Dirty Little Secret

Chapter Sixteen - Pampering Kisses & Panic Attacks

He watched me in silence as I downed half the bottle in one go before closing my eyes and letting my head rest against the school's stone wall in exhaustion.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in- "Are you alright?" Caden asked me softly.

Breathe out "Yeah."

We sat there as my limbs grew tired and my breathing slowly went back to normal.

"Thank you." I finally murmured, gathering the courage to look up at him just to find him already staring at me. He shrugged "It's no big deal."

I shook my head "It is. No one has ever been able to calm me down like that, you-" I hesitated, searching for the right words before softly asking "How did you learn to do that?"

 "I just..." He hesitated and averted his eyes from me, the color on his cheeks becoming evident as he scratched the back of his neck "My brother used to have panic attacks." He explained "I was too little to know what was going on so I would just comfort him the way my mother used to comfort me... I guess when I saw you I kind of panicked and did the first thing that came to mind. I-" he struggled with his words before awkwardly chuckling "God, I'm sorry that must've been weird for you."

I looked at him curiously as I could feel the heat beneath my own skin, reminding me of all the places his lips had been only moments before. Gone was the confident Caden. Gone was the cocky jerk who I'd been yelling at only minutes ago. In his place sat the same guy who I'd fallen for on the beach that night, the vulnerable one who looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. I swallowed away the lump in my throat and laid my hand on his knee "Thank you."

I could see his adam's apple bob up and down before he nodded and smiled at me, opening up his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by a voice coming from behind us "There you are! I've been looking all over for you."

I quickly retracted my hand and glanced up, being met by Jenna's familiar pink locks as she plopped down next to us, hitting me in the face with her hair in the progress. I sputtered out the strand of hair that had managed to get caught between my lips and turned my head away from Jenna.

She looked at me curiously and frowned "Wow, you look like death. What happened?"

I coughed in surprise at her words and could feel my cheeks burning up "Geez, thanks." I muttered sarcastically and glanced down at my feet in embarrassment.

Jenna ignored my remark and directed her next question at Caden "What did you do to her?" she asked him suspiciously and he quickly put his hands up in defense "I didn't do anything." He said before pointing at my phone which was still tightly clutched in my left hand "She got a phone call from some woman named Rose and next thing I know she's having a panic attack."

Jenna nudged my arm with her elbow and scooted closer to me "You alright?"

I swallowed and nodded "I think so."

"What happened?"

I glanced back and forth between Caden and Jenna hesitantly and Caden seemed to get the hint as he quickly stood up and wiped the invisible dirt off of his jeans "I should probably get to class..." He muttered not so subtly and I nodded at him.

"Thanks again." I said softly and he granted me a small smile before turning around and walking away, disappearing behind the school's large swinging doors as they closed behind him.

"So?" Jenna looked at me expectantly when I didn't immediately say something and I sighed "I got fired."

Jenna's eyed widened and she turned her upper body to face me. "What? Why?" she asked with slight disbelief, and I couldn't blame her. Who the hell got fired after their second day? Certainly not any member of the Becker family. My mother was going to kill me. Disown me. Feed me to the sharks.