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“You shouldn’t walk away with strangers in the middle of the night,” I chastise her.

She pauses, jutting her chin up at me. “You’re not a stranger. You’re the one who saved me.”

Saved me. Saved me. Saved me.

A valve in my heart opens, a flood of emotion swells, but I shove it down.

Aloof. Detached.

I have never saved anyone in my life. Not even myself.

While I made the decision to reunite with Cinnamon, there is still a layer of fear that I neglect to acknowledge.

I will not survive if she leaves. I can’t allow her to.

Not again.

I squeeze her hand tightly. “Lead the way.”

***

Miles. She has us walk miles across town.

“I think we’re sober now. I only had that one drink.”

“We’re almost there.” She stomps forward.

Except we are well off the beaten trail now.

Fuck a cab, I’ll need to call Reuben to pick us up later.

She leads us to a nondescript pavilion that has a boardwalk going straight into the woods.

“You should not come here alone late at night.” Concern filters through my wariness.

But she doesn’t answer, leading me onto it, down a few flights of stairs, and then she jolts to a stop.

“We’re almost there.”

And then she releases me, jumping off the raised boardwalk.

Holy fuck.

Following behind her, I land in…sand?

We are still surrounded by trees, and I can’t see in the distance. The only light guiding us now is the jagged edges of the moon through the trees, but she doesn’t stop.

It’s clear she has been here before.

A lot.

Marching after her, we break through the trees and my mouth opens in shock.

“What the fuck?”

We are on the water and she is beelining to a pavilion a few feet from the shore.

I follow after her.