Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter 119

As soon as the word left my mouth, Hayden's grip tightened. His eyes narrowed, and for a split second, I saw something flicker in them before it disappeared. Then, just like that, he let go, and the pressure on my hand vanished.

I quickly stepped aside, rubbing the spot where his grip had stung. "I made all the changes you asked for. Do you want to check them now?"

Hayden didn't budge, still lounging in the chair with his eyes shut. "No need. You should get some rest."

"Oh... Goodnight," I mumbled, turning to go..

"Kiki," Hayden suddenly called out.

I froze mid-step. Did he just call me...?

Kiki...

That was my childhood nickname. The only people who ever called me that were my parents when they were alive, and Lena sometimes-but even she usually calls me Rea. But I heard him clearly-he just called me Kiki.

I spun around, staring at him in shock. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," he replied, still with his eyes closed. "Just... make sure you close the door properly."

him for a few more seconds, waiting, but when he didn't say anything else, I turned and yanked the door shut a

back to the room I shared with Demi, I hung around in the hallway, leaning against the wall to steady my breathing and the wild

no matter how hard I tried to calm down, I couldn't shake the image of Hayden's eyes locked on mine or the feeling of him half-embracing me as he opened the document on his laptop. Eventually, I had to give myself a little smack on the forehead to snap out of it and force myself to head back to my room. I flopped onto the bed, hoping I could finally get

my mind from spiraling, I grabbed my phone and saw a bunch of unread messages on the

had sent one: [Guess bad people live long lives. No

and typed back:

was already asleep, or back

chat and opened Steve's messages. He'd sent a bunch, all about

blew your ex's

(Gotta say, well done.]

attitude earlier, maybe you two wouldn't have ended

+25 BONUS

Chapter 119

needs a good beating

pitiful face popped into my mind. She always looked like that around me-probably even

Jace

Tanya had said Jace owed her, that

didn't reply. I thought for a few more seconds and sent another message: