Without hesitation, I lunge forward and fight to get his hand to let go.
“Give it to me, Evan,” I demand gravelly.
The panic inside me is beginning to heighten. His palm is cut open, and blood litters the bathroom. After a few moments, his fingers slip from the piece of mirror, and it drops into the sinkwith a loud clang. He screams out in protest as he reaches for it again, but I tug him back.
Evan releases a cry that I’d only hear in my nightmares, and then he starts to struggle. “Let me go,” he cries.
“No,” I grunt with my heart in my throat.
I pull his back against my chest and hold him to me as his legs kick and his arms flail. “Let me do it,” he sobs. “I need them to stop.”
My teeth grit together as I exhale a breath through my nose. The world is crumbling around me as I try to keep myself composed.
“Stop, Evan. Please.” I tremble in fear.
“Let me do it,” he calls out hauntingly. “It’s killing me.”
All the muscles in my face tighten, attempting to hold in the emotions that are destroying my soul. “I’m not letting you do this.”
“Please.”
“Stop. It's okay. It’s okay,” I whisper as my eyes throb with wavering tears.
When he finally stops fighting against me, I sink us down to the floor as he bursts into endless tears filled with hoarse screams. I hold on for dear life before checking his neck to make sure he’s made no severe damage.
There’s a small scratch, and even the sight of it makes me nauseous. I twist his arm towards me to find a large gash down the middle, across his other scars. Blood seeps onto the floor as he releases another sob that feels like my heart is being ripped out. Without a second thought, I reach for a towel on the radiator and wrap it around his arm to stop the bleeding.
“Make it stop, Caleb,” he rasps quietly.
His eyes are vacant, as if he’s dissociated, and it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Give it to me. Give me all your pain. I can take it, okay? Let it out,” I say through clenched teeth, despite the terror inside my veins, and the tears streaming down my cheeks. “I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere. It’s gonna be okay.”
My words are for him and me.
It has to be okay.Hehas to be okay.
There is no other outcome. I won’t allow it.
“T-they won’t stop,” he chokes out as saliva drips from his mouth. “I hate hearing them. They won’t leave me alone.”
“Shh, baby. It’ll be okay,” I say with quivering lips and burning eyes.
Evan’s cries become silent, but his chest rises and falls rapidly. “I don’t want to feel anymore, Caleb,” he bawls. “I want it all to stop.”
I clench my eyes shut at the pain in his voice. “I promise everything is going to be okay.”
“I just want it to stop,” he repeats.
“I know, baby,” I whisper through my tears as I try my hardest to hold it together. “Let me hold you, okay?”
The agony from his emotions sweeps through me. It’s blinding, aggressive, and torturous, so I try to welcome it in, in the hopes it’ll relieve something inside him so he can calm down. I’ll take all of his pain to give him peace; it’s not even a question.
Evan carries so much guilt and shame, and it’s not fair that he feels this way when he’s done nothing wrong. His brother is to blame, and all those men who thought they could hurt my mate.
I cradle him before I check on his arm again. I’m losing control because if I was two seconds later?—
Evan’s bedroom door creaks open, and I freeze as I feel a presence behind me.
