Page 298 of Playing Dirty
Completely.
Because that was too accurate for something she shouldn’t have known.
I didn’t answer right away.
For once.
I just stared at it.
And outside my window, the city kept moving like nothing mattered.
But for some reason—
this conversation did.
Forty Eight
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
MASON
Coach didn’t say a word to me during warmups.
That was worse than yelling.
Yelling meant you could fix something. Silence meant you were being measured.
Again.
We were running full scrimmage sets before afternoon conditioning, and I could feel it in every possession—guys were watching me differently.
Not hostile.
Not exactly.
More like they were waiting to see if I’d slip again.
Andre cut hard off a screen. I hit him late by half a step.
The ball still went through.
Coach blew the whistle immediately.
“Again.”
No explanation. No correction. Just again.
Luca jogged past me as we reset. “You’re in your head, man.”
“I’m aware.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Neither is talking right now.”
Luca smirked slightly but didn’t push it further.
Which meant even he could tell this wasn’t normal teasing territory anymore.
