I hear the door open but I can’t bring myself to see who it is, I’ve seen the look of pity in Maddie’s, Sophia’s, and Scott’s eyes. Seeing that pity, makes me wonder what the hell I look like, I haven’t been able to move let alone try and get out of bed. I have a catheter in and its gross, I’d love to get up and have a shower but I know that with the two casts I have that’s virtually impossible. Scott walks past me and climbs onto the bed again, he’s careful when he does, he takes the time to make sure not to jar me and I want to offer him a thankful smile but I can’t. I have nothing in me to offer anyone.
We sit in silence for a while and I keep my eyes on the wall, I can feel him staring at me and I’m scared to turn, scared to see what his eyes hold. “Okay angel, I know that you don’t want to talk and for now that’s okay. I love you and I need to fucking say it. You’ve been it for me since that fucking kiss in your dad’s Mustang. How I treated you was unforgivable and I’m sorry.” he reaches for my hand and holds it, “From now on no one is going to hurt you again. I promise you that. Including that asshole Eric, I hope the cops find him soon otherwise I will and I’ll put a bullet in the fucker’s head.”
Eric is still out there? My body begins to tremble, why is he still out there? He should be locked up, how has this happened? “Angel, you need to calm down, I promise he won’t be able to get to you.” Tears slowly fall from my eyes, how is this happening? “Beautiful angel, he won’t get to you. He has to get through me first.”
“That doesn’t matter to him.” I whisper, I was right, my words are laced in pain. They’re hoarse and low; I hate that I’ve been reduced to this… this mess.
He turns to me and I look at him, for the first time I see the Scott that everyone talks about, gone is the carefree, fun loving guy. In his place is someone I should be scared of, this Scott is dark, dangerous, and beautiful but I’m not scared, in fact I feel the safest I have ever felt. “It matters to me, he won’t get to you. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” I whisper and even though it hurts all over, it feels good to talk to someone. “Um, where am I going to live?”
“With me.” He growls and I freeze. “Sorry, you’re going to stay with me. It’s going to be the safest place for you. We have a doorman and the best security there is. Ryder and Oscar installed it.”
That sounds safe so I nod my consent. “Okay, if that’s alright. I’d like to come and stay with you. Can I leave soon?” I hate that I can’t move and even though I’ve asked I know that I won’t be allowed leave any time soon. The doctor said something about a scan on my brain. I wasn’t fully paying attention, there were so many doctors in here that I spent most of the time trying to hide my face. Even though I haven’t seen what I look like, I can feel the pain from my face, the trouble breathing through my nose, it tells me that I have at least a broken nose if not more.
“No angel, you can’t leave yet. I need you better,” He’s being sweet, I love that he calls me angel. “We’ll see what the scan says and we can go from there.”
“How do I do that?” I ask and the door opens and my mouth closes as Maddie walks in.
“Do what?” He asks but I don’t answer, I turn my head and stare at the wall. The warmth of his hand on mine makes me feel somewhat normal, knowing that I can still feel warmth from a touch is something I never thought I would ever feel again.
“Hailey, I know that you won’t to talk to me but I want you to know that I’m sorry and I love you. I got you some food in case you’re hungry. I’ll be back later on, I’ll let Scott finish his visit with you.” She’s going? But she hasn’t spoken to me, she just sat here until the doctors came and then when Scott came she fled. Why won’t she be around me? Does she hate me? I’m driving myself crazy with all these manic mood swings and these confusing thoughts.
The squeakiness of the door tells me she’s already left, “Hailey, how do you do what?” Scott asks as soon as the door closes.
“How do I get better?”
“With the support of your family and friends you take it one day at a time. One step at a time. Hell, if you have to, take one hour at a time. I’m here no matter what, I’ll be here to pick you up when you fall.” A lone tear falls from my eye and he wipes it away with his thumb. I don't know what to think right now. I'm too numb to even contemplate what he means by him being there to pick me up if I fall.
He stays beside me for hours, just sitting in silence. I could feel every time he looked at me, I never turned my head to look at him. I need time to just be silent, to reflect on what’s going to happen. I know that Scott has said that I can stay with him and I really appreciate it, I know that I’ll feel safe there but it’s not a permanent solution. When it’s time to move on, where do I go? Will the cops find Eric? My head is spinning with all these questions that I don’t have the answers too.
The door opens and I quickly glance at who’s entering and disappointment fills me as I see it's two doctors and not Maddie. It's the doctor that was here earlier on. I give him a proper look this time. He's an older gentleman with peppered gray hair. “Ms. Mayer, I’m Dr. Lasiter. You'll be going for your MRI scan in a few minutes, before that I wanted to talk to you.” He looks to Scott and back to me again, “Would you prefer we talk in private?”
My hand reaches out blindly for Scott’s not wanting him to leave. “I’m staying.” is his deep response as he grips my hand. The warmth of it makes me feel better knowing that he's staying.
The doctor’s eyes light up almost as if he's smiling. “Okay, Ms. Mayer, I want to introduce you to a colleague of mine. He nods toward the woman that entered with him. She seems to be Maddie’s age, in her late twenties. She has a kind smile, it's one of those you'd expect someone working with kids. “This is Dr. Moran, she's a Psychologist. She wants to talk to you, is that okay?” He has an extremely gentle voice, one that really does put you at ease. I’d say he’s one of the most liked doctors here due to his bedside manner.
Scott’s hand tightens around mine, giving me the confidence to open my mouth and speak, “Yes,” Again it’s a whisper but Dr. Lasiter smiles.
“Okay Hailey, you don’t mind if I call you Hailey, do you?” Dr. Moran asks as she takes a step closer to the bed, I see her gauging my reaction, not wanting to push me too far. I nod my consent and she closes the distance between us. “Today is just a basic hello meeting. I want you to feel comfortable around me before we talk. If you're happy we can have a fifteen-minute session tomorrow and get to know each other.”
“Sure.” I nod and get another squeeze from Scott.
Her face lights up with a beautiful smile, “That's great. I'll see you tomorrow Hailey.” She waves goodbye as she leaves the room and I look up at Scott I see that he's staring at the door where Dr. Moran has just exited.
“Ms. Mayer, your friend won't be able to come while you have your MRI but he's welcome to stay here until you get back.” Dr. Larimer smiles at us “I'll be back later once I've looked over the results.”
“Thanks Doc,” Scott says and this time he lets go of my hand and gets up off the bed and I instantly feel the loss of his warmth. I watch as he stretches, he's been sitting beside me for hours and not once gotten up. He must have pins and needles in his legs and feet, I have a numb ass and there's not much I can do about it. I've moved a few times hoping to get some feeling back into it. “I'll be back later. I'm going to run to P.I.G.S and check in on things. Morgan should be here later, she'll want to take a statement from you.”
I nod, hating that I don’t want him to leave. He leans into me and kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you soon.” He winks at me as he reaches the door and I don’t say goodbye, I don’t want to. As soon as the door shuts the tears fall, I’m such a mess, I don’t know what the hell is going on right now. I shouldn’t be wanting Scott to stay with me, I should be focused on getting out of here and picking up the shattered pieces of my life.
I can hear heavy breathing and my own breathing catches. Who’s here? My body
begins to tremble and I can’t open my eyes. “Ssssh.” It’s a female’s voice and I try and get my body to calm down, still not able to open my eyes. “Hailey Wailey, it’s okay.” I jump as she places her hand on my hair. Damn it! I know she’s here why the hell am I jumping out of my damn skin? “Hails, open those eyes. You’re okay.” She sounds so worried and hearing that worry I open my eyes, “There you are, what frightened you?”
My breathing is still irregular and I listen to Maddie’s breathing and remember what dad used to tell mom when she was anxious. “In and out. Deep breath in, hold it in, for 3,2,1 and a slow breath out.” Remembering those words help me get back to my normal rhythm. “I heard heavy breathing and I was paralyzed.”
The smile she had when I opened my mouth and spoke vanishes as she hears my sentence, “Oh Hailey Wailey, I’m so sorry. I fell asleep.”
“Hailey Wailey, god, I haven’t heard that in years.” I don’t think she’s called me it since mom and dad died. I was Hailey Wailey and she was Maddie Waddie. Mom thought it was hilarious of course we both liked the nicknames until she’d call us them in public.
“I know and I’m sorry.” She touches my fingers of my hand that's in a cast, “I thought you were dead Hails, I thought he killed you.” I swallow hard not knowing what to say, what is there to say? “God, Hailey, what are the cops doing about it?”
“Mads, don’t worry okay, Morgan’s working as hard as she can to catch him.” Morgan sounded so positive when she was here earlier, she took my statement and then she sat with me for over an hour just talking to me. She said she’d be back with Luke and that he’s dying to see me, he wants to see me with his own eyes.
“Like she did when Winter was kidnapped?” Maddie says flippantly and my anger rises, why does she always have to do this? One minute she’s nice as pie and I hope that this is her turning a new leaf, being the sister I miss and then she ruins it by saying stupid shit. “I mean she can’t be that good at her job if she was,” As she speaks, I cringe when the door opens and Morgan and Luke walk in but stop when she continues. “Connor would still be alive, Winter wouldn’t have been kidnapped and she wouldn’t have been shot by Luke and Scott’s crazy ass ex.” The way Maddie says Connor’s name is how Morgan talks about Luke, how Winter talks about Sam, and how Soph talks about Nathan. Maddie still loves him but she was stupid and selfish and he had enough of her bullshit.
“I’m sorry that Connor died, sorrier than anyone could ever understand. As for Winter, I tried my best, I tried my damned hardest to find David before he got to her and as for me being shot, let me tell you something.” Morgan looks as though she’s been hit with something, she looks in shock. I would be too, Maddie doesn’t know Morgan and how fiercely she loves not only Luke but me as well. She’s told me countless times that I’m her family, that she cares about me and I know she does, she tried her hardest to get me away from Eric. I should have listened to her.
“Alex, was certifiable and unpredictable and I brushed her off as just a crazy ex. Want to know the difference between me and her?” Morgan says getting closer to Maddie and Mads not taking the damn hint to shut the fuck up and back the hell down, stands up and faces Morgan. “She’s six feet under and I’m still standing. I’m not a mind reader, I don’t know what these freaks are going to do but let me tell...” The redness of Morgan’s cheeks is one of the more obvious signs that she’s mad as hell, I look to Luke who’s standing against the wall with his arms crossed looking as though he’s enjoying the show.
Maddie steps forward so they’re face to face “Tell me what? That you’re so good and you’re going to get him. Why haven’t you got him before this? Hmm, tell me why it had to get to this point for you to do your damn job?”
A smug smile forms on Morgan’s face, “No, I’ll tell you how it is.” She points at me being in the hospital bed, “It’s partly your fault, not just this, but the situation with Winter would have been cleared up a hell of a long time ago if you had just opened your mouth and said something. If you had Connor wouldn’t have been shot by David and Winter wouldn’t have been kidnapped. As for your sister, she wouldn’t be lying in that damn bed if you had opened your mouth and got help for her.” Shit, Morgan’s not holding anything back, Maddie’s sensitive about Connor and Morgan telling her she’s one of the reasons he’s dead isn’t going to go down well.
“Opened my mouth? Hell, she’s the one that was with him not me and I was told to keep my nose out.” The hate in her voice makes it even worse and I hold my breath trying to keep the tears at bay.
“Nice, you truly are selfish. If you had reported him holding a gun to yours and Hailey’s heads, that he threatened you. We would have done something about it. Hailey would have known that she didn’t need to stay with the monster because we would have protected her but because you didn’t, you made it so that she had months of torment and abuse at the hands of that monster.” Morgan tells her something I have thought about for a long time but those thoughts disappear as it’s my own fault for even staying with him.
“I’m not her keeper, she’s old enough to make decisions on her own.” That’s the Maddie I know, she looks as though she’s about to throw down and I really don’t need her arrested for assaulting a police detective.
“That is fucking disgusting! She has given up her house, her car, her dignity for what? So you can throw it back in her face and say not my problem? What the hell happened to you Maddie?” Luke spits out and I want to hide, I don’t want to listen to this.
“What happened to me? I tell you what happened. My life ended, the day my parents died so did my life, I was saddled with a kid and I had no clue what to do. I had to do it all myself with no help, everything I had hoped and dreamed was gone in the blink of an eye.” I bring my hand over to my mouth to stop the gasp. It doesn’t hold it in and Maddie looks at me, her eyes hold an apology, “Hailey, I didn’t…”
“Get the fuck out.” I turn at Scott’s voice, I thought Luke was mad but Scott is a whole different brand of angry.
Chapter Eleven
Scott
My body is shaking with rage, what the fuck is wrong with her? Who the hell says that about their sister? Saddled with a child, those were her exact words. My eyes were glued to Hailey as she listened to Maddie say it. I don’t know what else I’ve missed but it must have been bad because both Luke and Morgan look as though they want to throttle her. They’re all looking at me but I only have eyes for Hailey, her eyes are glassy and her hand that is at her mouth is shaking. She’s devastated. “I said get the fuck out.” Why the hell is she still standing there?
“You can’t tell me to get out. I’m staying and I want you all to leave. Hailey and I need to talk without strangers around.” She’s got some balls that’s for sure but I’m not leaving and if anyone does it will be her. She walks over to Hailey as though she hasn’t just told her she ruined her hopes and dreams. “I never meant it.” She tries to whisper it but we all hear her and Morgan makes a strange noise, something between a snort and a laugh.
“You hate me?” Is Hailey’s whispered reply and right there my heart breaks, I never thought words could do that but hearing her broken, raspy voice ask her sister if she hates her, breaks it.
“No.” As much as I hate Maddie, I believe that she doesn’t hate her, the strangled ‘no’ is a giveaway but also, if she hated her she wouldn’t be here.
Maddie’s hot if you like the high maintenance, bitchy, rude woman. I don’t think she has one redeeming quality about her. She also knows how beautiful she is and she uses it to her advantage. She used to be shy and guarded and no matter how many times she denies it, something happened to her for her to change so drastically.
“If you don’t hate me why are you such a bitch all the time?” Hailey is devastated, hearing Maddie say that is worse than anything Eric could have done to her. “God, I'm so stupid knowing that I was willing to put myself in harm's way to protect you and you don't even care. You never did.” It’s sadness
in her voice, nothing else, no hate or loathing.
“No! God no! Hails, you saved my life. I hit rock bottom and there was nothing worth living for. I fucked up and hurt everyone I loved, knowing I hurt you was the worst. There are so many regrets but none more so than knowing how much you’ve suffered because of me.” Maddie’s imploring for her to listen, to believe her but I think Hailey is too distraught right now to think about anything. “You got to believe me Hails, you were the only thing keeping me alive. You’re the reason I came out of rehab a better person.”
Hailey’s bitter laugh has Maddie backing up, “You came out a better person?” She laughs again, “No you haven’t, you’re still the same mean, twisted person who went in. You haven’t changed at all.” She shakes her head, she’s had enough of her, you can hear it in her voice; it’s empty.
“Hails, that’s not true. You know it’s not.”
“It is, look how you treated Morgan. God Mads, I listened to you belittle my friend, someone I care a great deal about. Someone you know absolutely nothing about and you verbally attacked her.” Yeah, I definitely missed something. I wonder what she said to Morgan because Morgan looks as though she wants to kill her.
Maddie has the decency to look ashamed but she won’t look in any other direction other than at Hailey. “Hails, please.”
“Please what Mads? I'm tired, tired of being the one to apologize to everyone because of your behavior. I'm tired of being the one who has to pick up the pieces because you don't think before you speak and I'm tired, so damn tired of you acting as though there's nothing wrong with you.” I'm so proud of Hailey for finally telling her how she feels.
“There's nothing wrong with me.” Maddie says without conviction.
“Stop with the lying. Can you for once just tell the truth? You changed a long time ago. What the hell happened?” Hailey demands but I can tell by the look on Maddie’s face whatever happened she's not going to say. “Fine, just leave.” She dismisses Maddie and turns to face the window.
Deadly Mistake (Deadly Series Book 5) Page 10
