Swallow

Chapter 1.66:

The house was eerily dark and silent when I walked through the front door. The only noise was the sound of its old bones creaking as it settled on its foundation.

There was no sign anywhere that Riley or Brynn had come back. I was completely alone.

I dragged my complaining feet up the stairs to hide in my room. There was no telling who would tag along with the guys back to the house and I was in no mood to socialize with anyone. If Riley was really going to keep the silent treatment going tonight, then I was better off alone to wallow in my own misery until I figured out a way to get her to talk to me.

I slammed my bedroom door and locked it to keep any uninvited guests out. The last thing I needed was to be bothered by Mia or anyone else for that matter.  Not that I expected Mia to show up to my room with her fat, misshapen nose. She was too vain to be walking around in public while she was disfigured.

At least Riley's outburst had been good for something.  It would get Mia off my dick for a few days.

I bent over to loosen the shoestrings on my boots and my feet screamed with relief as I kicked them off. The oppressive things landed against the closet door with a loud thud and left a black scuff mark down the center.

At least they didn't make a new hole in the door this time.

My room was too fucking hot. It felt like I was submerged in hellfire. I flicked on the tiny fan next to my bed and felt the breeze hit the hair on my neck as I shucked my shirt off and tossed it to the ground.

I stumbled over to my bed and flopped down sideways, causing the headboard to bounce against the wall. It would be the only time those two got to meet tonight. The empty echo of the wood scraping against the plaster only made me ache more for the blond who should have been lying next to me right now.

I scrounged around in my pocket for my phone and pulled it out to call Riley again. I couldn't give up even if it felt hopeless.

The phone rang a few times before the voicemail picked up again. I was tired of having a one-way conversation with myself and hung up before the beep. I considered putting my boots back on to drive over to her house and bang on her front door.

My feet groaned in protest. They didn't like the idea as much as my head did.

It was probably a bad idea anyway.

Even my best plans involving Riley always seemed to backfire on me. I had to be cautious with my approach or I would end up in deeper shit with her.   If Riley did decide to come back to the house and I was gone, she would think I was somewhere with Mia and I would never be able to fix this. Any hope I had for a steamy reconciliation would evaporate instantly.

Hopefully, Brynn was already convincing her to come back to the house tonight. She would find some way to calm Riley down and get her to agree to come back.  I was sure she could do it. Riley didn't seem to ever want to disappoint anyone, especially Brynn. Even if Brynn went out of her way to be the worst friend possible, Riley would bend over backwards to make her happy.  That was how my girl worked. I adored Riley for it, but it also made her so vulnerable to the wrong people.

I started worrying about my girl all over again.  What if she was somewhere with Brynn? What if another guy was trying to take advantage of her? I wasn't there to protect her this time. She needed me.

I hurried and called Riley's phone again. All it did was ring continuously for five minutes. Nothing was stopping it.  Even the voicemail was tired of me calling.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Patient— I needed to be patient. Riley would be here soon.