Page 142 of Playing Dirty

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Then:

“Never mind.”

Which somehow made it worse anyway.

Mason

I should’ve stopped talking.

I didn’t.

“Don’t make it something it’s not,” I said.

Rowan tilted her head slightly. “What is it then?”

I paused.

That was the problem.

I didn’t have a clean answer.

So I didn’t give one.

Instead:

“It’s a room assignment.”

She laughed once.

Small.

Not amused.

“Yeah,” she said. “Sure.”

That tone again.

Like she didn’t believe me.

Or like she already knew I didn’t believe myself.

I looked away first this time.

Not because I wanted to.

Because I needed to.

Rowan

Silence came back.

But different now.

Not empty.

Full.

I sat on the edge of my bed.

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