I watched her face change, the annoyance dissipate, the line between her eyebrows soften, shoulders relaxing as she heard me. Ihadn’t meant to say any of that. To admit it and be that vulnerable. But now I’d spoken it, I couldn’t undo it.
“I understand,” she said. “It would’ve been hard.” The acknowledgement alone shifted something for me. “I get that you hate me. We don’t need to be besties, but... can we at least get through the next few days without a fight?”
I fought the urge to argue back, the one that seemed to rage against her and her alone. No matter how much I hated agreeing with her, she was right. I kept my gaze cold as I said, “This doesn’t change anything between us.”
It doesn’t change what happened between us. The kiss. Or the fact that she never called.
“I didn’t expect it would.”
I reached out for a handshake. “Temporary ceasefire.”
She took it, her palm warm against mine, and this time I couldn’t help a smile as she spoke. “Anything for the Hamptons tennis court resurfacing.”
12
Chloe
You Stupid Bitch—girl in red
Moore & Lopez vs Murphy & Costa
Second Round
It wasn’t like we needed to be friends to get through this. Just doubles partners. Two people who could take turns to run around a court and return a ball. Easy, right?
Wrong.
“You cut me off there, that was my ball,” Inés said, gritting her teeth as we regrouped after winning the last point.All thanks to me.
My frustration did not relent, my grip on my tennis racket tightening. “You weren’t in the right position. There was no way you’d have been able to reach it.”
We were playing our second match of the day. The first match had been... fine. We’d won, which was great, but I was still getting a sense of this doubles gameplay, and while in the morning I’d let Inés guide me about, barking her orders, this afternoon I’d gotten sick of letting her think she was the one in charge.
For the second match, I was making myself known, and she was not enjoying it. The crowd seemed to rumble with comments as weargued, our opponents simply rolling their eyes, waiting impatiently for our serve.
Now our competitors, Moore and Lopez, had taken the first set point. If they won, they’d be one step closer to the final tomorrow.
“I had it covered.” Inés’s tone was cool, clipped. Every shot, every point, every step felt like a competition, but this wasn’t about winning the match; it was about winning control. “If you didn’t keep stepping in front of me, we could’ve taken this set already.”
“You always think you’re right. Your positioning is all wrong.”
Inés shot me a glare, her eyes flashing with irritation. “Maybe if you actually communicated, we might stand a chance.”
I rolled my eyes, sick of hearing the same thing over and over from her. It wasn’t my fault she couldn’t keep up. Throwing the ball at her, I said, “Just serve already, and stay out of my way.”
Inés tsked but didn’t say anything else. I suspected that as she stood behind me on the baseline she was cursing my name, but I kept my attention ahead, on our competition.
The crowd around us fell to a hush as I prepared for the serve, readying myself to jump off my mark and hit the ball. Instead, the ball hit me, square in the back of the head.
I swallowed down my fury, turning around as I resisted the urge to rub the spot where it hit, to find Inés not even looking a little sorry. Around us, I could feel the loud rumble from the crowd right down into my bones, as if every single one knew that sharp pain.
Instead, she sent me a look of innocence, twirling her racket in her hand. I was tempted to beat her with it. Instead, I used anger to fuel me. We reset, a ball kid retrieving the served ball and supplying Inés with another.
As she got back into position, I looked over my shoulder, making eye contact. I sent her a glare, my eyes narrowed in cold disbelief. Lips pulled into a tight line, I tilted my head slightly as if to say, “Really?”
She raised her shoulders in a shrug, a pleased, smug smirk on her lips. I couldn’t help but think that I would’ve done the same.
Inés served, the ball fired over to the other side of the court, and I launched into action, hitting it back when our competition returned it.
