Page 157 of Ruthless Court

“Who used you?”

My fingers tighten around the door handle.

“No one.”

“That answer was too fast.”

“You don’t get to ask.”

“I’m trying to understand.”

“You’re trying to solve me because you can’t stand unanswered questions.”

His gaze doesn’t move.

Maybe I’m right.

Maybe it lands somewhere tender.

I open the door.

Cold rain blows into the car.

“Hannah.”

I step onto the curb and look back.

“I’m a lot of things, Haverhill.”

Water dots my lenses.

“But stupid isn’t one of them.”

I shut the door and cross toward Briar Hall.

He doesn’t drive away.

I feel his eyes on me until I disappear inside.

I make it through Briar Hall’s front door before the first breath catches up with me.

By the second-floor landing, my heart is hammering.

By the third, I’m gripping the railing and wondering whether Kane Haverhill somehow damaged my lungs with his mouth.

I push into our room.

Lila looks up from her bed.

Noor spins around in her desk chair.

Both stare.

“What happened?” Lila asks. “Did someone follow you?”

“Were you mugged?” Noor says.

I drop my bag beside the door.