“I could’ve won,”I’d claimed.“I should’ve. Any other day, I could’ve taken her.”
“Thank you for apologizing.” Her response caught me off guard. Somehow her kindness made me feel worse. “I know how heavy that pressure is, the Grand Slam final, at twenty-two. Dylan and Inés will come around. They need time to remember they can be difficult too.”
I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me at her words, the scene in the kitchen feeling further and further away. With Dylan, her reputation wasn’t about winning, it was about breaking opponents down, stone-faced and unapologetic, never giving an inch. If you wanted to beat her, you had to be just as ruthless.
And Inés—that situation was worse than anyone could imagine. There was no hope there. I could’ve gone easier on her during ourmatches. I usually faced her in the first and second rounds; there was no need to besobrutal.
“We will see,” I said, letting go of my bag, allowing myself to accept that I’d at least be staying the night here.
When Scottie finally left, I climbed into the bed, allowing myself to replay Henrik’s words from the drive here, his insistence that this long weekend would be fun.
But all I could think about was the way Dylan wouldn’t look at me, the sharpness in Inés’s tone, and the uncomfortable silence that followed my name in the kitchen.
These weren’t allies; they were opponents I’d pissed off one too many times. And now I was in their house, on their turf.
It was only a matter of time before rackets were drawn and backhands exchanged.
6
Chloe
Cruel Summer—G Flip
Ihad spent nearly thirty perfect minutes alone, staring at the ceiling, before the peace was disturbed by a knock.
The door pushed open to reveal Henrik and that forever-friendly smile across his face.
“Are you okay?” He stepped farther into the room, closing the door behind him, and placed his own suitcase down.
I nodded. “Are they done with the ‘we hate Chloe’ convention? Or have they moved on to thinking of all the ways they could take me out?”
“They’ve already fashioned a hex out of cocktail straws and spite.”
I pushed up from the bed, looking at him straight on. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”
“A bad one, yes.”
I collapsed back onto the plush pillows, and I felt him lie down at the end of the bed.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you who was here. But look, when we started this”—his hands waved wildly in the air—“arrangement, you said you wanted to get out, make friends, have your parents not worry about where you were or who you were with.”
“So?”
“Do you think you’veactuallydone any of those things?” he asked.
I took a moment to go over the nine months of our arrangement. We’d practically grown up together, Henrik and I. Our families had been close, spending a couple of weeks every summer together. But it wasn’t until a rain delay during an important match that we’d spent much time one on one. Things hadn’t been going well for me during the tournament, and I was pacing up and down the player’s area trying to stay sharp while the match hung in limbo.
He’d come up to me and made this terrible flirty joke.
“Can I be your tennis ball?” he’d said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. It was ridiculous, but it lightened my mood, and later that night we’d met up again, me sneaking down to the hotel bar.
It started off casual, a way to blow off steam. Our schedules often overlapped, bringing us to the same cities, so meeting up after a tough match felt convenient for both of us.
No expectations, no strings.
A few weeks in, he asked why he never saw me talking to anyone, why I always turned down invitations to parties and events. I was up front with him: my parents were protective. And I never really had friends, so why start now when they all doubled as professional rivals?
And he’d offered a simple solution: making our casual arrangement exclusive. We both knew this wasn’t about romance. Henrik was just as competitive as I was, just as focused, and neither of us had the time or the inclination for a real relationship. But for my parents’ sake, for my family’s peace of mind, he’d play the role of the boyfriend. It gave them someone to trust, someone they didn’t have to worry about.
