Page 86 of The Grump I Loathe
Atrip to urgent care and a minor concussion wasn’t on my bucket list for tonight. But hell, neither was breaking up with Connor. Not that he’d ever acknowledged we were in anactualrelationship!
Because that was too much for him.
I ground my teeth together and immediately regretted it as my head throbbed. Tears sparked behind my eyes. Tonight had been a disaster of monumental proportions, and all I wanted to do was rewind the clock to before I’d decided to come to this stupid wedding in the first place.
But I couldn’t. The doctor had told me to rest and limit screens for the next few days. All I could do was lie on my hotel bed and stare at the ceiling, listening toPretty Womanplay on the TV while I alternated between crying jags and stuffing my face with room service. Leigh had ordered me a late-night snack before dipping out to collect some painkillers from a twenty-four-hour pharmacy.
I grabbed another chicken tender from the plate next to me. Honestly, I expected more out of the chicken fingers and fries. I expected them to fill the hole eating its way through my chest. They weren’t able to do that, though. The pain had already seeped too deep, clawing at my heart, and I hiccuped as a few tears stained my pillowcase.
I blinked the rest away, conscious that every bout of tears only made my head ache even more. The last thing I needed was to be concussedanddehydrated. “Ugh,” I groaned into the ether. “Hurry up, Leigh!”
I wanted my painkillers.
I wanted to sleep.
But Leigh had been told to monitor me for any worsening symptoms tonight and had expressly forbidden me from going to sleep without anyone there in case I died.
I snorted.
I was pretty sure that was a myth. But I wasn’t about to piss off the woman who’d dropped everything, abandoning her night to Uber with me to urgent care. Besides, would I really be able to sleep after everything?
I doubted it.
Despite how exhausted I was, I couldn’t stop thinking about the hundreds of ways I’d been told this thing with Connor was going to fail. That it couldn’t possibly work. I rolled my eyes, wincing as I did, and more tears threatened to fall.
Darius had warned me to be careful. Connor had repeatedly worried if we were being discreet enough. God! That uncomfortable twinge in my own gut every time we snuck a moment together should have been warning enough.
But it was a warning I’d ignored because I wanted to be wrong. I’d wanted to believe that what we had was the real deal, that Connor saw me in a way no one else did, that loving him wouldn’t end the way it had with Ryker.
I’d wanted to believe that Connor wouldn’t ask me to compromise myself, but he had in all the ways that forced me to hide myself away. To make myself small. I was only good enough to be in his life as long as no one noticed I was there.
I saw it now, clear as day. The moment I’d wanted to change the dynamic, the moment I’d wanted this to be real, it had all gone sideways.
I deserved to be more than someone’s dirty little secret.
My phone buzzed, and I stretched toward it on the side table. I wasn’t supposed to be looking at my phone—it was another damn screen! But what if it was Connor? What if he wanted to talk about what happened tonight? Desperation fueled me, concussion be damned, and I snatched it up, getting my eyes on a text. Thirty seconds wouldn’t hurt.
But it wasn’t Connor. My chest tightened as I read Alannah’s message.
Eddie!!!!
My fingers flew across the screen.R u okay?
Ya! What r u doing?
Why are you still awake?I wrote back instead, concern filling me.Are Dad and Valentina fighting again?
No. They’re still trying to fix my third-place finish.She added a smiley face emoji.
How?
They’re emailing the judges together.
The ache in my head spread. Honestly? Dad and Valentina could barely put their differences aside long enough to sit through a meal together, but they could somehow figure out how to work together to spam the competition judges?
I think it might work,she wrote.And I heard Mom laugh a bit. Maybe they’ll make up after this!
The concern in my chest sank into my gut, churning uncomfortably. I really needed a win tonight, but I doubted this was it. The judges weren’t going to be swayed by some midnight email rant—and I didn’t think Dad and Valentina were going to work things out. I sighed heavily, my lips buzzing. I couldn’t bring myself to break Alannah’s heart—not after how difficult this weekend had already been for her.
