Page 167 of Revv

Wanting is easy.

Chasing is exciting and promises sound good when nobody’s had to prove them yet.

Now, staying is the only part I actually believe.

My fingers tighten slightly around Revel’s and his phone buzzes a second later and breaks the moment.

“Is it the shop?” I ask.

He checks the screen. “Yeah. The part’s installed. They’re just running some diagnostics and taking it out for a test after. Said they’ll update me again once they know everything’s good, but we should be able to pick it up in the morning.”

Relief should be the only thing I feel.

Instead, there’s this stupid little drop in my stomach right behind it.

Because morning means my car is fixed. My car being fixed means we leave, and considering I spent half this trip bitching about being stranded here, I should probably be a lot more excited about that.

Apparently, my feelings missed the memo.

We keep walking while the sun sinks lower over the water, everything turning warm and gold around us. Revel’s hand stays wrapped around mine.

Up until this morning, all I wanted was my car fixed so I could get the hell back to Tampa.

Now that it’s actually happening, I’m not nearly as excited as I should be.

Because somewhere in the middle of all this, Miami stopped feeling like somewhere I was stuck and started feeling like a place I didn’t want to leave.

Not because of the city, but because here, with Revel, I stopped waiting for everything between us to fall apart.

Chapter Seventeen

Cece

The shop calls a little after nine the next morning, right when I’m standing in front of the bathroom mirror trying to decide if I care enough to do a full face of makeup for a four-hour drive home.

Apparently, I do not.

My phone starts vibrating on the counter beside my makeup bag, and the second I see the Miami number, everything else gets abandoned. Revel is stretched across the bed behind me, half-dressed and scrolling through his phone, but he looks up the second I answer.

“Hi, this is Cece.”

The mechanic doesn’t drag it out. The road test went fine, the diagnostics came back clean, everything they replaced is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, and my Honda is officially ready to be picked up.

Relief hits first, because thank fuck. I’ve spent most of this trip wondering if every update from the shop was going to come with another problem attached to it.

I thank him, confirm we’ll be there soon, then hang up and turn toward Revel.

“She lives.”

He grins. “Knew she’d pull through.”

I stare at him. “Uh, you have literally criticized that car every single chance you’ve gotten.”

“Yeah, well, that was before she broke down and got me stranded in Miami with you for three days.” His grin gets wider. “Little death machine kinda won me over after that.”

I snort. “So now you love her?”

“Fuck yeah. Best wingman I’ve ever had.”