CHASING HALFTIME

Chapter 22

Lexi’s POV — Same Night (continued)

She felt the shift the moment Jace said it.

Now we stop playing defense.

Not maybe. Not if. Not later.

Now.

The fire that had been simmering in her chest for weeks finally found oxygen.

Lexi stood, fingers still laced in his for a moment longer before she let go, moving with purpose toward her desk. She yanked open the bottom drawer, pulled out a notebook—the notebook—the one she'd started the night Savannah nearly broke her.

The one filled with names, dates, theories.

Red ink for betrayal. Blue for doubt. Black for proof.

“I started writing it all down,” she said, flipping to the most recent page. “At first I thought I was being obsessive. Paranoid.”

Jace leaned over her shoulder, scanning the chaotic scrawl.

Then paused.

“Wait.” He tapped a