Page 8 of One Room Vacancy
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Because you’re one of the most loving people I know. A bit overreaching at times…and definitely invasive…”
“Get to your point, please.”
“You care. This baby would be no different.”
Savannah softens. “Thanks, Sage.”
“It’s what I’m here for. What if not to reassure you and drive my brother insane simultaneously?”
She laughs, hand resting instinctively on her still-flat stomach.
“Which—speaking of my brother—what the hell was he thinking with this Gabe shit?”
Savannah shrugs. “Can’t say for sure, but it won’t be as bad as you think.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Well…you could avoid fucking him, for one.”
“You said you wouldn’t bring that up again.”
“I said I wouldn’trandomlybring that up again. But it is very relevant here.”
“Well, I don’t plan to. I fully intend to avoid him like the plague.”
“That apartment isn’t exactly big, Sage.”
“Don’t care. I’m going to set some ground rules and try to make this as pain-free as possible.”
“By not fucking him?”
“Suck my dick, Sav,” I laugh.
“Love you too!”
THREE
FOUR MONTHS AGO
SAGE
The elevator ride is quiet.
Not awkward, not tense—just quiet. The kind of silence that hums in your gut like a warning, like you already know this is a bad idea and your body is waiting for your brain to catch up.
I don’t look at him, but I can feel him. That’s the thing with Gabe—he doesn’t just take up space; he owns it. Heat radiates off him like static, this quiet pull that’s always been there, just beneath the surface, even when we pretend it’s not.
My hands are folded in front of me, fingers knotted too tight, like they’re trying to hold the rest of me together. Gabe shifts beside me. I hear the soft crack of his knuckles and the faint sigh that follows. He’s nervous, and that almost makes it worse—because I know how careful he is when it comes to me. Like he’s afraid to break something we never even admitted we had.
The elevator dings.
I lead the way to my room, every step padded and slow. I don’t trust myself to speak, so I don’t. I just open the door, step inside, and wait for him to follow.
He does.
The door clicks shut behind us.
