Me: Stop parenting me.
Roman: Stop needing it.
I stared at that one for a while, then typed and deleted three things before sending: Thanks for earlier.
His reply took longer.
Roman: Yeah.
Then another.
Roman: Don’t handle tonight alone if it goes bad.
My throat tightened.
Me: I know.
I didn’t know if that was true. But I wanted it to be.
By seven, the apartment had gone dim and cold around the edges. I turned on lights, then turned one off because it buzzed. I changed shirts for no reason. Changed back because the new one felt wrong at the collar. Checked the time. Checked again. Time did that thing where it stretched and snapped, five minutes taking an hour and an hour disappearing while I stood in the kitchen holding an unopened protein bar.
At seven-forty-three, my phone lit up.
I saw his name and everything in me stopped trying to pretend.
Declan.
I didn’t grab it right away. I made myself breathe once first, because if I opened it too fast I might answer too fast, and if I answered too fast I might say too much.
Then I picked it up.
Can you come over tonight? We need to talk.
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
JACE
Can you come over tonight? We need to talk.
I read the message six times and got six different versions of my future.
Need to talk could mean an ending. Could mean Olivia knew everything. Could mean he had changed his mind. Could mean he wanted space, or wanted me, or wanted to tell me whatever we were doing had finally hit the wall we had both been pretending not to see.
My brain did what it always did when given too much empty room. It sprinted.
Olivia kicked him out. Olivia guessed. He told her. He didn’t tell her. He regrets it. He loves me. He’s done.
I typed, Yes.
Deleted it because it made me look like I’d been standing by the door waiting, which was emotionally accurate and therefore humiliating.
Typed, When?
Deleted that too because he had already said tonight and I wasn’t trying to turn a crisis into a calendar invite.
Typed, I can.
