Breathing Back to You

Chapter Four: Too Close

After-rehearsal dinners are supposed to wind you down.Instead, I feel wound tight.

The restaurant hums softly around us,low lights, expensive perfume, wine glasses clinking. Everyone looks relaxed.

I am not.

Adrian Vale sits at the head of the table like he owns oxygen itself. Dark suit. Calm posture. Fingers resting against crystal glass.He doesn’t look at me often.

But when he does,It lingers.Not affection.

Not warmth.Something heavier.

Possessive.When dinner ends, I slip away before anyone can corner me. The hallway outside the private dining room is dim, lit only by wall sconces that cast long shadows.

I hear his footsteps behind me.Slow.

Unhurried.Intentional.

“Leaving without saying goodbye?” he asks.

His voice is lower out here. Rougher.

I turn slowly.

“We aren’t close enough for goodbyes.”

His gaze drags over me in a way that makes my skin prickle.

“You’ve learned to use distance like a weapon.”

“And you’ve learned to use control like one.”

A faint smile touches his mouth.

He steps closer.The air between us shifts warmer, heavier.

“You avoid looking at me,” he says.

“I’m looking at you now.”

“And?”

“And I feel nothing.”Lie.His eyes darken.

“You’re a terrible liar.”He moves closer again.

Now there’s barely a foot between us.

I can smell his cologne ,clean, sharp, familiar in a way that unsettles me. My body reacts before my pride can stop it. My pulse quickens.

I hate that he can still do that.

“You used to tremble for different reasons,” he murmurs.

Anger flashes through me. “Don’t rewrite history.”

His hand lifts slowly.Not forceful.Just deliberate.His fingers hover near my jaw, not quite touching.The anticipation alone makes my breath hitch.

“This is what you’re afraid of?” he asks softly.

“I’m not afraid of you.”Another lie.

He closes the remaining distance.

His fingers brush the curve of my shoulder.

Warm.Firm.Too real.For one split second,

there’s electricity.Old memories that aren’t all dark. A time when his touch didn’t feel like a threat.

Then the wrong memories crashed in. Was carried away by my past.A different hand.A heavier grip.Breath against my ear that made my skin crawl.The man who sexually abused me for years.My lungs seize.The warmth of Adrian’s fingers becomes suffocating.My body doesn’t see him anymore.It sees only the jerk who did this to me.No one was there to save me. Not my family, not my friends, not even Adrian.I jerk back sharply.

“Don’t.”

The word tears out of me.

He frowns. “Lyra”

“Don’t touch me.”

My chest tightens painfully. I can’t inhale fully. The hallway feels smaller, closing in.

He studies me now ,not sensual, not heated.Suspicious.

“You reacted like I burned you.”

I swallow. My fingers tremble.He notices.Of course he does.

“I barely touched you,” he says, voice lower now.

“You don’t get to,” I reply.

My heart is racing so hard I feel dizzy.

He steps closer again,slower this time ,as if testing me.I step back instantly.

“Stay there.”

That stops him.The tension changes.Less sensual.More fractured.

“You still want me,” he says quietly. “That’s not fear.”He’s wrong.He’s so wrong.

Desire and terror feel dangerously similar when your body doesn’t know how to separate them.

“You’re arrogant,” I manage.

“And you’re hiding something.”

The hallway feels too tight.My pulse pounds in my ears. I straighten my posture, forcing control back into my limbs.

“I don’t owe you access,” I repeat.

His eyes search my face as if he’s trying to peel back layers I refuse to show.

For a moment, neither of us moves.

The air between us is thick and charged, unfinished, dangerous.Then he steps aside.

“Run,” he says quietly.

I don’t hesitate.I walk past him without looking back.The moment I step outside into the night air, my composure shatters. My hands shake violently. My breathing is uneven, shallow.

He thinks that was tension.He thinks that was desire.He doesn’t know my body confuses both with danger.He doesn’t know that after he left,touch stopped being safe.

And the worst part?A part of me still hates that his presence can make my pulse race. after everything. I needed to take my pill to calm myself down. To overcome the panic attack I was experiencing.I don’t remember walking outside.I only remember the air disappearing.

The restaurant doors close behind me, sealing in the noise. The night should feel open.

Instead, it feels endless.My chest tightens without warning.Not gradual.Not gentle.Violent.I grip the edge of the stone planter near the entrance, nails digging into granite.Breathe In,Nothing.My lungs lock halfway.

The memory comes fast.A hand on my arm.A different hallway.A door shutting.My pulse explodes in my ears.

“Life was never easy when you left me all alone with that so called man Adrian. I had to go through a hell just to survive. Now you come back and wanting justification doesn’t mean any sense to me at all”

I buzzed Tina, call directed to the voicemail. How unlucky I am. Tried two three time before she finally picked up my call.

“Tina!”

I was suffocating yet used my left strength to ask for help.

“Girl are you okay. Where are you?”

“I I can’t really….” I paused.” Come and get me. At the rehearsals.”

That’s the only words I could let out from my mouth.

“Don’t tell me you’re having another panic attack baby. You didn’t have them on a long time now.” Tina was outraged.

“I told you not to over exhaust yourself with everyday practices.”

“Tina!” I growled with all my strength.

“Ok I’m sorry. I’m out of the town Lyra. I’ll send Daniel to pick you up. Now. Stay in a safe place.”Tina was frantic. I felt bad for her.