“Me? I’m afraid of nothing.” Her spine strained and her eyes snapped fire at me.
“You felt it,” I say, lowering my voice. “When we kissed.”
Her cheeks flare bright red.
God.
That reaction alone is worth the public spectacle.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mutters.
I lean back, amused.
“Liar.”
She kicks my shin under the table.
And somehow, we fall into conversation.
Real conversation.
“How’d Royal Oaks end?” she asks.
“As expected.”
Her eyebrow lifts.
“Which means?”
I smirk.
“Leo and Jade burned it down.”
Her eyes light.
“I watched the Netflix miniseries.”
“You saw me in it then.”
She shrugs.
“I might’ve fast-forwarded your parts.”
I laugh.
“Liar.”
She smiles despite herself.
“I’m glad it got exposed,” she says more quietly. “That place deserved to fall. I just wish I’d been in the headspace to do it myself.”
There’s no bitterness now. Just distance.
“I’d love to meet Jade,” she adds.
“Oh,” I say, leaning forward. “So you have a celebrity crush on Jade?”
She rolls her eyes.
