Page 70 of The Fangirl and the Grump

“Why not?” I slur. “I can be quiet. Promise.”

“Stop,” he says, pulling my grasping fingers away from the zipper of his jeans and pushing them into my lap.

“Okay, what about a blow job?” I ask, slipping off the counter and dropping to my knees in front of him.

“What is wrong with you?” he barks, reaching down to grip my upper arms and pull me to my feet.

“What is wrong withyou?” I shoot back, my own anger rising as it dawns on me he’s seriously turning me down and not being very nice about it.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me,” he snarls. “I’m not some horny twenty-something who’d fuck his girl in the bathroom at a party. You need to grow up, Keegan.”

I reel back, suddenly feeling much soberer than I was a second ago. Trace has never blatantly held our age difference against me like that, and he certainly hasn’t spoken to me with such disdain, at least, not since we started sleeping together.

“Maybe you should just go,” I whisper in broken syllables, my eyes cast downward as I take a step back.

I feel him stare at me for a long moment, then he spins and leaves the bathroom, closing the door gently behind him. I wrap my arms around myself as I take several too-fast breaths. I blink against the stinging in my eyes as I begin to shiver.

The door opens, and Willow and Pressley crowd into the small room, leaving the door open behind them.

“What just happened?” Willow asks softly. “Trace just stomped out of the house without a word to any of us.”

I shake my head, refusing to speak the words.

I think we just broke up.

I think I just experiencedrealheartbreak for the first time in my life.

“Bram followed him out, so it’s just us,” Pressley says. “Let’s go sit down so we can talk about it.”

I shake my head again, then slip past them. Rushing to my room, I close myself inside and lock the door. Leaning back against it, I slide down until I’m on the floor, my knees against my chest and my arms wrapped around them.

Unable to hold them back for a second longer, the tears start to fall.

It’s over.

Whatever we had, whatever it wasturning intois done.

What am I supposed to do now?

ChapterThirty-One

Willow:What did you do?

Willow: I can hear Keegan crying through her bedroom door, but she won’t tell us what happened.

Willow: Answer me, damn it.

Willow: Don’t make me come hunt you down.

Trace: Give it a rest, Willow. Just like I told Bram, I don’t feel like talking right now.

Willow: Fine. But just know, I’m really mad at you right now.

Willow: I love you. Talk to you soon.

* * *

Willow:Has she said anything, yet?

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