𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 {T.H} COMPLETED

CHAPTER 29

Silence - Marshmello & Khalid

After the tense encounter between me, Peter and Tom my whole body had filled with guilt. Instantly I regretted what I had said to Tom, the last thing I wanted was to push him away when I needed him the most. But I just wasn't able to see things from his perspective, sure Peter looked like your typical clean-cut lawyer, but I had seen parts of him that were the complete opposite to that. He had a way to manipulate people and ruin their life within a matter of seconds; just knowing that I was his main focus made my whole body shudder.

As soon as Peter had messaged me, I texted Tom apologising for my actions and explaining that things between me and Peter couldn't just be simply patched up. I had half expected him to ignore me, I wouldn't blame him, he was only trying to help but I let out a sigh as his name flashed on my screen and to my relief he understood, saying that he never meant to upset me and it was never his intention to put me in a situation I would feel uncomfortable in. Just his simple message was able to lift my spirit slightly but that feeling quickly disappeared as Peter's caller ID lit up my phone. I sat there my heart stopping as my thumb slowly tapped the green button, I held it up to my ear trying to control my breathing. Dread radiating throughout my whole body.

"Hello?" I answered in a whisper like voice, my voice wavering slightly due to the apprehension and fear I felt as he remained silent on the other end momentarily.

"You shouldn't have sent that message Amber. That gentleman you have hooked around your little finger seems lovely, it'd be a shame if anything happened to him..."

"Don't you dare fucking hurt him." I hissed down the phone tears threatening in my eyes. I knew this wasn't just a threat, Peter was perfectly capable of doing anything if it meant he got his way.

"Oh, Amber..." His menacing voice chuckled down the phone as my hand began to grip my phone tighter and tighter.

"It's too late for that now. You don't know what you've got until you could lose it, do you?" The other end of the call went dead as I sat there on my bed, sobs escaping my mouth as my eyes flickered shut from exhaustion.

The next few days were torture due to how on edge I felt all the time. I was unable to focus, zoning out in my lectures as I tapped my pen anxiously against my desk or failed to execute a dance correctly. It was like my body was out of sync as well as my mind, with every single inch of my brain being occupied with thoughts about what Peter was planning to do. Just thinking about it made my stomach turn and made instant nausea flood over me as my palms became clamming and it felt like all the air was taken out of the room. Peter's last words to me persistently running through my mind.

'You don't know what you've got until you could lose it, do you?'

"Miss Lawley?" I heard Tom's voice call as he broke me out of my thoughts, only now did I realise that I had been scratching my pen against my desk, the layers of varnish on the wood now flaking off from where my pen had scraped it off. My heart was thumping in my chest, whilst my chest rose and fell quickly. It was happening. The feeling that was all too familiar to me.

Not right now.

I could feel my eyes stinging with tears as a lump formed in my throat, cutting my air supply off further while Tom's voice fuzzed out, a high pitch ringing filling my ears. It felt as though all the walls were closing in, trapping me like I was unable to escape this situation. Unable to escape Peter.

I need to get out. Now.

Before I even knew what was happening, I was running down the corridor, my feet pounding the marble floors of the University as I desperately looked for a place to hide. To hide from everything. My hand grasped at a door handle, swinging it open as I ran in, my hands slamming onto the table in the empty room to keep me stable as the panic attack reached its peak; knees trembling, heart racing, hands shaking, tears cascading down my cheeks. I'd lost all control of my body as the panic-attack took over me, all my senses numbed whilst I gasped for air which refused to enter my lungs.