Aubree Breath babe Breath
1001 Words
Aubree’s POV
It didn’t hit all at once.
It crept in quietly—like a shadow slipping beneath a door, unnoticed until it was already inside your chest.
Breakfast had been overwhelming.
The tension in the house was suffocating.
And the threat… hearing that someone wanted to use me to hurt the twins… it clung to me like broken glass under the skin.
I tried to breathe normally as I walked down the hall alone—just a break, just a moment away from the twins’ constant watchfulness. I didn’t want them to see me fall apart. Not after everything they’d already done.
But halfway to my room, my vision blurred.
My pulse spiked.
My hands trembled.
The air suddenly felt thick.
Wrong.
Too heavy to swallow.
I pressed my back against the wall, fingers digging into the cold surface, trying to drag in a breath—
—but nothing came.
My chest seized violently.
My throat tightened.
My knees buckled.
No. No. Not now.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember what my therapist once taught me years ago—
But all I could hear was that message:
Take the girl. Make the twins fall.
A sob tore out of my chest, sharp and desperate.
Footsteps echoed down the hall.
Not loud.
Not rushed.
Controlled.
Measured.
Carter.
“Aubree?” His voice wasn’t calm this time. It was tight. Worried. “Aubree, look at me.”
I couldn’t.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t—
He reached me in two long strides.
His hands cupped my face instantly, gently but firmly enough to pull me back from the edge.
“Hey,” he whispered, voice low but urgent. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. Look at me.”
My eyes fluttered open.
Barely.
He was right there, kneeling in front of me as I slid down the wall, his hands guiding me safely to the floor so I didn’t hit my head.
“Good. That’s it,” he murmured, brushing hair from my face. “Stay with me, Bree. Stay right here.”
I gasped, trying to pull air in—
But it felt like drowning.
“I—I can’t—” My chest spasmed again.
Carter moved instantly, cradling my head against his chest, one large hand smoothing down my back.
“Yes, you can. I’m here. You’re okay. Breathe with me.”
His voice…
God, his voice was an anchor, and I grabbed onto it like it was the last solid thing in the world.
“Follow my breathing,” he murmured, placing my hand over his chest so I could feel the rise and fall. “In… and out. Slow. I’ve got you.”
I tried.
The inhale was ragged.
The exhale was a sob.
Carter didn’t flinch.
He held me tighter, one hand sliding into my hair, his lips brushing the top of my head in a way that made something inside me shatter and heal at the same time.
“You’re okay,” he whispered again, voice trembling despite how hard he tried to hide it. “Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while Abel and I are breathing.”
My fingers fisted in his shirt.
“I-I don’t want you to die,” I choked out. “I don’t want either of you to get hurt because of me.”
He froze—just for a second.
Then he pulled me even closer, his voice raw.
“We don’t get hurt because of you. We fight because of you. We live because of you.”
Another gasp tore out of me.
Carter cupped my cheeks, forcing me to meet his eyes. His forehead pressed lightly against mine, grounding me, steadying me.
“I need you to breathe. Please.”
His voice cracked.
“You’re scaring the hell out of me, Aubree.”
Something in me latched onto that—onto him.
I forced a breath.
Then another.
Still uneven, but there.
Carter exhaled shakily. Relief washed over his face in a way that stole my breath more than the panic did.
“Good girl,” he whispered.
My heart skipped.
He didn’t seem to realize what he’d said until after it slipped out—but instead of pulling back, he brushed his thumb across my cheek.
My breathing slowly settled into the rhythm of his.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Carter rested his cheek against the top of my head.
“You don’t ever have to hide from me,” he murmured. “Not your fear. Not your tears. Not anything.”
A small whimper escaped me. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”
Carter shook his head, tightening his arms around my waist.
“Aubree… I want to see you however you are. Always.”
My breath caught—not from panic this time, but something deeper. Warmer.
His hand slid down my back, firm and sure. “Next time you feel like this, you come to me. Understood?”
I swallowed. “Carter…”
“Say it,” he whispered.
I blinked slowly up at him. “Understood.”
A soft breath left him, almost like a relieved laugh.
“Good.”
We stayed like that for a long moment—me pressed against him, his heartbeat steady under my palm, his arms wrapped around me like a shield.
Safe.
Steady.
Mine.
And when my breathing finally returned to normal, Carter leaned back just enough to look at me fully.
“You scared me,” he murmured.
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t apologize for needing me.”
My chest tightened in a way that had nothing to do with panic.
And for a moment—for one fragile, dangerous moment—I let my forehead rest against his.
Carter didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Didn’t look away.
He simply whispered:
“I’ll always be here. Even when you don’t ask. Because you are mine and that’s what being mine means.”
- Writer
