Page 237 of Ruthless Court

Kane again.

I take it out.

Kane: You disappeared after the game because of the cameras.

Not a question.

Me: Yes.

Kane: I didn’t give them your name.

Me: I saw.

Kane: I won’t.

My chest tightens.

Another message appears.

Kane: Not unless you decide you want them to know.

Noor reads my face, not the screen.

“What did he say?”

I hand her the phone.

She reads, then gives it back.

“He asked.”

“In his bossy way.”

“He still asked.”

I look at the picture circulating online.

Tortoiseshell glasses.

Twizzler.

Kane grinning at me like the rest of the arena vanished.

Maybe the attention isn’t the most frightening part.

Maybe it is that, for one second, I liked being the person he searched for.

I type slowly.

Me: I don’t want to be content for gossip accounts.

Kane: Understood.

Me: And I’m not sitting in that section again.

Kane: We’ll discuss that.

I roll my eyes.