Then, something amazing happened. She looked me in the eyes, and there seemed to be a shift in her expression. I knew it was the exact moment she decided to put all of her trust in me. For the second time since our adventure began, I had to squelch the urge to pull her into my chest.
“I probably shouldn’t trust you, Jake, but the truth is, I do. I’m just scared.”
If it was the last thing I did, I wanted to eradicate every last bit of the fear that lived inside of this girl. I wanted her to be happy and wanted to be the one to make that happen even if I couldn’t understand where that need was coming from.
“Nina, I’m going to let the doors close now, okay?”
She nodded.
Good girl.
I released the button, but when the doors closed, Nina started shaking. I kept with the plan and pressed the button for the highest floor. She caught me off guard when she grabbed a hold of me, wrapping her arms around my waist and placing her cheek on my chest. Every muscle in my body tightened to resist the feelings that were rocketing through me. My heart thundered against her cheek. I looked down to find that her eyes were closed. Her nails dug into my sides, and I silently willed her to do it harder. I wanted her pain. I wanted anything she could give me in that moment and relished her touch even if it wasn’t meant to be enjoyed. I breathed in the clean scent of her hair to calm my sensory overload. She likely had no clue that my own body was in flux for an entirely different reason than her own.
My mouth lightly touched her ear when I said, “You’re doing good.” I looked up at the digital numbers. “Look. We’re on fifty now.”
She refused to move her face which was still buried in my chest. “Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know how high we are.”
As much as I never wanted to let her go, we’d reached the top floor. I reluctantly backed away from her, my body instantly craving the return of her warm breasts against my chest. “You want to walk around up here for a bit or do you wanna go right back down?”
“Go back down. Please.”
“You got it.”
You got it, dude.
She grabbed a hold of my shirt again as the car descended. While I was tempted to bring her closer into me, it was better that I didn’t because in seconds, I was about to become the most hated man in her universe.
Nina, I promise. It’s for your own good.
I took a deep breath and pressed the red button.
The elevator came to a grinding halt, and Nina screamed like a banshee.
“Jake! Jake? We’re stuck! What’s happening? What’s happening?”
With one hand on the stop button, I kept my cool and held my index finger to my mouth. “Shh.”
The look on her face transformed from fright to rage before my eyes. “Please tell me…you…did not just stop this elevator?”
“Calm down, Nina. Calm dow—”
Ow. Fuck!
She’d used all of her strength to smack me in the chest.
“The fuck, Nina. Stop!”
I grabbed her hands and locked them into mine, and my glare burned into hers. She couldn’t move from my grasp. As much as her whack in the chest hurt, she was now realizing how strong I was and that she wouldn’t be able to compete.
“You told me you wouldn’t force me to do anything I wasn’t comfortable with. I am begging you…move this elevator…now!”
If any residents heard her say that, they’d call the police.
Holding her hands tighter, I said, “Nina, calm down. It’s okay. Don’t you see you have to stick this out? You have to pass through the moment of panic. If you can get past that and see that nothing happens, you can do anything.”
I’d done a lot of research in the last several days on panic attacks. There was always a peak where the symptoms got to their most unbearable, but if the person stuck with the situation rather than running, things would eventually calm down once they realized they weren’t really in true danger. Most people ran before they got to that point. The cure lied in sticking it out until the end.
We continued to argue back and forth until she started to hyperventilate. I wanted her to know that the choice was still hers. I moved in closer and placed my hands on her face. “Look at me.” I ran my tongue ring across my bottom lip. As crazy as she was acting, I ached to taste her mouth. I wished it were possible to kiss the fear right out of her. Instead, I simply said, “If you make me push that button, the deal’s off.”
“Fine…deal’s off…do it. Now.”
Well, that backfired.
I repositioned myself in front of the panel of buttons to block it and decided to firm up my stance. I crossed my arms. “No.”