Written with Regret (The Regret Duet #1)(54)

I actually wasn’t sure she realized she was in that room anymore, either.

And I was terrified about where she could be.

“Hadley,” I called.

Her eyes snapped to mine.

“Why don’t you sit down, babe. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

She shook her head.

“Hadley,” I repeated soft and slow. “She’s good. Nothing to worry about. But I need you to go sit on the couch while I get her some ice. Okay?”

She just blinked at me for several seconds. “I… I just… I was… I didn’t…” She looked back at Rosalee, who had now stopped crying and was watching Hadley with strange curiosity.

“Go sit down and I’ll be right there.”

Her vacant gaze ping-ponged between Rosalee and me, and then all at once, she darted through the living room, straight to the bathroom, and quietly shut the door behind her.

Rosalee looked at me, holding the paper towel to her mouth. “What’s wrong with Hadley?”

A vise in my chest cranked down. “I think you scared her when you fell,” I mumbled. “Listen, are you okay?”

She nodded and then ratted herself out. “I stood in the chair again.”

I brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “Do you see now why I always get on to you about that?”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

I lifted her off the counter, putting her on her feet, and turned to the freezer. “Bunny or bear?” This wasn’t my first accident rodeo. I had a whole selection of mini animal-shaped ice packs ready for moments like these.

“Bunny.”

I passed her a frozen gel pack in the shape of a pink cartoon rabbit. “Why don’t you take that up to your room for a little bit while I check on Hadley?”

“Can I watch my iPad?”

It was a school night, so she knew better. But I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side of that bathroom door. “Yeah. Sure, baby.”

“Yesssssss,” she hissed, taking off for the stairs at a full sprint, all blood and injuries forgotten.

“Hold on to the rail!”

She groaned, switching the ice pack to her other hand before taking the rail and disappearing to the second floor.

With nerves rolling in my stomach, I made my way down the hall to the bathroom, knocking with two knuckles when I arrived. “Hadley?”

Not even a door dividing us could hide the tears in her voice. “I’ll…be right out.”

Knowing she was hurting on the other side was enough to make me tear the damn thing off the hinges. Luckily, when I tested the knob, I found it unlocked.

“I’m coming in,” I announced.

“What? No. Caven—”

But it was too late. I pushed the door open in time to find her scrambling off the floor. Black makeup and tears were streaming down her cheeks, but at least some of the color had returned to her face. It was red now. Anything was better than the ghostly white.

I shut the door and put my back to it. “She’s okay.”

“I know,” she chirped, turning on the faucet to wash her trembling hands.

“It was just a busted lip. It happens with kids. More than you’d expect, actually.”

“I’m sure… I’ve never done well with blood though. Even before…ya know. You can look it up. It’s actually a common problem for a lot of people. I just get a little woozy when I see it. That’s all.”

That could have been true.

But we both knew it wasn’t.

Her breathing was ragged and her movements were jerky, like she didn’t have full control over her body yet. I knew all too well how that felt and it was killing me to see her trying to fight it back alone.

“Come here, Hadley.”

She swiped under her eyes, refusing to look at me by focusing on the mirror. “It doesn’t affect my ability to take care of her or anything. I would have been fine if—”

Shit. She thought I was questioning her ability to care for Rosalee. If that wasn’t a gut punch, I didn’t know what was.

“Come here, Hadley,” I repeated, this time taking a step toward her.

Emotion clogged her throat as she forced out, “I would have been fine.” A sob hit her and she supported herself with her hands on the vanity, her head hung low as she finished with, “Really.”

After everything we’d been through, Hadley and I did not have the best relationship.

But there was something about her that made me feel.

I told myself that it was only because we had a connection far deeper than the one we’d made the night we’d created Rosalee.

We were two people who had experienced the inside of Hell and lived to see the other side. Every once in a while, the flames would still devour me. The least I could do was try to extinguish hers.

“Come here, Hadley,” I whispered once more, pulling her into a hug.

She didn’t resist, not for a second.

I’d seen this woman cry far too many times over the last few months.

The tears that had filled her eyes the day I’d first seen her at Rosalee’s party.

The tears that had streamed down her face that night at the diner.

The tears that had dripped over her smile each and every time she left my house, still even three months later.