Page 189 of Playing Dirty

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Not immediately.

But I knew.

Someone was there.

MASON

She didn’t look yet.

That was the worst part.

Because I knew she knew I was there.

Jace leaned in.

“Are you going to say something or just mentally ruin your own night?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re watching her like she’s about to disappear into someone else’s story.”

I didn’t answer.

Because Luca said something again.

And Rowan smiled slightly.

Small.

But real.

That was enough.

Thirty One

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

MASON

I didn’t plan to walk over.

That was the first lie my brain tried to tell me.

Because I was already moving before I justified it.

The crowd shifted as I passed through it. Shoulders, voices, bodies turning slightly out of instinct when someone walks with purpose.

Jace called something after me—I didn’t hear it properly.

Didn’t care.

Rowan was still at the bar.

Luca beside her.

Too close for a conversation that meant nothing.

Too relaxed for one that did.

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