Bram merely crossed his arms and scowled.
“Not much point in keeping track anymore,” Henry admitted, scuffing the sole of his shoe against the travertine tiles.
“Right.” Hayden blushed rosy pink. “Well, let’s see if I can get Adam out of his room.”
“What’s in the bags?” Henry asked, following her through the foyer.
“You’ll see when Adam does.” Hayden swung the bags aroundto her other hand, as if to keep them out of his reach.
“So never then,” Bram muttered, following them upstairs.
They reached Adam’s door and Hayden knocked twice. “Adam? It’s Hayden. I’ve got a present for you.”
There was no answer.
“Adam? Will you please open the door? I just want to say Merry Christmas.”
Still no response, but Henry heard footsteps padding around the room, which seemed promising.
Then the music blasted, decidedly not of the Christmas variety.
Hayden sighed and turned to the boys. “I imagined that going differently,” she said, trying to speak over the electric guitar. “Like…”
“Like a pretty female version of Santa comes and brings joy to all.” Bram smirked, at which Hayden blushed again.
Henry didn’t like it, whatever was going on between the two of them. Bram was supposed to be in mourning over Mariana. Though, if Henry were honest with himself—which he didn’t want to be—there were other, more complicated reasons he didn’t like it. “Maybe we should just go ahead and break down the door!” he shouted.
“Dad will be thrilled,” Bram said glumly. “We should give up and let him live out the rest of his life in there.”
“He’d starve,” Hayden said, nibbling on her lower lip in a way Henry found adorable. “And I hate having failed at this. You asked me over here to do a job, and I want to do it.”
“It’s not your fault Adam’s a bigger asshole than any of usthought,” Bram said.
Hayden frowned at him and stepped closer, so she could speak softly. “Have some compassion, please. And a little more patience.”
Even Bram’s always-pale cheeks flushed pink at this. It had been difficult for the brothers to remain sympathetic to Adam during his spells, considering the emotional toll they took and the way they dragged on. But Hayden was right; Adam was going through something that none of them could possibly imagine.
“Adam?” Hayden called out again. “I’ll just leave your gift outside the door here, while I go downstairs and whip up some peanut butter brownies.”
Henry’s lips quirked up. Those brownies were Adam’s favorite, and he’d never be able to resist them.
The footsteps within the room sounded louder now, and Hayden smiled as her eyes flicked to meet Henry’s. It was almost too easy.
The door opened a crack. “Hayden,” came Adam’s voice, sounding tired and rough. “I don’t want to see or talk to anyone. Not now, not ever. So you can take yourpresentand your brownies, and get the hell out of our house.”
The door slammed then, with a force that stunned Henry more than Adam’s words. Hayden stood there, facing the door, her eyes wide and unblinking.
A rage bubbled in Henry’s stomach.
But before he could go to her, Bram was there, wrapping anarm around her shoulder. “Don’t listen to him,” Bram murmured. “We’ll let him stew some more. Meanwhile”—he turned his face to the door to shout—“we’re going to eat all of Adam’s brownies!”
Bram’s arm was still around Hayden’s shoulders as he walked her through the hall toward the stairs.
Henry didn’t like it one bit. None of it. That rage only grew. It wouldn’t stay pent up now. He stomped to Adam’s door and pounded on it so hard his knuckles ached. “Adam!” he called. “Come out of there right now so I can say this to your face!”
Bram was on Henry in an instant, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him back from the door. “Hey! What are you doing?”
But Henry threw an elbow, knocking Bram in the chin. “Get off me! I want to tell Adam to come out here and apologize to Hayden!” He bore his fists and paced around, unable to keep still as much as he was unable to keep quiet. “He had no right to send my friend away when it’shisfault we’re in this situation in the first place!”
