Page 23 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

“Where?” Kyle asked. “Left or right?”

“Um. I don’t know.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Brayden shifting awkwardly. “Left ma—” He took a sudden deep breath. “No, right?”

“Brayden?” I said. “You okay?”

Kyle’s eyes shot up into the rearview mirror.

“Brayden,” Avery said. She reached over, and it was as if we all saw it in slow motion, Brayden started to shake. “Um…”

“Kyle, pull over,” I said.

There was no hesitation. Kyle immediately pulled to the side of the road, causing a car behind us to honk in irritation, but it didn’t break Kyle’s stride a bit. He jumped out of the driver’s seat, and I jumped out as well, just in case he needed extra hands. I ran around just as Kyle was pulling Brayden out of the car. He was convulsing, bordering on a seizure, and there was sweat pouring down his brow.

“Brayden!” Kyle yelped.

“Take the restraints off,” I said.

Kyle quickly ripped Avery’s hair tie from around Brayden’s wrists and the scarf from around his eyes. They were red, swollen, and teary and they were glassed over like he was far from where we were standing.

“He’s having a panic attack,” I murmured.

“Brayden,” Kyle said. “Brayden, look at me.” He put his hands on Brayden’s face. “Bray, calm down. Just breathe.” It wasn’t working. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Anything that will ground him!” I called back.

Nikita was climbing over the seat and out of the car just as she said, “Kyle. Kiss him. A quick one to not make it harder to breathe.”

Kyle charged forward and pressed his lips to Brayden’s, and I watched as the rising and falling in Brayden’s chest started to slow. Kyle pulled back and gently petted the sides of Brayden’s face. “Hey. I’m here. Just look at me.” Brayden’s eyes regained some of their focus, centering on Kyle, and then the color started to come back to his face as he slowly evened out. “There you go,” Kyle comforted.

Brayden craned his head again and Kyle met him with another kiss, longer and more passionate. When they parted, Kyle muttered something quietly that I couldn’t hear and Brayden nodded, then Kyle took a few steps back. At that point, Brayden seemed to realize that Nikita and I were watching, and after a few seconds, Avery came to stand next to me.

“Kyle, take a few seconds,” Avery said.

With a nod, Kyle dragged Brayden away from the car and hugged him to continue to help him calm down.

“They’re so good together,” Avery said. “I wish they could just pull the trigger.”

“I still can’t believe it,” I said.

“None of us could,” Nikita said. “It threw us all for a loop, but I agree with Avery. I wish they could just commit to it. I think it’s Brayden keeping them from locking in.”

Kyle walked back towards the truck, holding Brayden at his side. “Hey, can we maybe do this another day. This sort of unexpectedly triggered him.”

“Of course,” Avery, Nikita and I all said at the exact same time.

“It doesn’t make sense to break ourselves trying to put ourselves back together,” I said.

Brayden shook his head. “I don’t know what did it. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for something that triggered you, Brayden,” Nikita said.

I put my hand on Brayden’s arm. “I’ve had tons of panic attacks over things I didn’t expect these past six months. This shit we’re going through is fucked. It’s bound to happen. We’ll try again some other time.”

“Let’s head home,” Kyle said. “So you can get some rest,” he said to Brayden.

We piled back into the car, swapping around so that Brayden was back in the front with me in the middle row of seats with Avery. The ride was a quiet one home, and Kyle left us all behind in the interest of getting Brayden inside immediately once we got back.

“I of course don’t mind waiting until Brayden is more comfortable, but that was pretty much my plan for the day,” I said to Avery as we walked with Jaxon and Nikita towards the house.

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