Chapter 80: I Only Need You

The breath in my lungs didn’t return. Not after that casual revelation. Not after he'd said it. He had dropped the words so carelessly, like tossing crumbs on the table, but they landed inside me like an earthquake. He loved me. Or at least, he’d said it. Again. For the second time today. And that was the part that was eating me alive. Because he’d said it once before and he'd laughed it off, playing it down as a response to something snarky I'd said, like I'd only said it to entertain him. Make him laugh. Maybe that’s what it was then. Maybe that’s what it was now. But then again… maybe not. “You good, Sav?” Roman asked, his smooth, steady voice breaking through the storm in my head. He glanced at me briefly, just a flicker of his green eyes in the dim lights of the car, then turned his focus back on the road. I nodded too quickly, like a reflex. “Yeah.” What was I even thinking? Of course he didn’t mean it like that. He couldn’t. He loves me because I’m his best friend who makes him