“G, there is.” He leaned down again and spoke into my ear, “You’ve punished him long enough.”
Well, if that wasn’t just the ice water that killed my happy mood. “I’m happy for you, Trey. Really. This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” Then I raised up onto my tiptoes and kissed him gently on the cheek.
After that, I wandered around from circle to circle, avoiding Beau to the best of my abilities.
I avoided looking at him.
Because if I had, I would have noticed how handsome he was in his black, button down shirt and blue jeans.
And I wouldn’t want to see that.
I also wouldn’t want to see how his sexy lips wrapped around his bottle of beer. Or how his face lit up when he laughed.
Nope.
Didn’t want to notice any of that.
So, I made sure to keep my distance, yet still have fun.
An hour or two later, Niki grabbed me by the shoulders. “Oh my gosh, G. It’s Beau, come quick!”
My stomach dropped, and I followed her. Not that I had a choice. She had a death grip on my hand as she guided me through the obstacle course of people.
We came to a dead stop, right in front of Beau, sitting on one of the lounges. “What’s—” I got out before he looked up at me. Those beautiful eyes of his were swollen, but not from a fight. I gazed to his open mouth, where he was panting through swollen lips.
“Nuts,” he gasped, pointing to a half-eaten brownie on the lounge beside him.
Oh crap. My brain went into clinical gear. “You ate that?” I asked calmly, hoping like heck he’d say, ‘no’.
He nodded.
“There’s peanuts in it?”
Again, he nodded, then ripped his shirt open. I looked down to see large, red, painful looking welts all over his chest.
I leaned down, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Okay, you’re going to be fine. I have your epinephrine upstairs. Concentrate on breathing as slowly as you can.”
His hand grasped mine so hard, it was painful. “Trust me?”
He nodded, still gasping for air.
“Then let me go get your medicine. I’ll be right back, I promise.” I stared at him, watching his eyes and mouth swell before my eyes. I didn’t have much time. He needed to let me go.
Suddenly, he dropped his hand from mine and hunched over.
I pulled out my phone and dialed 911 while I raced to my apartment. They answered after the second ring. “911, what’s your emergency?” the woman on the other end of the phone asked.
“Hi, we’ve got an anaphylaxis situation,” I huffed, continuing to run while I gave her the address to our complex. “I’m going to administer his epinephrine, but you guys need to get here immediately. Please hurry!”
“The male patientis thirty-two years old—”
“Thirty-five,” I interrupted the paramedic in the back of the ambulance. Beau wouldn’t let go of my hand. The way he held onto me was freaking me out.
It wasn’t the usual, let’s hold hands because I like you.
He had an urgency to his grip and to the way he was looking at me. His eyes never left my face.
Ever.