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

Chapter 172

"It's me!"

A familiar voice echoed down the hallway.

I grabbed the railing, coming to a sudden stop. All the tension drained out of me in an instant.

A second later, I turned around and saw Hayden standing there, half-hidden in the shadows.

The awkwardness from earlier still hung in the air, thick and uncomfortable. I didn't know what to say, so I went with annoyed-always a safe move. "Do you even realize how creepy you look just standing there like that?" He just grunted. That one sound.

God, it was frustrating. He had no idea how cold and dismissive that little "mm" came off, and it drove me insane.

I was ready to snap at him again, but then he spoke, his voice low and soft. "It won't happen again."

That shut me up.

I pulled out my keys, turning to unlock my door. Just as the key slid into the lock, his voice came again, low and quiet. "I had the wrong idea tonight. It won't happen again." Wait, what?

I froze, glancing back, but he was already slipping into his half-open door.

a split second before

something to say,

exactly what he meant. He wasn't agreeing to end whatever this fake thing between us

couldn't keep doing this.

I ever asked Hayden to

too attached. No, the problem was me. I didn't want

I'd used him like a freaking prop. His first hug, first hand-hold, even his first kiss.

felt like the worst person

stepped into my apartment, guilt gnawing at me like a

Hayden. Every time I turned around, there he was, looking lost. "Why'd you kiss me?" he'd ask, over and over. "That was my

woke up suffocating in guilt, even though it

grabbed my phone.

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Chapter 172

be up. If I had my timing right, he'd be

my chance to avoid

threw on some clothes, and bolted out the

I couldn't help but feel like a total loser. Here I was, grown, living in my own place, and yet I was sneaking around like some kind of

breakfast sitting by my door. And with every passing

bunch of times, telling him to