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A panic attack?Not now.
He leaned in closer. “You stumble around, looking for anything to grab on to.”
“Stop.” She tried to push him away. Still, he hovered.
Spinning. Spinning. She closed her eyes to shut it out.
This time he sighed at her. “For whatever reason, probably because I’m safe, my life has become your focus.”
He wasn’t safe. That was the problem. He was a giant question mark.
The headache. The infernal looping. She put a hand to her head in a desperate attempt to hold it steady. All the moving and shifting was making her sick. “You’re twisting this around.”
“I’m trying to be clear.” He put a hand on his hip and studied her. “I’m starting a life with Rachel and you’re not going to rush in and ruin it by spouting off deranged theories.”
Deranged. He thought she was mentally ill. That she hadn’t moved on or gotten better. “How dare you talk to me like this?”
He pushed away from the wall and stood straight again. “Go back to therapy, Elisa. Get help and do it before you destroy something that matters to you.”
All hints of lightness and worry had disappeared from his voice. He sounded flat and angry now. He was threatening her. Maybe not explicitly, but she sensed it. The warnings broke through the dizziness and the muffled words shouting in her brain.
“Harris. Nathan. Your entire cozy life,” he continued. “You could lose it in a second.”
She shook her head and a wave of nausea washed over her. She breathed through her nose in a vain attempt to keep it together.
“Gaslighting isn’t going to work.” But her voice sounded weak and breathy. Pulsing with pain.
“What am I supposed to think? You’re running around. You’re seeing women who aren’t there.” He put a hand between them as he reeled off her perceived failures. “You’re scaring the hell out of your husband and son.”
“That’s not true.” She couldn’t move her head... or her legs. She balanced all of her weight against that wall.
Groggy.That was the best way to describe the lethargy weighing her down. She went from angry to useless. Her muscles rebelled and her thoughts felt muddled.
“I love you like a sister, so I’m not going to tell Harris that you came here today to confront me.”
She lifted a hand to grab onto his suit jacket, but her fingers slid against the cloth and fell again.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“I came here to talk with you.” She spit the words out, but she no longer remembered how she’d got there or why she’d tried.
“You’re skulking around on the sidewalk. Spying and, frankly, looking and sounding out of control.” He frowned. “Are you drugged?”
“No.” She meant to shout but she could do little more than mouth the word. She rubbed a hand over her face, tried to force life back into her body.
“This is not normal behavior. It’s the kind of behavior that could change your life.” He shook his head. “Harris and Nathan need stability.”
They were all that mattered to her. “You actually think my husband and son would pick you over me?”
His expression was blank, unreadable.
“You’re a monster.” She believed that with every part of her.
“One of us needs help, and it’s not me.” He glanced at his watch as if he’d already wasted too much time on her. “I’d hate to think about what would happen if people started questioning your ability to take care of Nathan.”
Her fingers grabbed onto the wall. Her nails scratched against the cool stucco. “Go to hell.”
“Get help.” He stared at her. “Before it’s too late.”
