Page 183 of Playing Dirty

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For now.

Thirty

CHAPTER THIRTY

ROWAN

The rooftop got louder the longer I stayed in it.

That was the rule of places like this.

At first it feels like noise.

Then it becomes rhythm.

Then it stops feeling like anything at all unless you stop moving.

I made the mistake of stopping.

Someone handed me another drink. I didn’t even see who at first.

“Careful,” a voice said beside me. “That one’s stronger than it looks.”

I turned.

A guy I’d seen around practice. Not on the court. Not really part of the main roster group.

He smiled like he already knew I wasn’t paying attention.

“Luca,” he said. “We’ve crossed paths. Technically.”

“I don’t think we have,” I replied.

“That’s why I said technically.”

That should’ve been annoying.

It wasn’t.

Because he didn’t try too hard.

He just leaned slightly against the railing beside me like the space was already shared.

Across the rooftop, I felt it before I saw it.

Mason.

Not moving toward me.

But aware.

That constant thing he did.

I didn’t look first this time.

That mattered.

Because I could feel him noticing that I didn’t.

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