Page 411 of Bad Prince
I look down at the towel in my hands and huff a breath through my nose.
“Yeah,” I respond, “miss you too.”
Jade tilts her head between us.
“God, you two are exhausting.”
Leo grins. “You’re jealous.”
“Obviously.”
Then, because she is incapable of not cutting straight to the artery, she narrows her eyes at me and says, “Okay. What’s going on with you and Stella?”
There it is.
I lean back against the headboard. “Subtle.”
“I’m only asking because you look like a man who either found religion or got the girl.”
I glance away. Which is answer enough.
Jade makes a low, scandalized noise. “Oh my God.”
Leo laughs. “No way.”
I scrub a hand over my jaw. “It’s not done.”
That only makes Jade scoot closer to the screen.
“Spill the tea.”
“Jade.”
“Tristan.”
She’s grinning now, but it’s not mean. Just delighted in the specific way people get when they’ve watched two idiots orbit each other for years and are finally seeing movement.
Leo folds one arm behind his head.
“Start talking.”
So, I do.
Not every detail.
Not the ones I want to keep private because some things still feel too close to the bone.
But enough.
I tell them about Isa.
About ending it.
About how wrong it got the second I let convenience stand where honesty should’ve been.
About Stella in the coffee shop, at the gym, in my head, in every room before I was ready.
About the library.
