Both guys nodded and headed to their truck.I fanned out my shirt, already sweating from the first part of this.
“Thanks so much for picking my birthday to do this, Rissa.I just loved lifting boxes all afternoon,” I sarcastically said, hopping into the back of Benji’s car.
“First of all, this wasn't planned,” she responded, sliding into the passenger seat.“And second of all, quit being a baby.And third, thank you for helping me.Drinks on me all night tonight.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Awesome!I'm getting—”
“Free drinks only for the birthday boy,” Nerissa interrupted Ari, directing Jesse with hand gestures.
“How's that fair?We all signed up for this manual labor here”—he shot Jesse a glare from the back beside me, but Jesse ignored him and turned right—“forcibly, by the way.I deserve free drinks, too.”
“Is it your birthday?No.Now be a good boy and shhh.”
Chuckling, I shook my head and fished out my phone.I had to silence it that morning with all the birthday messages coming in.A part of me hoped I'd see a message from Savannah, but there was nothing.
I released an exasperated sigh and looked out the window, watching the city roll past us in a blur of concrete and traffic lights.At first, I didn’t think anything of the route—just another drive through Ashburn—until the water came into view.
The Kingston bridge.
I sat up straighter, eyes narrowing as the familiar skyline stretched ahead.The same stretch of river I’d crossed a hundred times.The same direction I’d ridden my bike more than once recently.
She's moving across the bridge?
“Uh,” I muttered, leaning forward between the seats.“Where are we going?”
Nerissa didn’t turn around.“Relax.”
That didn’t help.
We flew across the bridge, steel beams flashing past, the river glinting beneath us.The further we went, the more my pulse ticked.Every building we passed—on a very specific fucking route—a strange, sinking certainty settling in my chest.
“Nerissa,” I called out.
Then Jesse slowed.
Pulled off.
Parked.
I stared out the window.
Savannah’s building stood there like a punch to the ribs—brick façade, familiar steps, the faint glow from a second-floor window I’d memorized without meaning to.
Oh.
Oh, hell no.
My head snapped toward Nerissa.
“You’re moving in with Savannah?”I leaned forward, disbelief sharp in my voice.
She finally turned around, grin slow and unapologetic.“Not technically.I mean, she lives upstairs.”
Ari barked out a laugh.“No way.As in girlfriend Savannah?”
Jesse glanced between us in the rearview mirror.“You didn’t know?”
