Page 73 of Ruthless Court

The flirting. The sex. The simplicity.

No questions about where we were going. No pressure to introduce her to my parents. No hints about future contracts, draft night, or what city she’d prefer if I went pro.

Krista wanted a good time with someone who looked good beside her.

I wanted not to think about Stella.

We both got what we came for.

Mostly.

Krista lifts her head and notices my phone.

“Oh.” She reaches for it. “They finally posted?”

I lock the screen before she can take it.

“You knew?”

“Everyone knew.”

“They weren’t together until now.”

She gives me a look.

“Kane.”

I get out of bed and pull on gray sweats.

My room is too warm. The air smells like her coconut lotion and the takeout we never finished. One of her shoes is under my desk. The other landed near the bathroom door.

“They were together before they were together,” she says. “You had to see that.”

“I saw plenty.”

“Then why do you look like someone cancelled your birthday?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re stalking your ex-situationship’s new relationship from bed.”

“She wasn’t my ex.”

“That makes it sadder.”

I glance at her.

Krista smiles into the pillow.

She isn’t trying to hurt me. Cruelty requires more investment than she has in this conversation.

I pick up the abandoned takeout containers and stack them.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Cleaning.”

“Right now?”