He pursed his lips but didn’t say anything else.
“I have a game,” I said.
Trent waved me on, and I hightailed it to the school, skidding into the hall where Ty’s last class was located right as the bell rang. I was sweaty and shaking as the students filed out. Most of them gave me odd looks because, yeah, it was strange to see me there and so unraveled.
Ty’s smile lit for one second, and then he snarled before wrapping a hand around my upper arm and hauling me down the hallway.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked low enough only I could hear.
“N-not here,” I stuttered. Air rasped in and out of my lungs, and my hands began to cramp. Shit. Not now. My vision grew blurry at the edges, and my skin chilled. Not now. Not now.
Ty didn’t stop at his locker, just led me out of the school and down to the soccer field. Our exhibition match wasn’t until later. No one was near us when we stopped at the empty bleachers.
It took less than a second for Ty to understand what was happening.
Anxiety attack.
He spun me around, clamping hard onto my biceps and getting right in my face. “Where are the exits?”
I swallowed, blinking, unable to speak for the shiver in my jaw. I glanced left and right. There was a path that led to the school and another that led around the outbuildings that held large equipment for the teams.
“Yep. You’re not trapped. Plenty of room. Now, breathe with me, slowly.” Ty inhaled deeply.
The first time I tried to follow, I nearly collapsed. The need to get low to curl into my body and disappear was too strong.
“Jack.” He shook me, then lowered his hands until he could spread my constricting fingers with his own. “Do it. You got this.” He inhaled, and though it wasn’t as smooth as his, I forced the air into my lungs in a long, deliberate drag.
“Good. Again.”
I did.
“You’re fine. You’re good.”
We breathed slowly together once more, and the mania subsided. I could focus on my techniques.
“There we go,” Ty breathed with a smile pulling at one corner of his mouth. He brushed his thumb under my nose, wiping sweat—and no doubt snot—clear.
I sniffled and nodded. “Th-thank you.”
“Keep breathing,” he said. When I pulled a breath in and exhaled the last of the shakes, Ty patted my neck. “Now, tell me what happened.”
I licked my lips and flung a worried glance at the school. Would he come find me to retaliate? Had I made this fight between us even worse than it already was? Jesus, I hated how weak these attacks made me.
“Jack?”
“I kissed him.”
Ty took a deep breath, then dropped his hands. “Start at the beginning.”
Without his physical support, I swayed but recounted the day. The slow-burning fight Cal and I had while working together, then Mom showing up and Cal actually complimenting us. My simmering anger hit boiling at that point. I didn’t need Cal being nice. I needed him furious. At least, I thought I did. I told Ty about the basement and how we got into a shoving match.
“He was p-pushing me. He kept yelling at me to hit him.”
“Then why the fuck didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“And kissed him?”
