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I thought I’d made it, sliding to my knees beneath her, but on the way down, her head collected the corner of the table we’d been sitting at. As she fell into my arms, her body went limp, and a pool of blood instantly began to stream from her forehead.
Dolores was there in a second, tossing me a dishtowel, which I quickly pressed to Valen’s head. Her body flinched, but she didn’t come around.
“Call an ambulance,” I yelled, ignoring the flurry of activity around me, every ounce of my attention on the feisty Cinderella I held in my arms. “You’re okay.”
Fucking hell.
Today had already been a rollercoaster ride.
But I was pretty sure the ride wasn’t done, and all I could do was hope we both made it out alive.
Chapter Five
REED
“You said I didn’t have to do it anymore!” I cried, shaking my head as tears ran like waterfalls down my cheeks.
“Don’t be so selfish, Reed,” Dad snapped, grabbing my arm and dragging me from the sofa. I struggled against his death grip, trying to dig my heels into the carpet, but it was no use. I was only eight years old, attempting to take on a fully grown adult—a battle I wouldn’t win, but that I continued to fight.
“Mom!” I called, standing in the foyer as Dad pulled my coat on, roughly jamming my hands through the sleeves, which I instantly used to swipe at my nose.
Mom stepped out of the hall, her dressing gown wrapped around her, arms much the same, cradling her body. Her eyes were red and puffy, the dark circles under them making her look like a zombie. She hadn’t gotten out of bed for days, not since we got the phone call from the hospital.
“Mom,” I tried again when she didn’t answer. “I don’t want to do it anymore,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
Mom forced a smile—if you could call it that.
It may have just been the twitch of a muscle spasm in her face.
“This time, it will work,” she said, followed by a nod. “This time it will.”
“Reed, let’s go,” Dad urged, tugging at my arm.
“Reed. Reed, hello?”
Tug tug.
“Reed?”
Tug.
I jolted out of my daydream, gasping for air and shoving away the hand that kept pulling at my arm. “Stop!” I growled, blinking furiously, trying to bring reality back into focus but instantly regretting it. The white walls were blinding, but it was the sterile smell that sucked me straight back into the past. It was burned into my nose, and along with it came sights and sounds I’d spent years attempting to forget.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
I pinched my eyes closed at the sound of Valen’s voice, taking a few breaths before I finally grew the balls to turn my head and face her. Her hands were in the air, a deep frown etched into her brow. A sight that almost made me smile, given she was sitting on the hospital bed with an absurdly large wedding dress draped down and over the sides.
“Fuck,” I cursed, leaning back into the old, worn hospital chair that felt like it could break underneath me at any moment. “Sorry, got in my head for a second.”
That was the only way I knew how to explain the mess my brain was in at that moment as I sat in the chair next to her hospital bed.
It was screaming…run.
Get the fuck out.
But instead of giving in to the loud, intrusive thoughts, I fought them, choosing to focus on Valen.
She pressed her hand to the side of her head, instantly sucking in a sharp painful breath.
