After Changing My Medication He Regretted It Novel by Ali O'neill _ Novel




After Changing My Medication He Regretted It Chapter 01

My husband, Harrison Baughen, insisted on a destination wedding.
He dragged me on a hike—way out in the middle of nowhere.
Halfway there, my chest suddenly tightened up.
Lucky for me, I always carry my asthma inhaler.
I shook as I pressed the nozzle.
But instead of medicine, this sharp, burning pepper spray hit my throat. It made me cough like crazy—violent, hacking coughs.
I scrambled to grab a signal flare, but Harrison stopped me.
His voice was totally impatient.
“Why are you freakin’ out? There’s bugs everywhere out here. I thought your inhaler was handy, so I swapped the canister for pepper spray to keep the bugs away.”
“You still got plenty left, right? It won’t kill you to give up one bottle.”
Tears filled my eyes as I struggled to breathe.
“That was my last inhaler! I can barely catch my breath. Can you get me out of this wilderness?”
I ignored him and tried to grab the satellite phone.
Harrison got mad—shoved me right to the ground.
“Quit fakin’ it! Your asthma ain’t that bad. You’ll be fine after you cough a little. Emma’s skin is delicate. How could I let mosquitoes bite her? Can’t you, a tough country girl, be a little more considerate?”
“Considerate? Then who’s gonna care about me?”
My chest felt heavier by the second. Without thinkin’, I pressed the emergency button hidden in my necklace.
***
“I only borrowed your inhaler for a sec. Don’t ruin the trip over this.”
With that, Harrison snatched the satellite phone out of my hand.
He tossed it right into the swamp far away—dead on target.
“Nice shot,” Harrison said, clappin’ as he showed off to the guys standin’ next to him.
My heart was poundin’ so hard, it felt like it might burst out of my chest.
“Harrison! What the hell are you doin’?” I tried to run toward the swamp without thinkin’.
He grabbed my arm hard, his eyebrows all furrowed.
“Are you crazy? You’ll never get out of that cursed swamp if you step foot in it!”
His voice was full of disdain.
“It’s just a satellite phone. Is it really that big of a deal? You grew up in the country—you’re tougher than anyone. You’ll be fine after coughin’ a bit. Quit bein’ so fragile.”
I stared at him, my chest so tight I could barely talk. I gritted my teeth and gasped out the words. “Fragile? Harrison, you forget how I got asthma in the first place? If I hadn’t run into that fire to pull you out, would I have inhaled all that smoke? Would I even have this stupid condition?”
Harrison’s eyes flickered, and he frowned even more.
“There you go again. Can’t you just hang on? We’re almost at the lookout Emma wanted to see. We’ve come this far already.”
My heart dropped into an icy pit. It ached so bad, I didn’t even have the strength to fight back.
In his eyes, my life wasn’t even worth as much as a view Jemma Leaverton wanted.
The man I’d loved for five years suddenly felt like a total stranger.
“Emma’s a med student. She can look after you along the way,” he said.
But it was clear now—this was never about me.
She was just usin’ me as a backdrop, turnin’ what was supposed to be our private wedding trip into her own sightseeing tour.
A tent nearby unzipped.
Jemma skipped out, throwin’ herself into Harrison’s arms like nobody else was there.
“Harri, thank you so much for the pepper spray! I slept through the night and didn’t get a single mosquito bite.”
“Aria, why are you crouchin’ on the ground?”
She walked over, fake concern all over her face, and squatted down in front of me.
“Aria, don’t be mad. My skin’s super sensitive—I’m a mosquito magnet. I get terrible allergic reactions if they bite me. Harri’s just lookin’ out for me, that’s why he’s in a hurry to keep goin’.”
She paused and reached for my arm, but I flinched away instinctively.
Her hand froze midair, and her voice got even more pitiful.
“Aria, can you just hold on a little longer? We’re almost to the woods—I heard the sunset there is amazing. We can find somewhere to rest after we watch it.”
Holding onto my last bit of hope, I stared at her backpack and gasped.
“Emma, you’re a med student. Do you have an extra inhaler? I… I don’t think I can hold on much longer.”
Jemma’s eyes flickered.
Then she spoke in this innocent, sorry tone.
“Aria, I’m so sorry. I thought the inhaler and medicine were too heavy and bulky before we left, so I left ’em at the hotel.”
She looked up at Harrison, her voice shakin’ like she was about to cry.
“Harri, maybe I shouldn’t have come? If I hadn’t, Aria wouldn’t be sufferin’ like this.”
Harrison dropped to his knees right away and helped her up.
“It’s not your fault. She’s just makin’ a big deal out of nothin’, puttin’ on a show again.”
He turned and glared at me.
“Azaria Knyvett, quit scarin’ Emma! Get up now. It’ll be even more dangerous after dark if we don’t move.”
Before he could finish, one of his friends who came along laughed and scoffed.
“Azaria’s way too fragile. We’re out here to have a good time—that’s what matters. Why you keep clutchin’ your chest and gaspin’? Who you puttin’ this show on for?”
Another guy stepped over and patted my shoulder.
“You fakin’ being sick just to get Harri’s sympathy ’cause Emma’s young and pretty?”
The hurt and the physical pain were almost too much. My chest got tighter and tighter, and I started wheezin’ with every breath—sharp, loud wheezes.
I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t even form a single sentence.
I shook as I reached into my pocket for my emergency asthma pills.
They have bad side effects, but they’re my last hope in a crisis.
But when I felt around, there was nothin’.
I stared at Jemma—she’d shared my tent last night.
She just blinked, starin’ at me for a long minute.
Then, like she just realized somethin’, she pulled a piece of candy out of her pocket.
“Aria, is the pepper spray too strong for you?”
She held the candy out to me.
“Here, I got a mint. It’ll freshen your breath and get rid of the smell.”
I stared at the candy, my mind goin’ totally blank. It was mango-flavored.

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