Page 52 of Falling for Nicole
It’s still early when I pull up but he said he’d be here. Finding the front door open, I let myself in. There’s no one around so instead of calling out and waking anyone up, I quietly head up the stairs with Bailey hot on my tail.
I get about halfway before I hear footsteps coming to meet me. My heart begins to race at the thought of seeing Dec, but when I look up it stops abruptly and falls into my stomach.
Georgia elegantly descends the stairs in front of me. My disbelief must be written all over my face because she takes great delight in the wicked smile she gives me as she gets closer.
My pulse picks up pace as my shock wears off slightly and my fury takes over. Unfortunately I’m still too dumbfounded to make my mouth work. Using this to her advantage, she leans into me and whispers, “He won’t have the energy for you, hun.”
I grit my teeth as an anger I don’t think I’ve ever experienced slams into me.
“Fuck you. He wouldn’t fucking touch you again,” I seethe through gritted teeth.
“You wanna bet? Go on up, you’ll find him showering my scent off.”
My hands shake with my need to reach out and slap her but there’s a part of me that’s devastated she’s right, that she’s not the one I need to be angry at right now. My concerns about all this being one big joke to Dec have been niggling away at me but I’ve been too swept away by him to really give the idea legs. But now, standing here in front of the woman he’s potentially still been sleeping with this whole time, I feel so stupid for putting my worries to one side.
I think back to the night he got me to sing, and his words come back to me when I asked him not to see Georgia again.“Fine by me.”Now I think about his response, I realise it wasn’t all that certain.
“Enjoy my sloppy seconds,” Georgia sings as she continues her descent.
I’m desperate to run up the stairs, crash into Dec’s room and discover she’s wrong, but a huge part of me knows that isn’t what I’m going to find. I feel sick as I even consider what Georgia just said to be true. Everything’s been so perfect between us. Why did I think for even a second it was real? This is my life—nothing good happens to me.
Images of the life I’ve built here for myself over the past few weeks run through my mind as I pull my feet up the stairs. I want to drag it out, put off the inevitable, but all too soon I’ve got my hand on his door handle, ready to find out the truth.
I fling the door open to find his bedroom empty. The sick feeling in my stomach intensifies with each step I take towards his en suite. Before I get to the door, it opens and out strolls a naked Dec, rubbing his hair with a towel.
The second he sees me stood there, a smile lights up his face. “Hey, baby.” He drops the towel and continues walking towards me.
I grit my teeth and my hands clench at my sides in an attempt to stop me reaching out and slapping him.
Both of his hands come up to cup my cheeks like everything is normal and I blow.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I seethe as I slap both his hands away.
His eyes widen and his mouth drops in surprise. Nice fucking try, dickhead.
“I fucking believed all your bullshit, arsehole. I fell for it. All of it. I’m so fucking stupid. I knew it was too good to be true. So fucking stupid…” I rub my palms across my face as I continue muttering to myself about the monumental mistake I made in falling for this prick.
“Nicole, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“You andher.Couldn’t keep your fucking hands off for a couple of days, could you? Fucking pathetic.”
“I haven’t fucking done anything,” he pleads.
“Fuck you, Declan. I didn’t want any of this, so you’ve actually done me a fucking favour.”
I don’t give him chance to respond. Tugging at Bailey’s lead, I march from his room, slamming the door behind me. I run towards the car in fear that he’s going to chase me. I’m done with this. He will not get a second chance.
I slam my foot down on the accelerator just as I see him pull the front door open, but I’m gone.
I get to the end of the street before my anger morphs into great sobbing tears. “Fucking arsehole,” I shout into the car as I slap the steering wheel with my palms. “I fucking knew you didn’t want me.” The knowledge that I saw all this coming but still fell for him anyway takes some of the anger that should be towards him and turn it on myself. How could I have been so stupid? So naïve? He’s spent his entire life trying to piss me off, why would I think it would be any different now? Has this whole thing just been a plan to hurt me more than he already has?
By the time I pull up outside Lilly’s, I’ve almost got myself under control. She spots me immediately and comes rushing out with her weekend bag in her hands. That is, until she see’s me.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, dropping her bag halfway towards the car and running towards me. “I thought you were dropping Bailey with Dec.”
“I was,” I whisper, trying not to allow my emotions to get the better of me again.
“What happened?” She jumps in the passenger seat and turns to me. Her big blue eyes are full of concern.
