“Asher!” I shout back, rushing into the hall to see he’s already barreling for my bedroom, fury written across his face.
“What the fuck is going on?!”
“Collins locked herself in the bathroom.” I gesture to the door. “We were all sleeping but woke up when we heard her screaming.”
“Screaming at what?” he demands, rushing around me to get to my bathroom door.
“I think she’s dissociating, and this is one of her more physical, violent episodes. Something must have triggered her pretty badly because we just heard glass shattering?—“
“Fucking move,” Asher growls as I grab Riley by the back of his shirt and yank him against my chest just as Asher lifts his heel and nearly smashes it through the door by the handle.
His fucking Herculean strength sends the door flying open, and wood splinters beneath his foot, sending shards spraying across the room.
Riley and I shove past him to find Collins naked and bleeding on the floor. She’s trembling, her wet hair plastered to her forehead as she holds a mirror shard in her hand like a weapon. The large mirror over my vanity is completely shattered, along with the glass soap dispenser that sat on Collins’ side of the sink.
“Hang on.” I hear Riley pleading softly with Asher. “We need to cover her up and turn the water off,” he tries to explain to a fuming Asher.
The floor is soaked, and Collins is covered in fresh cuts from the glass strewn across it. Her hand is bleeding where she’s got a death grip on the shard. She’s looking right at me, but she’s not seeingme. Riley quietly hands me a towel from behind, and I let it unravel as I slowly move toward her.
“D-don’t touch me,” Collins rasps, her voice shaking in fear. She scoots back across the broken shards and winces, but doesn’t back down. “I’ll cut you. I swear to fuck I’ll slit your throat if you come near me.”
Something inside of me breaks all over again with her words, but I’m not giving up on her.
“Stardust,it’s me. It’s Creed.” I murmur, crouching down on her level. She softens just a little at the sound of my name, but she doesn’t lower her weapon. “Baby, I’m here. Riley’s here.See. Us.We’reright here.It’s okay.”
Her breath hitches, and she hiccups a silent sob. A little clarity shines through in her eyes, and she lowers her hand, the glass falling before clattering against the tile. The small shards dig into my knees as I slowly wrap her petite frame in a towel, covering her. I ignore the pain because nothing could ever hurt as badly as Collins’ wounds that just won't heal from the inside.
“You’re safe, Stardust. Can you feel me?” I allow my hands to gently trail down her shoulders until I reach the tips of her fingers.
“I feel you,”She rasps, blinking her fresh tears away.
“That’s it, baby, feel me.” I respond, my heart feeling as if it may cave in on itself, seeing her so broken like this. I clear my throat, trying to hide the wobble in my voice when I speak to her. “We need to get you off the floor and away from the mess, Stardust.”
I lift the towel to cover her naked, trembling body, and she flinches, but doesn’t move into her offensive demeanor, so I slowly wrap her up.
The moment her body is covered, I turn to Riley, whose posture is stiff and eyes a little unfocused as he watches everything from the doorway, and give him a nod.
His reaction is a little delayed, and my brow furrows when it takes him a second to respond with a thick swallow and nod inresponse. Asher must see it, because he’s in the room a second later, using another towel to push the debris out of the way to clear a path for me.
Collins has silent tears rolling down her cheeks, and she becomes my sole focus as I murmur and coo soft, reassuring words in her ear before she relaxes just enough to allow me to lift her into my arms. She’s shaking, and her hand is still bleeding as I rush her into our bedroom. She wouldn’t let me wrap it, so I need to work quickly. Riley follows close behind and whips his own shirt over his head, knowing what I need even though his movements are a little shaky and robotic as he hands it to me. Setting Collins on the bed, I make quick work of dressing her in Riley’s shirt, making sure her lap is completely covered before removing the towel. Blair must have entered the room shortly after Asher busted down the door because he emerges behind me, passing a pair of her sleep shorts over my shoulder. He also sets a first-aid kit on the bed next to me, gives my shoulder a squeeze, and disappears to help Asher with cleanup in the bathroom.
I can feel Riley fidgeting behind me as Collins absentmindedly scoots up the bed and lies on her side, the slowing trickle of blood in her hand soaking into the pillow.
“Collins, are you with me?” I whisper, not daring to move before she answers. My name barely rasping through her lips is my only response. I can see that her eyes are still dazed before she closes them and her body relaxes.
Asher reemerges from the bathroom and steps past Riley to sit next to me on my bed. He reaches for her hand, but I halt him with my own on his wrist. His glare could melt the polar ice caps, but I shake my head and murmur, “Talk to her first. She seems better now, but we still don’t know all of her triggers. Make sure she knows it'syoubefore you touch her,”
“Creed—”
“Collins is strong, but we need to tread carefully–”
“Creed–-”
“Because the last thing I want is to set her off if we can control it–”
“Creed!” Blair whisper-shouts, interrupting me for a third time and elbows me in my back. I spin around to tell him to fuck off, but he’s not looking at me. His eyes are focused behind me, and he indicates I should turn around with a quick jerk of his chin.
I turn where I’m sitting and notice Riley standing across the room, looking completely lost as he rubs at the back of his neck. The skin there is red and irritated from repeatedly rubbing the same spot. He’s pacing a path into the hardwood, his shadow dancing back and forth in front of the windows of my bedroom. It’s darker in the room, but it’s impossible to miss the tears welling up in his eyes and the constant bobbing of his Adam’s apple as he works his throat to stave off his incoming emotions.
