Page 55 of Be With Me
What the hell had just happened?
There was no way I was going stay sitting here while he was having…whatever he was having. A medical emergency? A panic attack?
I couldn’t lose track of him.
My heels landed in a puddle as I got out of the car. The rain was so heavy it took only seconds for my cardigan to get completely soaked.
“Romolo!”
I spotted him ahead, his silhouette barely visible through the storm. He stood near a tree, both palms pressed against the trunk like he needed it to stay upright.
I slammed the door shut and ran toward him. The moment my feet hit the muddy grass, my heels sank. I toed them off and left them behind as I sprinted toward him barefoot.
He was trembling. His body shook as he gasped for air.
It was strange and terrifying to see someone so powerful looking so…fragile.
I pressed my palm to the center of his back. “I’m here.”
His muscles tensed beneath my touch. The next second, he jerked away from me violently.
“Damn it, Mia. I told you to stay in the car.” His voice was a rasp—low and strained but laced with anger.
Normally, that kind of tone would’ve made me recoil, but he looked like he was barely holding himself together. I wasn’t about to leave him like this.
“Do you need me to drive you to the hospital?”
“No.” He pushed off the tree and took one slow step forward like he was going to walk back to the car.
But he only made it two steps. His knees buckled. He caught himself before he fully collapsed, his hands slamming into the mud, his breath coming in harsh, uneven gasps.
My heart broke. Something about seeing him like this made me want to weep.
I crouched down beside him, ignoring the way the wet earth soaked my bare legs, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”
His fingers curled into the dirt. “Leave me alone.” His voice was so low I could barely hear it over the storm.
Lightning cracked above us, illuminating his face.
He looked lost.
What happened to you, Romolo?
CHAPTER16
ROM
She hadn’t listened. Why hadn’t she listened?
Mia’s hand rested on my shoulder. Small. Warm. Steady.
She was trying to comfort me, but it was having the opposite effect. My lungs tightened even more.
I shrugged her off and tried to get back to my feet, stumbling as the world tilted around me. The memories clawed their way to the surface, unrelenting. The flashbacks were vivid. A horror movie projected straight into my head.
Nails digging into my thigh. Water rushing in with a roar. Her choked apologies, the names of the children?—
My chest felt like it was splintering apart, my head splitting open.
