My Forbidden Doctor - Stephanie Brother Page 0,18

the back of my head gently. His soft, soothing words barely breached my muddled mind, and I managed a shallow breath of medicated spray. "It's okay. I'm here. Just relax, Mel."

My head spun even as my inhaler did its job, and Carl set it down with a clatter to gently stroke the length of my throat. Icy prickles pierced between my ribs and gripped my heart, and I clenched my jaw hard as I took great, heaving gasps through my nose. Shivering hard, I cracked open my throbbing eyes but immediately shut them again. A strangled noise escaped me, my fists flying to bang weakly on Carl's chest.

"Fuck! Fuck! God damn—" Grinding the slurs through my teeth, a sob tore from my throat. Panting furiously, I glared through my tears as steam practically poured from my ears. My brief attack left my breathless, flames engulfing my chest and spine. Tremors gripped every muscle in my body, and hot air that I couldn't replace invaded the thin space between my brain and my skull.

"Melissa?"

The coo snapped my eyes up, and I tensed as Carl cupped both my cheeks. His touch was so warm, battling the frigid cold that threatened to overwhelm me.

"Hey... what happened, huh?"

"What the Hell is wrong with him?" My voice broke harshly, and my lips tingled wildly as I pursed them together.

Slowly, Carl dragged his palm down to my chest, and I automatically took as big a breath as I could manage. The worry in his eyes didn't ease, but the tension in his face did, and he nodded a little to himself.

"He didn't even say 'hi'!"

"You wanna talk about it?"

Shaking my head hard, my hair whipped at my face, and I sniffled hard. Leaning back, Carl sat down with a low grunt to let the silence fill the air. The rain hitting the concrete sidewalk behind me slowly filtered back into my scope of comprehension, and my goosebumps started receding. An ache began to pound behind my eyes.

"... He told me he met some richer-than-God woman that made my mom look poor." Out of the corner of my eye, Carl tensed at my rasp, his eyes boring holes into the side of my face. Glaring hotly at my phone on the table, bitterness stained my tongue. "She's probably some young divorcee that blackmailed her ex into supporting her lifestyle somehow. Scum attracts scum. He said he was gonna bag her and get all her money. What the Hell kind of person is he that he says that like he's proud of it? That he's got this amazing, genius idea and— I mean— he's balding, for God's sake!"

Blurting out that last part in utter disgust, a hard shiver lodged between my shoulder blades.

"That... I really don't know what to say to that, Mel. I'm sorry you have to go through all this."

Reaching with trembling hands to wipe my face roughly, I sniffed painfully before grabbing my purse.

"For what it's worth, I didn't even notice you or hear anything you said."

"You got what you wanted, though." His gaze on me turned questioning, and I plucked out a tissue from the packet to cast him a sidelong glance. "I had an asthma attack, and you saw it this time."

"You had a panic attack that triggered an asthma attack, so it really didn't help me much. I'm sure it felt a lot worse than it was because of the former."

Scrunching up my nose in distaste, I ducked my head to blow and wipe as discreetly as I could.

"Do you want me to give you the names of a few therapists to help you through this?"

"No— no, I... I think it was a one-off... I hope it was, at least. It's just— my dad said that, and I gave him a piece of my mind, and then you just happen to be standing behind me..." Casting him a curious glance, my eyes ached to explore his faintly defined chest. Carl swiped back his wet hair, his earbuds dangling off his neck and drawing attention to his collar bones. "Why are you running in the rain?"

"Ah, my sister's in the tea shop. I was waiting for her to come back. I didn't even see you over the railing."

He rubbed his neck, almost bashfully, and my heart fluttered lightly at how hot he was. Every time I saw Carl, he got more attractive. Not good.

"I always wished I had siblings. My parents didn't want me, you know? But that never stopped my mom from