Silent Desires (Shattered Silence Duet Book 1)
Silent Desires: Chapter 36

“So, Sugar, what did you get up to this weekend?” As soon as the question leaves my mouth, I feel her body freeze up beside me. “Sugar?” I ask, turning fully toward her. I rub my hand on her upper back, trying to get her to look at me. “Mina, Sugar, can you look at me?”

“Shit, it’s a panic attack!” Gideon growls, pulling her plate away and turning her chair so he can kneel in front of her. He grabs both of her hands as he tries to talk to her. “Look at me, come on, Love. I need you to take a deep breath. Mina, Honey?”

His voice grows desperate when she doesn’t respond. He places his hands on her cheeks. “Come on, I need you to breathe!” He raises his voice slightly, tilting her head up to him. Her eyes are vacant, staring at nothing. It’s terrifying. She’s not breathing, and he can’t seem to reach her.

The others gather around us, all calling her name, trying to get her to breathe. I grab her hand and hold it tightly between mine, kissing her knuckles and afraid to let her go.

The moment her eyes roll back and her body goes limp, it feels like my heart literally stops. I catch her before she moves an inch and hold her against my chest. Her face is tilted up and I stroke her hair back from her face, watching as a drop of water falls onto her cheek. I wipe it away before realizing it’s coming from me. I’m… I’m actually crying. I don’t remember ever crying before.

“Tucker?” I hear Gideon say softly. I lift my gaze to where he’s kneeling in front of us. “She’s going to be okay. She’s breathing normally now.” I nod, looking back at her to watch her chest rise and lower steadily. I can feel more tears forming in my eyes. Why am I crying?

“It’s not your fault, brother,” Dom says, placing his hand on my arm. I grind my teeth. Of course it’s my fault. What was I thinking, asking her that? There’s obviously something going on at her house.

“Look at me, Tuck.” My eyes meet Dom’s. “It’s not. For all we know, she was just hanging out in her bedroom all weekend and nothing happened.”

“Then why did she panic?” I ask, looking back at her face.

“We know she suffers from them. It might not have been related to your question. Anything can set them off. We just don’t know,” Gideon adds.

“And now we can’t even ask,” Max grumbles.

“It’s probably best we don’t. She’s clearly not ready to talk about it,” Dom states.

“Shit, guys, we have to get back to school. Lunch is almost over, and you have class,” Gideon tells us, looking angry that he has to leave. I feel the same way, I don’t want to leave her now, not in this state. I want to make sure she’s okay and not upset with me.

I hold Mina tighter against my chest, kiss her head, and softly nuzzle where her neck meets her shoulder, taking in her scent to get me through until I see her again. As I stand up, I lift her in my arms.

Ben steps in front of me. “Alright, man, time to hand her over. You can’t take her back like this.” He gives me a small smirk, and I pass her gently into his arms. I watch her for a minute to make sure she’s still breathing, then kiss her forehead before heading back to school. I hope I can see her in gym class. I need to see with my own eyes that she’s okay.