Page 40 of Playing with Forever
“The bench, your shirt, my feet on the ground,” I replied, feeling my anxiety easing.
“Two things you can smell?”
“Car exhaust and Mexican food.” There was some kind of taco truck down the street selling breakfast burritos, most likely.
“And one thing you can taste?”
“Bacon.” It lingered in my mouth—and I realized that I tasted my breakfast, and not blood.
“That was really good.” Austin glanced down at my chest, like he had to make sure I was still breathing.
“My eyes are up here,” I joked dryly.
My brother smirked at me, relief in his eyes. “If you’re feeling well enough to crack jokes, that’s a good sign.” Austin put his hand on my shoulder. “Keep breathing for me, okay? And don’t give me that look.”
That look of annoyance, but it was mostly directed at myself. I slumped back against the bench. My panic attack might’ve been over but my heart was still racing.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked out, embarrassment creeping in now that I felt more grounded. “You shouldn’t have had to deal with this shit.”
Austin frowned. “It’s no big deal. Nobody else saw, and I’m your brother. I’m glad I was around to help you.”
I nodded. My stomach still felt shaky.
“Are you steady enough to walk into the office and get some water from the break room?” Austin asked. “Maybe splash some water on your face in the bathroom? Nobody’ll notice a thing.”
Yeah. Nobody would notice. I was good at hiding my inner turmoil, most of the time. But then something like this would happen—again, I was grateful that Andrea hadn’t witnessed my extreme reaction to a car backfiring.
I hated feeling weak, so out of control. Paralyzed, even. The idea of Andrea seeing me like this, someone she relied on to protect her so easily triggered…it was possibly the worst thing I could imagine.
CHAPTER16
Andrea
Iordered my lunch from Grubhub, instead of leaving work to go out and get something to eat. I knew that was a bit paranoid of me after all that I’d lectured Chase, but I knew in my heart that even if he was being overly protective, he was right. Something was wrong. I wasn’t going to take the chance that walking down the street to grab a sandwich was what doomed me.
When I received the text that my order had arrived I went downstairs to retrieve it. The security guy at the lobby desk smiled tentatively. He must’ve heard about the dressing down Chase had given his co-worker yesterday.
“Got your things right here, Andrea,” he said.
I frowned. “Things?”
“Your food and the flowers.”
Flowers? I turned and there in a lovely crystal vase was a bouquet of lilies. There was a florist card tucked in the foliage that only saidfor Andrea. No name of who’d sent them, no other note. Chase didn’t strike me as a hearts and flowers type of guy, and even so he would have signed the card had he sent them to me.
A chill slithered down my spine. It could be a total fluke, but…I had one single tattoo, on my shoulder, that I had gotten in memory of my mother. It was three lilies tied together by a ribbon, representing my mom, Madison, and me. Lilies had been my mom’s favorite flower.
It could be a coincidence but…I couldn’t help but feel the choice had been deliberate. Which meant that whoever had sent me these flowers knew me well enough to have noticed my tattoo, and knew about it. That didn’t narrow down the listtoomuch since it could be seen whenever I wore a dress or a top that revealed my shoulders …but it was still narrowing it down enough that it made my stomach churn. Of course, my first thought went to Heath, who’d seen the tattoo up close and personal many times.
“Thank you,” I said to the guard, gathering up my delivery bag and the vase.
I took the flowers up to my desk and hid them underneath, near my feet, so nobody could see them and question me about my “admirer. I was glad it was lunch time so almost everyone else was in the break room or had run out to get their own meal.
It was a struggle to eat my lunch, but I made myself. I knew if I didn’t I’d just be sick with nervesandsick with hunger later.
When Chase arrived to pick me up after work, I told him to come up to my office and get me.
“Everything okay?” he asked, concern etching his features as he walked up to my desk.
