Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
No such luck.
Gracen found herself staring at the shadowy stairwell leading to the rooftop porch, and an otherwise quiet bedroom. At least, when she reached over to turn the bedside lamp on, the darkness slipped away. Mostly. If anything, though, that only made the emptiness of her bedroom all the more apparent to Gracen. Like the unsettling hole growing in her heart. On the surface—at a quick glance, really—nothing else about the bedroom seemed out of sorts or any different than it had been when she went to sleep the night before.
With Malachi, of course.
Except he wasn’t there now.
Neither was the black overnight bag he had placed on the chair in the corner of her bedroom when he’d first arrived. Or the wireless charger base he’d kept plugged into the wall on her side of the bed. She didn’t bother to get right up and rush to check the en-suite bathroom for his toiletry bag and shaver.
Why bother?
The truth stared Gracen in the face and laughed.
Blatantly.
Maybe foolishly, Gracen dared to believe Malachi hadn’t just gotten up and left as soon as the sun lifted in the sky—without even a proper goodbye. She let herself hope he’d gone to grab breakfast at the cafe on the hill and had his things ready in a pile downstairs to pack on his bike later.
Hadn’t he told her the night before—when she asked when he planned on heading out?
Probably early.
Gracen should have made Malachi clarify how early he meant—foolish, yes.
Because she found his note as soon as she clamored out of bed, and reached for the housecoat tossed off the bedpost. Shrugging it onto her naked shoulders, she reached for her phone on the bedside table, still plugged into its charger. Her morning alarm was ten minutes away, but she even forgot about turning that off when she plucked up the phone.
His note waited underneath.
Gracen’s hand clenched tighter around her phone at the sight of Malachi’s handwriting that wasn’t entirely familiar to her. His name at the bottom of the two simple sentences couldn’t be missed, though.
Written on a corner piece of yellow notepad paper—likely from the one in the kitchen that Gracen and Delaney used to write groceries and other necessities needed throughout the week—she stared at the sentences. Unseeing the words despite them being clear on the paper in black ink and clear strokes.
She could read it.
Gracen just didn’t want to.
In fact, she picked up her discarded panties and sports bra from the night before and didn’t once check the note while she did it. In the process, the bottom of her foot found the condom wrapper she had discarded along with her clothes.
“Christ,” Gracen mumbled, peeling the wrapper off her foot.
She glared at it.
For longer than necessary, sure.
It was easier than remembering how Malachi had told her he would be leaving, and all she had wanted to do was tie herself around the man so he couldn’t go. Not even sex—as good as it was; and it was always good with him—had been enough to satisfy that urge for Gracen.
Nor did it do her any favors.
After all, she still woke up alone.
Gracen didn’t forget about the note but reading it would do nothing for her at the moment. She spent the next few minutes discarding the dirty clothes and tossing the condom wrapper in the bathroom’s trash can. She picked out a jumper to wear and hung it on the back of the bedroom door before heading into the bathroom once more to finish up her morning business.
Eventually, she came back to the bathroom doorway while she furiously brushed her teeth; the only way she found to relieve a bit of the tension filling up her body. Every bone, muscle and nerve felt it. Each in a different way, too.
Her anger was real. Gracen couldn’t put her finger on the why. The obvious, Malachi leaving, didn’t ring as a good enough reason. The fact he didn’t say goodbye and left her to wake up alone and figure it out on her own hadn’t helped, no. She still didn't think that should make her as frustrated and annoyed as she currently felt.
That was the bigger problem.
Gracen eventually checked the note and read the two lines her lover had hastily scribbled out for her to find. Once the alarm on her phone started ringing and she had no choice but to cross the room where the ripped paper still waited.
I’ll call you later, babe. The road looks better in the morning. —Malachi
It wasn’t even a proper goodbye, and the note was all that he’d left behind for her to find other than their late-night conversation in bed. How exactly should that make Gracen feel?
Certainly not wanted.
Definitely alone.
So be it.
Gracen had gotten used to being this way after so long.
Have a safe ride, she thought.