Touch of Innocence

3

Clay pushed the door open to his quarters, throwing his jacket on the back of a chair as he did so. He walked to his living room where he found Hadley, his mother, and his little sister coloring on pages with outlines of little creatures on them.

Hadley smiled and jumped up when she saw Clay appear. Running to him, she wrapped her arms around his leg and pressed her face to his jeans. She missed him while he was gone and she didn't want him to leave her for that long again.

Clay bent down and pressed her into his chest. "Hi Hadley," he greeted, gently holding her as to not squeeze her too hard. As he held her, the guilt from his relations with Olivia seeped in.

He could see the yearning in Hadley's face for him. He could tell how she waited expectantly for him to return to her. Rather, he ignored that and went to satisfy his own needs instead. Out of guilt for his actions, he felt the overwhelming desire to punch himself.

He screwed up. He felt like he betrayed his mate bond. It felt almost like there was a rope that connected him to Hadley, and rather than the rope being structurally sound, it was on fire, creating a burning pain in Clay's chest. At the moment with Olivia, he'd briefly recognized his mate bond, but he'd brushed it off because Hadley was only a child. But now, looking at her, seeing how she waited for him to return to her, yet he pushed his return off, he felt nothing but guilt for what he'd done.

"How was your day?" Amaryllis asked, pulling him from his thoughts, though the toxicity of his guilt still festered within.

"It was fine. I spoke with many different department heads and we shared ideas and things. I think dad will be pleased," Clay responded. Ulric always pushed him to fabricate new and better ideas, rather than just settling. 

"I'm sure he will be," she said. "Well, I'd say it's time for Layanna and me to go home. Do you wanna see daddy?"

"Yes!" Layana exclaimed. "Bye Hadley!"

"Bye," Hadley said quietly.

"Bye Clay!" Layana said and grabbed Amaryllis's hand. Amaryllis said her goodbyes as well, and then they left to go back to their home.

"Did you have fun with my mom and sister?"

Hadley nodded her head. "They're nice, but I missed you."

The guilt flooded his system again. "I missed you, too."

Later that night, Hadley once again slept in his bed. She tried sleeping in her own room, but she couldn't sleep without Clay.

As Clay sat with his back against the headboard, he felt a swarm of emotions in his gut as he stared at the child next to him. Guilt was the main emotion he felt. Regret was the next. He wished he wouldn't have slept with Olivia. He wished he would've told her no and returned back to Hadley as soon as he said he would have.

He also realized that sleeping with Olivia hadn't been the same as it used to be. He contributed that to his new mate bond. He was mated to another female, so his body was trying to lure him away from all other females, thus making sex with other females not pleasurable and a waste of time.

He sighed and sunk down into his bed. "I'm sorry, Hadley," he whispered, placing a kiss on top of the sleeping girl's head.