Page 151 of Untouchable

“So we’ll just go into the edges now. We don’t have to go any farther than you want.”

She’d been staring at the trail disappearing into the trees, but now she glared up at him. “Why are you doing this? You know I have the phobia.”

“I know.” His face was a little strange. Set. Like he’d determined something he was going through with now. Maybe he’d planned this whole thing from the beginning. “But I love you, and I’m not okay with you just living with something that hurts you like this. I want you to get better, and that means facing what you’re afraid of.”

If he’d posed it in any other way, she would have refused. But there was no objection she could give to what he’d said.

He did love her. She knew it. He wanted what was best for her. And if she didn’t even try to go into the woods right now—when he wanted her to get better—it would be like throwing his love back in his face.

She couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do it.

“Okay,” she mumbled, swallowing over her fear. “I’ll try. But I don’t think I’ll get very far. I’ve tried to force myself before, and I’ve never been able to do it.”

“Just go as far as you can,” he murmured, stroking her back. “I’ll be right here with you.”

“Okay.” She took a long, shaky breath. “Okay.”

They walked slowly across the distance to the first of the trees, and Kelly’s fear intensified the closer they got. Caleb didn’t say anything, and she wasn’t capable of speaking when they got to the very edge.

He stood beside her, and she knew he was watching her, but she couldn’t look at anything but the tangle of branches, broken only by the well-worn trail cutting through them.

She’d tried before. The fear wasn’t something you could just talk yourself out of.

But Caleb wanted her to do this. He wanted her to heal.

And she wanted to heal too.

So she took the first step past the border of the woods.

Her vision blurred as panic spiraled up, and she reached out blindly toward Caleb beside her.

She found his shirt and clung to it, fisting her fingers in the fabric, and he pressed his hand against her back again.

“I’m right here,” he murmured. “Take another step.”

She did as he said, her knees so weak she could feel them buckling. She wasn’t sure she could have even kept standing had Caleb not been beside her—strong and solid as she held on to him, as he braced her with his hand on her back.

She kept walking, barely seeing what was in front of her. She was panting so loud it felt like it could be heard through the whole forest.

Eventually she was so far in that she couldn’t see the end of the trail that led back out into the sunlight. It was nothingbut trees and shadows and twisted memories and dark secrets hiding behind every trunk. All around her. Surrounding her. Swarming in on her.

She choked on the fear and bent over at the waist, trying to draw in a full breath.

Caleb was pulling her up, pulling her against him.

“I can’t breathe,” she gasped, burying her face in his chest, trying to drown out the knowledge of the woods all around her.

“Yes, you can,” he murmured. “Take a breath right now.”

She did as he said and was surprised to feel air filling her lungs. She let it out in a gust and sucked in another breath. She was shaking helplessly and would have fallen if Caleb hadn’t been holding her up.

Surely he would let her go back now. He wouldn’t want her to suffer like this.

“Let’s go a little farther,” he said. “You’re doing fine.”

“I’m not doing fine. I can’t.” She literally couldn’t make herself move.

“Yes, you can. Walk with me.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and forced her to move with him, her legs barely keeping up with his stride.