Page 46 of Spicy Ever After

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“Mmmm—mmmm—mmmm—mmmm.”

Vocalizing doesn’t help. It just makes me feel like I can’t get enough air.

Clutching my own arms, hugging myself, I look left and right. Panic has turned me around, and I can’t remember where safety is.

“Beck! Hey, Beck!”

Bizarrely, I hear Beck calling his own name, and the freakishness of this sends me over the edge. I break into a run.

I hate running. My body has always rebelled against it. High school PE was state-sanctioned torture. But, right now, my nervous system is like an air raid siren.

And. I. Fucking. Go.

“Hattie?”

All I see are small gaps between people. When they don’t step out of my way, I barrel through them.

“Hattie! Wait!”

When I break out of the crowd, I realize I’m running in the wrong direction, heading away from the parking lot, and I need to get to my car.

I spin on my heels to course correct and?—

Collide with a human wall.

“Hattie—”

Hands close lightly around my upper arms. I look up.

Into amber.

And golden.

And an expression that is both confusion and relief.

Beck.

For real this time.

My lungs fill, but, I swear, the breath is slim on oxygen.

“A-are you okay? What happened?”

He’s touching me, but it’s too light. Insubstantial and irritating like a loose thread, so I brush at his hands, and he immediately lets go.

Then he takes a step back, willingly giving me space.

And I’m both grateful and…

Disappointed.

And now that I’m panting in the middle of the park, and he’s standing right in front of me, looking a little worried and a lot confused, and?—

I’m a total weirdo.

“I’m s-sorry—” I’m still breathless, so the words are choppy. I shake my head, put a hand on my chest and press hard, trying to calm my breathing.

Beck steps closer, erasing the distance he put between us. “It’s okay. Did you—did you think Griffin was me?”

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