Page 25 of Ruthless Court
“People say whatever gets reposted.”
“I heard Duke made a serious push.”
“So?”
“So maybe Vale wasn’t locked in.”
“He was.”
Eli rises and stretches his arms over his head. “You sound very certain for a guy who isn’t his agent.”
“I know basketball.”
“This isn’t basketball. It’s rich people negotiating.”
“Same thing with nicer suits.”
Marcus laughs and walks back onto the court.
Eli stays where he is, watching me spin the ball across my fingertips.
“Word is seeing Stella at the field house pushed Vale over the top.”
The ball slips.
Barely.
I catch it before it hits the ground.
“Seeing Stella didn’t lock down anything.”
Eli’s grin widens. “You saw the way he looked at her.”
“He looked at everybody.”
“Not like that.”
I bounce the ball once, hard.
Tristan had walked into the field house with the coaching staff, took one look across the court, and found Stella before anyone introduced them.
I noticed.
Everybody noticed.
It meant nothing.
“Country-club boy isn’t her type.”
Marcus wipes his face with the bottom of his shirt. “Pretty sure tall, rich, and built is every girl’s type.”
“Stella doesn’t care about money.”
“That’s convenient for you,” Eli says.
I shoot from several feet beyond the arc.
The ball drops clean through the net.
