Page 76 of Bound By Flames

“Thanks, Carter,” I mutter.

Inhale, exhale. Think, Mia. You don’t have to let it take control of you again.

Without thinking twice about the elephant in the room I’ll need to deal with later, I take my phone out of my purse and find the number.

“Everything’s alright, princess?” Ares’ warm tone answers right away, grounding me.

“Yea-yeah.” I heave.

“What is it? Are Carter and Ash with you? Why aren’t you in the main room of the gallery?” he fires back at me with urgency, the sound of an electric drill in the background.

“Ho-how?” How could he know where I am exactly? I look up for cameras or any device that could track me.

“I got a tracker on your phone. Gotta know where you are at all times,” he explains roughly.

Of course he did.

“It’s, I tried to eat something, but it’s not going well. I’m kind of freaking out right now,” I explain, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

“Shit—” The sound of a gunshot echoes in the call before I hear something fall on the floor with a whimper. “How d’ya feel? From one to ten, where are you at?”

“Fiv-five?” I say, trying to picture him to soothe myself.

“Five? Alright, five is good. We can work with five.” His voice is warm and loving, like honey melting on a sunny day. I pull my knees up and curl like a ball on the chair, letting Ares' voice soothe me and make the panic go away.

“We’re gonna breathe together, alright?” he commands me softly.

“Oka-okay.”

“Inhale, deep. Yeah, perfect, just like that.” I follow his directions. “Exhale, you’re doing great, Mia. C’mon, a couple more times.” He leads me to four more breathings until the tingles in my fingers disappear, and I stop thinking about cream spreading in my body and poisoning me.

“I think, I think it’s gone,” I murmur.

“Really? That’s great, see? You can handle it, princess. You just did,” he praises me, and I’m almost certain he’s smiling.

“Not really, but than-thank you…” I mutter, almost speechless at how well he handles my episodes.

“Anytime, baby. I’m leaving the club right now. I'll be there in fifteen. Do you want to stay on the line and tell me about your day ?”

I close my eyes and bite a smile.

“Yes, that’d be great.”

Ares

“Where’s Mia?” I ask Ash as I enter the gallery, the crowd dividing like the sea at my sight. Nice to look like criminals sometimes. Makes folks give you room to breathe.

“Still in the back office.” I motion his chin to a door in the back.

“Ares! Hey.” My sister finds me, all smiling and breathless.

“Hi, Vaness’. Congrats on the evening. Looks like a lot of folks showed up,” I tell her, my eyes already driven to the door I’ve noticed in the back.

“Yes, I’m, it’s really great,” she says, blushing, and I hear her voice falter a bit.

“Proud of ya, you did good,” I tell her, looking into her green eyes, the same as my dad had.

“Thank you,” she says, glowing from my words. “Ares, I forgot to tell you, yesterday with Mia, I think I made a mistake…”