Rejected

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

Harry's POV

My chest is tightening and my body is beginning to coat in sweat. Even in my sleep, I know it's going to happen.

I sit up quickly the moment I peel my eyes open, my eyes blinking rapidly to adjust to the darkness of my room.

Jesus Christ, I couldn't fucking breathe.

Shit.

It was getting worse.

I clutched a hand to my chest, patting it blindly to see if that would help.

Nothing.

My lungs felt like they were filling up with water instead of oxygen and it felt like I was dying.

I begin gasping, nearly choking for air until I feel Zoey stir beside me.

For fucks sakes, I didn't want my stupid damn problem to become hers and wake her up too.

"Harry?" She reaches blindly for me, her fingers clasping around my wrist. I try and labor my breathing but it only turns into me panting, and then gasping again.

Zoey sits up quickly beside me, and I'm not sure what she's doing until she climbs behind me on the bed.

She pushes her legs either side of my waist, pulling me back until I'm pressed against her chest.

My head falls to her shoulder and I turn my face towards her, just as one of her hands tangles in my curls and the other strokes carefully up and down my arm.

More air begins to fill my lungs and the tightening in the pit of my chest begins to loosen off.

Zoey is whispering things to me, her soft voice soothing me into a state of calm as her fingers massage my scalp and caress the bare skin of my forearm at the same time.

"Is it over?" She asks me after a few minutes, lifting her arms to wrap them around my neck from behind. They hang loosely on my chest, and I put my hands around her wrists to keep her there.

"Yeah," I whisper shakily, pressing my face into the crook of her neck and breathing her in to calm myself down even more.

She leans her head against mine, her hands rubbing up and down my chest.

"How long have you been having these attacks Harry?"

I blink my eyes open and stare at the exposed skin on her neck, partially littered with small bruises and red marks I created with my mouth.

"Since my mum died" I admit. There was no point in lying to her. Zoey didn't seem to look at me like a pussy because of the attacks, something I couldn't say about other women that had accidentally stayed the night before to witness one. They thought it made me look weak.

"I'm sorry," She lifts a hand to push through my hair again and I sigh. I loved the feeling of her fingers brushing through my hair, or her fingers anywhere on me for that matter.

"It's okay Zo,"

"You should go back to sleep. It's early."

She moves herself back over to the side of the bed, to which I'm quick to pull her into my side.

"I'm not leaving Harry" She chuckles, wrapping her arm around my waist as I settle in beside her.

"Good" I plant a final haste kiss to her lips, nuzzling my face into her hair and just trying to forget.

---

Zoey's POV

I reach up on the tips of my toes, blindly digging around in Harry's top cupboard for the box of cereal I saw him try and secretly stash up there.