Page 59 of Playing Dirty
Rowan Hayes.
She was still on the court talking to Serena.
Notebook tucked under her arm. Hair slightly messy from the humidity in the gym. Focused again like she hadn’t just said something that had been sitting in my chest wrong since practice ended.
You ignored me.
It shouldn’t have landed like that.
It did.
“Bro,” Jace said, appearing beside me like a pest. “You look like you just lost a custody battle.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah, you’re doing the jaw thing.”
“What jaw thing.”
“The one where you’re pretending you’re not thinking about something you’re absolutely thinking about.”
I didn’t answer.
Which was answer enough.
Jace followed my gaze instantly.
“Oh,” he said slowly. “It’s her.”
“Shut up.”
“No, no, I get it now. This is not casual hate anymore.”
“It was never hate.”
“That’s worse.”
I finally started walking toward the locker room. “Drop it.”
Jace kept pace anyway. “So what happened?”
“She left her coffee at the café.”
Jace stopped walking.
Dead stop.
I kept going for two steps before realizing he wasn’t beside me anymore.
I turned.
He was staring at me like I’d just confessed to a crime.
“You remembered that?” he asked.
“It was sitting there.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
