Free Be My December by Rachel Brookes

until I passed out and escaped from realism. It was a pathetic way to hide from truth, but it was the only thing I could do. I could hear Josh talking, but I couldn’t understand anything he was saying. I was thrown back to four years prior, to the moment that I was a beaten, broken, and fearful young woman. I felt my heart thump dangerously fast in my chest, my palms sweating, and my lungs ached as I desperately tried to gain a breath. My eyes snapped back to Josh’s worried face.
    “Eden—”
    “Thank you for the opportunity. I will see myself out.”
    I hastily grabbed my bag from the floor and rushed for the door with Josh close on my heels. I felt a familiar panic attack brutally coming to life and the last thing I wanted was Josh Crawford to witness me unravel into a pit of anxiety and be frozen as my nightmares unleashed their attack. I needed my solitude and the relief that only locking myself away from the world could provide.  I punched the button time and time again when I reached the elevator. I could feel the presence of Josh standing beside me, close enough to know he was worried over my reaction, but still far enough to give me the space I needed. I must have looked completely ridiculous. I was just given the best opportunity of my life and instead of saying, “Where do I sign?” I was fleeing the building like a raving lunatic.
    The moment the elevator door opened I hurried in and Josh followed in close pursuit. He hit the ground floor button and stood back against the wall, an awkward silence falling between us. Thankfully we didn’t stop until we reached the ground floor.
    The moment the elevator door opened, I rushed toward the glass doors with the promise of escape within reach. My eager steps halted and I froze on the spot as a voice wrapped itself around me and caressed my very soul. It floated through the air like the perfect song and was a voice I couldn’t forget.
    My eyes darted through the foyer as the need to find the owner of the voice hit me. My need to escape fading as my gaze locked onto a man with broad shoulders, a slim waist, and chocolate brown hair. Covered in a crisp white shirt and form fitting charcoal grey trousers, he paced in front of the Andy Warhol art work of Marilyn Monroe that I had been transfixed on earlier. 
    His phone was glued to his ear and his velvet smooth voice rose and faded as the conversation obviously grew heated and then resolved. My eyes roamed unashamedly over his body. He was the epitome of confidence and charisma. His stance showed ownership and determination while the slouch of his shoulders indicated frustration and fatigue. As my eyes took him in, I stiffened as something so unusual hit my body, something that I had refused to accept and experience in so many years; a want, a need assaulted my senses and terrified and exhilarated me all in one heartbeat.
    Josh laughed beside me and the man under my watchful gaze spun around quickly.
    Shit!
    Familiar hazel eyes bounced furiously between Josh and I and a new desire to run hit me. His jaw flexed and he ceased talking into the phone held up to his ear and narrowed his eyes on me with a darkened intensity that stole my ability to breathe. As he stared at me, it felt like the world around me failed to exist and he looked so deep inside me that all of my secrets were being presented to him on a platter. I watched his mouth as he spoke quickly before ending the call abruptly. With wide strides he crossed the room toward where Josh stood beside me with a smirk twisting on his lips.
    “We were supposed to meet at three thirty.” He muttered and tore his gaze from mine and glared at Josh with a force that transformed his eyes from a beautiful hazel to darkened chocolate brown that matched Josh’s.
    “Eden Rivers, I’d like to officially introduce you to Ky Crawford.” Josh waved his hand effortlessly between the guy formerly known as Crawford and me. My body stiffened and I lost the ability to speak.