Page 121 of Spring Break Fling

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice flat. “Me too.”

We drove the rest of the way to her place in near silence. Each traffic light and stop sign felt like a countdown, each passing second a step closer to the inevitable end. The car was thick with tension, the music doing little to mask the unspoken words between us. I could feel Hannah watching me, her anxiety practically radiating off her. But I kept my eyes fixed on the road.

Five days. That was all we had left.

I pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building, cutting the engine but not moving. The silence was deafening.

“Nikko,” Hannah said softly. “Say something.”

I turned to look at her. “What do you want me to say?”

Her eyes welled up. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“But you will,” I said flatly. “New York and Miami might as well be different planets.”

She reached for my hand, but I pulled away. Not out of anger but out of self-preservation.

“What are you thinking?” she asked softly.

I turned to look at her. The woman I loved. The woman who was about to change everything.

“I’m thinking I love you,” I said. “And I have no idea what happens next.”

“We’re going to make this work,” she said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?”

“I don’t need space,” I said, my voice rising. “I want you with me. That’s the whole fucking point, Hannah.”

She flinched, her shoulders stiffening. “Look, I know this isn’t ideal.”

“Ideal?” I laughed again, louder this time. “No, it definitely isn’t. And what’s worse? You’re letting Clarke jerk you around. Those clowns don’t respect you, Hannah. You weren’t even their first choice. He knows you’re going to jump at the job because you’ve been sitting on the backburner.”

Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

“You think this job means they finally see your worth?” I said, my voice cracking under the weight of my anger. “You’re their backup plan. Runner-up. And you’re acting like you’ve won the goddamn lottery. What happens when he gets his first choice? You’re not getting the job because he wants to give it to you. He’s giving it to you because you’re the only one willing to uproot your life in five days to save his ass!”

Hannah’s expression crumbled, the flush fading from her cheeks. She turned to gaze out the window. “I know it’s not perfect,” she whispered finally, her voice hoarse with restrained emotions. “Maybe I am a backup plan to them. But this could be my break, Nikko. My chance to prove that I can do more, be more.”

“Hannah, you’ve been proving yourself and he doesn’t notice! He’s using you. Why in the hell would you keep giving him more? You’re in a bad relationship. Abusive. Everyone can see it except for you! He’s fucking with you. He’s dicking you around and you’ve got blinders on. You see the shiny dollar signs and fancy title, but you can’t see the reality of the situation.”

“Stop,” she said, her voice trembling.

But I couldn’t stop. The words flowed out like poison, and I couldn’t choke them back. “You’re making a weak choice, Hannah. You’re letting them take advantage of you, and you’re throwing us away in the process.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back. “That’s not fair.”

“Fair?” I threw my head back against the headrest. “You want to talk about fair? I just started to believe we could have something real. You told me you loved me, talked about starting a family, and now—” I broke off, shaking my head. “Forget it.”

“I’m not throwing us away,” she insisted, her voice rising to match mine. “I’m trying to build a future for both of us.”

“A future where we’re on opposite sides of the country?” I shot back. “That’s your big plan?”

She threw her hands up. “I don’t know, Nikko! I’m doing my best here.”

“Well, your best sucks,” I said before I could stop myself. “We’re not going to be together. We’re not going to have kids. You’re not going to want to raise children when you’re chasing the big corner office.”

“You could move to New York.”

“The fuck I could,” I hissed. “New York is not for me. I’m not dealing with that cold weather. I have zero desire to live there, and I don’t want to raise a family there.”