Page 220 of Ruthless Court

Hannah fell asleep on my shoulder.

That should not matter more than twenty-six points and eleven assists.

It does.

I thought Stella was the answer for a long time. We understood the same hunger. The same loneliness of earning a place in rooms designed for someone else. I thought if she chose me, it would prove all the work had led somewhere beyond trophies and headlines.

Then she chose Vale.

After that, I tried simplicity.

Parties. Groupies. Women who looked good in photographs and wanted exactly what I expected them to want.

Krista had legs built for speed, faster hands, and kisses that never gave me time to think. For a while, that seemed ideal. She didn’t ask for emotional honesty. I didn’t ask for conversation that lasted beyond whatever bed we landed in.

It was easy.

It was also empty.

Hannah is nothing like easy.

She challenges every sentence I say. Finds cracks in arguments I thought were solid. Watches my game and sees the mistake beneath the result.

She sees the parts that need work.

The strangest thing is that she doesn’t want to profit from any of it.

No pictures.

No access.

No future contract.

She left the arena before cameras could turn her into a question.

Hannah needs nothing from me.

I’m the one who followed her.

I needed her answer in the library. Her correction at the gym. Her face in the stands tonight.

I needed to find her after she disappeared.

That should bother me.

Instead, I smile like an idiot while crossing the quad.

A girl who has spent weeks trying to get away from me has somehow become the first person I look for.

Maybe Stella was never the answer.

Maybe losing myself with Krista wasn’t either.

Maybe the answer is someone who can see every flaw and still show up with Twizzlers.

The suite is dark when I get back.

Noah’s door is closed. Music hums faintly behind Jalen’s, though he’s probably wearing headphones and forgot to shut down his speakers.