Rishi was right. She’s a real killer.
“Look,” he says carefully. “She got under your skin.”
“I’m fine. She’s arrogant.”
“So are you.”
I roll my neck, trying to ease the tension there. “She was mad about Vanguard. I was her chosen target. It’s all good.”
Rishi chuckles. “Maybe. Or maybe you were the only one who could take the hit and dish it right back.”
I say nothing. Because yeah, she pissed me off. But she also challenged me. Lit a fuse I didn’t know was still wired. I haven’t felt that in a long time.
I didn’t just enjoy it.
Iwantedit.
Every glare. Every bite of her words.
For a second, she made me forget Chloe. Made me forget everything except how badly I wanted to win that argument.
“That last jab though,” Rishi mutters. “Damn. You flinched.”
I let my head fall back against the seat. “She came for my pride.”
“She came for yourego,” Rishi corrects. “Your pride loved it. She hit you right in the balls, man.”
I shake my head, biting down on the anger bubbling up inside.
“You were flirting,” he says,
“I was not.”
He gives me a look. “She basically slapped you and kissed you in the same breath. And you said, yes, please, again.”
I roll my eyes.
“She got in deep, and fast,” he says. “You wanted it. And sorry,dude, but it was written all over your face. You wanted her. That’s why you didn’t speak for fucking ever. She made you nervous.”
I don’t respond.
I’m still thinking about the way her voice dipped when she delivered that final line. How her eyes didn’t blink. How the air between us shifted from sparring to something else entirely.
I want to believe it was just heat. Just chemistry. Just two rivals biting at each other’s throats.
But it wasn’t.
It was personal.
And I wasn’t prepared for that.
The cab pulls up to my building. The lights from the lobby glow. I reach for the handle.
“Want me to come up?” Rishi asks.
“No. I’m good.”
“Text me if you need to bury a body.”
