Page 16 of Endgame

“Humble and so good with your hands,” Lila breathed.

“And my fingers.” King looked at her knowingly as she blushed. He loved making her blush. Which wasn’t happening quite as often, as she was becoming bolder and bolder with her sexuality. They hadn’t had sex yet, but he’d become very familiar with her perfect tits and had made her come with his fingers many times. He was desperate to try with his tongue. They were taking things slow-ish.

Normally, if a girl wasn’t into the whole sex thing, there’d be no hard feelings or pressure, but King would’ve moved on to someone else who was into a casual one-time thing. He’d never invested this kind of time, nor had he gotten to know a girl the way he’d gotten to know Lila. Because they didn’t just fool around. They talked. For hours. They talked and laughed, and he found himself telling her things he hadn’t thought he’d tell anyone. He wanted her to know him, and in turn, he wanted to know her, too.

“How are things with the un-ironically named Becky?” King asked. They usually spent time at his place because Lila’s roommate was kind of a nightmare. Plus, King had his own room, so they could have privacy when they wanted it.

“Ugh.” Lila covered her face with her hands. “She threw out my cashew milk and Vicky’s cow’s milk yesterday because she said that she couldn’t have her soy milk near any other kind of milk.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup,” Lila groaned. “Then she forgot that she’d scheduled dates with both Andy and Joe at the same time, so there was fist fighting involved. Actually, it was more like spirited slapping, but you get the idea.”

King chuffed out a laugh at that image. “You really need to move.”

“Tell me about it. If I could get out of my contract early, I would. Stupid off-campus housing rules.”

“Which thankfully don’t apply to athletes,” King ribbed.

She threw a cushion at his face. “Thanks for rubbing it in. I super appreciate it.”

“Anytime.”

The front door opened, and Knight and one of his roommates, a giant defensive lineman aptly named Bear, came through the door. Knight zeroed in on Lila and grinned widely.

“Little sister!”

She turned her head to him and smiled. “Hey big bro. How’s the bye-week treating you?”

“Well, look at you becoming a super sports fan. So proud of you, Li. I feel like our imaginary shared parents would definitely approve.”

“Just soccer and football for me, thanks. Baseball and I still have to go through some counseling together. And basketball would be much better if they still wore those mid-thigh-length shorts from the 80s.” She waggled her eyebrows as Knight and Bear laughed.

Now that it was firmly established that Lila and Knight’s relationship was entirely platonic, King wasn’t as bothered by their friendly dynamic. He didn’t feel as threatened as he had in the beginning, which was a relief because Knight was one of his closest friends.

Lila sat up and removed her feet from King’s lap, crawling over to sit next to him. He slid an arm around her waist and rearranged her right on his lap. He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger absentmindedly.

“You guys wanna come sit?” King asked, even as his friends were taking the empty space that Lila had just abandoned.

Before long, Lila had everybody laughing their asses off as she shared some server horror stories from her shifts that day. When she got up to go to the bathroom, Bear nudged King in the ribs.

“Seriously, dude, your girlfriend is super fun. You’ve gotta hold on to that one; she’s like a unicorn. Beautiful, funny, smart. You lucky bastard.”

For some reason, the word girlfriend rubbed him the wrong way. It was a box, and he didn’t want to feel trapped inside. “She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just hanging out.”

He avoided the glare he knew was coming from Knight’s direction, because, well, he already knew what his friend thought about his whole anti-girlfriend stance. Especially since Lila was involved.

“Suuuuuure,” Bear scoffed. “You were just rubbing her damn feet. Playing with her hair. You’re booed up and loving it.”

“For real, man. I don’t do girlfriends. They expect too much. This is just for fun, nothing serious.”

Knight cleared his throat, drawing King’s attention to Lila, who’d come back out from the bathroom. Based on the fact that her smile seemed forced and didn’t reach her eyes, he could tell she’d heard some, if not all, of what he’d just said. But that’s what they’d agreed to, right? She’d said she was okay without labels. So why would she be upset?

Her expression did strange things to his insides. Like he didn’t want to be responsible for causing it, but he also suddenly felt trapped.

“You coming to the Halloween extravaganza this weekend, sis?” Knight asked as she moved to sit back down next to King.

“Unfortunately, my boss wouldn’t let me take the night off.” She rolled her eyes. “So, unless by some miracle I get cut early, I probably won’t make it.”

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