Page 301 of Ruthless Court

“You looked.”

“I was appreciating our height diversity.”

“You’re one sentence away from walking back to campus.”

I grin.

She leans her shoulder against mine.

Tiny movement.

Barely pressure.

It lands harder than if she climbed into my lap.

I look toward the valley.

“Can I tell you something?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“Whether it involves your left-side drive.”

“No basketball.”

“That was the deal.”

“This is different.”

She waits.

The city lights flicker beneath us.

“My parents weren’t poor.”

Hannah turns toward me slightly.

“We didn’t go hungry. Bills got paid. We had a house. My dad worked maintenance for the city, and my mom did billing for a medical office.”

I rub my hands together against the cold.

“But there wasn’t extra. Private school wasn’t even something people around us discussed. Neither was personal training or travel teams that cost five grand before you bought shoes.”

Hannah stays quiet.

“I wasn’t great in school when I was little.”

That gets her.

“You?”

“Try not to sound so shocked.”

“You argue with professors recreationally.”

“Now.”