Page 83 of Red Zone
Which is…bad.
Really bad.
She exhales, slow and quiet. “What is this?”
I look down at her, the tension between us barely cooled.
She doesn’t sound mad. Doesn’t sound like she regrets it.
Just…uncertain. Like she’s waiting for me to screw this up.
I consider giving her the classic Carter line—“just fun” or “whatever we want it to be.”
Something easy. Safe. But I can’t bring myself to lie.
So, I tell her the truth. “I don’t know.”
Her hand curls into my shirt.
I brace myself for her to pull back, to shut this whole thing down.
Instead, she says, “Okay. Well…if we’re gonna keep doing this, we need rules.”
I nod slowly. “Yeah?”
She meets my eyes. “It stays casual. No strings. No feelings. We hook up, we blow off steam, and then we go back to normal. Friends. Teammates. Whatever this weird almost-friends thing is.”
I pause.
Because everything in me wants to agree. To nod and play it cool. Pretend that the second her leg brushed mine, I didn’t feel like I’d been hit in the chest. Pretend that her laugh doesn’t live somewhere under my ribs now. Pretend that I’m not already screwed.
But I do what I’m supposed to.
I nod. “No strings. Just fun.”
“Exactly,” she says.
But her voice is softer now. Not smug. Not distant. Just…tired.
I reach up and brush a strand of hair away from her face. “For what it’s worth,” I murmur. “I like fun with you.”
She smiles, faint and wary.
I lean in and kiss her cheek, just once—gentle and simple, nothing like what we just did.
And that’s the most dangerous part.
Because now I want more than that.
And I shouldn’t.
“All right,” I say, forcing a grin as I shift back onto my elbows. “Not to ruin the whole emotional clarity thing we’ve got going, but I’m gonna need to change before these sweatpants become a problem.”
She snorts, but I see the color rise in her cheeks.
“Or…” I add, dragging out the word. “We could shower. Together. Y’know, to conserve water and protect the planet.”
She shakes her head with a laugh, already sitting up. “You’re unbelievable.”
