Page 35 of My Grumpy Sweetheart
CHAPTERTWELVE
DAKOTA
Tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock in my living room sounded like a hammer, the ticking echoing through the silent room, making me flinch time and time again. Sitting on my couch, I stared at my phone for what felt like the thousandth time this week, waiting for a message I knew would never come while feeling like a complete asshole.
Probably because Iwas.
Bailey had texted me on Monday. Then on Tuesday. And a third time on Wednesday. Whereas the first two texts were casual and on-brand for him, the third sounded forced. I just knew, I fuckingknewhe was hurt when he’d sent the third text. Still, he’d had the courage to text me again even after I’d ignored him twice.
Now it was up to me to do something, he’d made that very clear — yet I was still hoping to hear from him again.
There was no reason why he should message me. Bailey was a lot of things but certainly not a pushover. He wouldn’t message me again because he wouldn’t allow me to string him along.
So if I wanted to stay in touch with him, it was obvious what I had to do: answer his fucking messages.
The only question was:did I want to?
I buried my hands in my hair and tugged hard until I yelped from the pain.
Memories flooded my mind of my fingers tangled in Bailey’s hair, feeling the silky strands in my hands, feeling him shiver whenever I tugged lightly. Of me, maneuvering his head exactly like I wanted to, urging him to take my cock deep, of his eyes closed in ecstasy while tears were streaming down his cheeks from choking on my cock.
How had things gotten so out of hand?
It was supposed to be a long, dreadful weekend with a horrible human being who loved asserting dominance by buying his dates.
But that hadn’t been the case at all.
Damn Bailey! Why did he have to be so fucking likeable? Why couldn’t he just let me hate him? Everything would be so much easier if I could hate him.
Someone pounding on my front door made me jump. For a second, there was a spark of hope inside of me that Bailey had come to demand answers.
“Dakota Joseph Nolan. Enough is enough. We know you’re home and you’ll open that fucking door or wewilluse one of your axes to tear it down!”
Oh.
Not Bailey.
The disappointment felt like a bucket of ice water that someone dumped over my head, thoroughly squelching any hope I’d had harbored for even a fraction of a second.
How I’d wished it were Bailey on the other side of the door. He’d be pissed beyond belief, but I’d take his ire. I more than deserved it.
But it wasn’t Bailey. Deep inside my heart, I knew he wouldn’t come here. He had more dignity than that. No. His last message was the final one. The way he’d worded it made that obvious. He’d firmly stated that it was on me to reach out.
But I hadn’t.
“Open that door!”
Oh. Right. My friends.
My heart constricted, a lump forming in my throat. Was I ready to talk to them? Closing my eyes, I waited for the anger, the pain of their betrayal, and it was there, but… it wasn’t burning as bright and hot as before. Everything was muted by a bone-deep tiredness.
“Last chance, Dakota!”
Fuck.
Jumping up, I crossed the room with six long steps, ripping the door open with enough force to smash it right into the wall of the hallway.
“What do you want?”
