“I feel like something is chasing me, man.” He wouldn’t stop shivering. “Like it’s only a matter of time.”
I cupped Winter’s face with one hand and him with the other, just holding them both.
“I can’t stop shaking,” he said. “Fuck, I’m cold.”
“It’s okay.” I held him tighter, not knowing what to do to bring him down.
He wasn’t okay. He was anything but okay. Rika was right.
He was fucking spiraling.
And I doubted anyone knew the full measure of the mess in his head.
Winter brought her head up. “Close your eyes,” she said, putting her hands on his chest. “Close them for a minute. We’ve got you.”
I peered down at him, seeing his eyes closed.
“We’ve got you,” she whispered again. “We’re yours. We’re all yours. We’re not leaving.”
She put her head back down on him, holding him with one of her hands resting on my thigh.
She inhaled long, deep breaths, soothing him with her soft voice. “Damon at your back,” she said, “and me at your front. Feel us breathing. Feel it.”
I did the same, tipping my head back and closing my eyes, just concentrating on our bodies.
“In.” She drew in a breath. “And out.”
Will’s body shuttered, but he was trying.
In.
And out.
“Slow, Will,” she breathed out. “Go slow.”
Her fingers squeezed my thigh, letting me know she was here, and I rubbed her arm as we all kept our eyes closed, trying to calm the fuck down.
“Do you feel him?” she asked Will. “Feel his body behind you. And feel me.”
The shaking in Will’s body started to subside as his chest rose slower and slower, all of us concentrating on every breath and falling into sync.
“In,” she told us. “And out.”
We all blew out, our bodies melted together and moving like one unit.
In…
And out….
“Slow,” she whispered. “Slow with me.”
His arms came around her, and all of us just sat there intertwined and warm, Rika and Michael probably pacing upstairs and wondering what happened to us.
Will’s and my phones were at the bottom of the river now.
I couldn’t go upstairs, though. I didn’t want to move.
“In and out,” she chanted again.