere to be seen. “Thank you, Callum. You saved me again.”
Then he had no choice but to watch her walk away.
CHAPTER5
“So, when you say this place does good coffee, how good are we talking?”
Fiona’s lips stretched as she looked at Jenny. “Really good. Like, dream-about-it-every-night-until-you-have-it-again level of good.”
“Okay, now you’re just teasing me.”
“Nope. I only discovered the coffee shop a couple months ago. I can’t believe I’ve been living in Cradle Mountain for almost a year and didn’t find it till now.”
In the week since the bar incident, Fiona hadn’t had any more panic attacks, but then, she’d barely gone out—just to work and home and this coffee shop. Oh, and she’d read her way through half a dozen books because, well, that was what you did when you were trying to escape your world and enter a new one.
