“I understand you are excited and can’t wait to go inside to play, but if you try to dart across a parking lot again I won’t hesitate to spank your cute little butt.”
Her eyes widened at Emmett’s words. She couldn’t believethat he just threatened to spank her. “I’m sorry Sir. I just can’t wait to see all the fun games they have. I wasn’t thinking.” Rae replied sorrowfully.
Emmett leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on her forehead before taking her hand and leading them inside.
After loading up a prepaid card with money for games, Emmett let Rae drag him all around the arcade before settling on which game she wanted to play first.
Stepping up to the skee ball machine, Emmett swiped the card before stepping back to let her play. Rae picked up the heavy ball and rolled it down the ramp.
She watched as the ball barely made it over the top before falling into the ten-point spot. Trying not to be discouraged, Raelyn picked up another ball and rolled it down the ramp as hard as she could. Frustrated that it too fell into the ten-point spot, she stomped her foot and began to pout.
She felt a presence behind her before she felt his hands slide around her, “Here Little darling, let me help you.”
Picking up the next ball, Emmett wrapped his hands around hers. Swinging back and releasing the ball, Rae jumped up and celebrated when the ball sank into the fifty-point spot.
Raelyn spun around and wrapped her arms around Emmett. Glancing up, she couldn’t help but blush at the look of adoration she saw in his eyes.
They continued to move around the arcade playing games. The place was filling up with more people and Rae could feel herself starting to get overwhelmed.
Not wanting to alert Emmett that anything was wrong, she pushed the feelings down and pretended that nothing was wrong. As they were finishing up their next game, the kid beside her decided to throw a fit and start screaming when their parents told them it was time to leave.
Raelyn felt her heart start to race and she knew that thepanic attack she had been trying to avoid was quickly approaching. Turning and dashing away to the bathroom to be alone she could barely hear the yelling from Emmett as the door shut behind her.
Sinking to the floor near the sink, Rae wrapped her arms around her legs and hoped that this attack wouldn’t be as bad as her last one.
For as long as Rae could remember she had suffered from panic attacks. The therapists that her family took her to said that she would one day outgrow them.
When she was diagnosed with her sensory disorder that changed. She knew that the panic attacks would always be a part of her life, so she worked with the therapist to figure out coping mechanisms that helped her ease from them faster.
Since being kicked out of her parent’s house, Rae hasn’t been to therapy and most of the tricks she learned when younger didn’t help as much.
Beginning to count back from one hundred, Raelyn started rocking back and forth. She tried to focus on things around her that could help ground her senses.
That was proving to be difficult as her vision began to blur. Rae just knew that this attack would be a bad one, probably even one of her worse ones yet.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EMMETT
He had no clue what just happened to his babygirl, but he was going to find out. Everything was going well and he could tell she was having a great time.
When the kid beside them started screaming, Rae dashed away and wouldn’t stop when he called out to her. Quickly making his way towards the restrooms, he decided to see if she would come back out in a few minutes.
Glancing down at his watch Emmett noted that five minutes had passed and Raelyn had yet to emerge from the bathroom.
He knew that something was seriously wrong and he didn’t care about the consequences he would face by going into the ladies' bathroom.
Emmett was more concerned about his darling than anything anyone had to say to him. Opening up the door and announcing that he was coming in, Emmett walked upon a scene that broke his heart.
Right away Emmett could tell that Rae was having a panicattack. He was raised by a mother who frequently had them while he was growing up.
Many of his childhood memories consisted of him coaching his mom through her attacks. Quickly walking over, he sat on the floor beside Rae.
“Hi, Little Duckling. I need you to try and focus on my voice.”
It didn’t seem as if she heard him, but not being swayed by her lack of response Emmett pushed on.
“I’m going to pick you up, Little one, and help you sit on my lap. I promise that I am going to be here. You aren’t alone.” The little whimpers that she let out crushed him.
