In a Heartbeat (MxM)

Chapter 46

Vince shot up, still clutching his side before coughing violently. Instinctively I gripped his shoulder, trying to brace him, but he shoved my hand away, letting out another round of hacking. "Vince?"

He coughed for a while until he looked up, and that's when I noticed the blood on the corner of his mouth, dripping towards his chin. It was like someone had poured ice water down my back, the fear rendering me speechless as I trembled at the sight. He winced before saying just above a whisper, "call Chase."

I blinked out of it, fumbling to find my phone as Vince's coughing returned. I was starting to hyperventilate, my breathing irregular as I waited anxiously for Chase to pick up. With each ring, I wanted to cry out, just wanting this suffering to end. I ran back to Vince's side, keeping him in a seated position while I tried to reach over to pat his back, hoping if he'd just cough out whatever needed to come out, he'd feel better.

"Hello?" I had never been happier to hear Chase's voice. Letting out a sigh of relief, my lips trembled as I tried to form coherent words.

"V-Vince needs help," I gasped. "Please, I think he's trying to shift, b-but he's coughing up blood a-and-"

"Breathe Simon," Chase said calmly as if this wasn't a crisis. "I'll be right there, just try to remain calm, alright?"

"But he-he-" A wave of pain rolled through me, through us, as he heaved, followed by a coughing fit. He clutched my shirt this time, just as he coughed out more blood, it getting on the bottom of my shirt and parts of my arm. At the sight of it, I let out a pained gasp, gripping the phone tighter. "Pl-please hurry."

"I'm on my way, Simon. Everything will be alright, okay? He's going through side effects, he'll get through this." It didn't matter how reassuring Chase sounded, it still didn't stop the fear pumping through my veins as Vince seemed to be coughing his innards out. He coughed again, blood dripping down his neck, and onto the top of his shirt. I let out a frustrated sigh before putting the phone down, feeling the need to do something to help ease his pain. Even if Chase were to walk in here in three minutes, that was already three minutes too long for Vince to be in this much agony.

But if this was a side effect to not taking the suppressants...

"I-I should get the pills," I said more to myself, frantically stumbling to my feet. "It should help, right?"

"No," Vince wailed brokenly, crawling towards me, his body still trying to contort forcefully. His head jerked to the side as the veins had bulged in his neck as he was losing the battle to stay in his human form. "Please...don't."

He let out a strangled cry as his body convulsed again. As much as I didn't want him to go back to those pills, I couldn't just let him suffer like this. I'd rather handle a muted bond than to see him go through painful shifts like this.

"Don't," he cried out again, looking at me with such intensity in those sapphire eyes that I almost fell to my knees, almost giving in. But I knew better, knew that if we wanted things to work out right, he'd needed to take it slow, and if that meant to take a higher dose, I was willing to accept it, even if he'd be mad at me for it.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed, not even sure if it had been audible, before turning back to grab the bottle from the bathroom. Opening all the drawers and cabinets, I searched desperately to try and find it, only to realize he had thrown it in the trash, again. I gripped it tightly in my hand, the irony of how we needed it even though I desperately wanted it to remain in the trash too left a cold feeling in my chest.

But things took time, this was no exception.

Squeezing the bottle tighter, I dared to look in the mirror, the sight of the blood on my clothes, still slick and warm. It took everything in me to not think about that day, to not think about them. Almost crushing the bottle in my hand, I gripped the counter with my other hand, bracing myself as I let out shaky breaths, trying to remember what I was doing, to remember where I was.