Page 133 of Spring Break Fling

But I was worried about Nikko. What if those bruisers found him? What if he was lying in his house bleeding out or worse? I walked to the window, cupped my hands around my face, and peered in. I could see nothing.

If he wasn’t home, there was one other place he might be.

The shop.

Marcus probably rehired him. Why wouldn’t he? Nikko was damn good at what he did.

I used the last juice in my phone to order an Uber. Thankfully, the driver was close. I barely closed the door before my phone died completely. If he wasn’t at the shop, I was going to be hoofing it to a cafe with a charging station.

By the time I got to the shop, I was panicked and sweaty. I pushed through the front door. The familiar hum of tattoo machines hit me, followed by Jessie’s gaze snapping to mine like a laser sight. She stopped mid-conversation with a client, planted her hands on her hips, and tilted her head.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her tone sharp enough to cut glass.

“Hi, Jessie. Nice to see you too,” I said, forcing a shaky smile. “Uh, is Nikko here?”

I wasn’t going to let her scare me away. Nikko was the man I loved. I was going to fight for him. If that meant I had to go through her, so be it.

Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

Okay, I deserved that. Probably deserved worse. But I didn’t have time for groveling—not yet. “I need to see him,” I said quickly.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Jessie said. “No. You don’t deserve him.”

I sighed. “You’re right. I probably don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to be deserving of him. I screwed everything up, okay? I know that. And I need to tell him that I was wrong, and he was right about everything and⁠—”

“Heard that part already,” Jessie cut in, crossing her arms. “Why should he care now?”

I swallowed hard. “Because…” I took a deep breath, realizing I was on the verge of full-on word-vomit. “Because he’s the only thing in my life that’s ever made me feel like I’m enough. And I was an idiot for not realizing it sooner. I prioritized work over him and that was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, because work has only ever made me miserable, and he has only ever made me happy. It took losing him for me to see that. I see it now. You can hate me, Jessie. I don’t care. I love Nikko and the way he feels about me is all that matters. I’m here to prove myself to him—not you. You can choose to accept that or not. I would love to be friends with you, but you’re not the one I’m trying to make up with. Not right now. He is the only one that matters.”

The words hung in the air like a neon sign blinking pathetic, but I didn’t care. Jessie stared at me, her expression softening for half a second before snapping back into unimpressed territory. Then, from the hallway behind her, I heard a familiar voice.

“Well, that’s interesting.”

My stomach dropped as Nikko stepped into view, a cocky smirk plastered across his annoyingly perfect face. He leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, looking like he had all the time in the world to enjoy my public humiliation.

I let out a nervous laugh, blowing a stray strand of hair from my face. “Did you catch all that?”

“Every word,” he said, his smirk deepening. “But I wouldn’t mind hearing a few of them again. Like, I dunno, ‘I was wrong’ and ‘he was right about everything.’”

“Don’t push it,” I muttered, though the corners of my mouth betrayed me with a twitch.

“Go on,” he said, gesturing for me to continue. “You’re on a roll.”

I rolled my eyes but decided to lean into it. If I was going down, I might as well do it spectacularly with a captive audience. “Fine. I was wrong. You were right. About everything. I prioritized work over you, and it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I hated every second of it, and I missed you so much it physically hurt. The people there didn’t respect me. Hell, I don’t even think they knew I was there. I didn’t matter to them, just like you said. There. Happy?”

He stepped closer, his smirk softening into something warmer. “Keep going.”

I groaned. “You’re insufferable.”

“And you love me for it.”

I sighed dramatically, but my heart was pounding. “I want you. I want us.”

He closed the distance between us, his hand brushing against mine. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.”