Page 69 of Endgame

King exited the tunnel and headed towards Lila and her family, where he was met with a chorus of cheers and even some hugs from the two youngest. Their exuberance was something he was still getting used to, but he didn’t hate it.

The heightened energy continued throughout dinner, as Lila’s brothers did their best to each eat an entire large pizza. Leo succeeded, but he looked a little green afterwards. Wren and Lila were talking about baby names, and Knight was always making some kind of contact with Wren, whether it was an arm over the back of her chair or a hand on her knee. King was surprised how well his best friend had settled into the role of boyfriend and father-to-be. If anything, he seemed even calmer. Happier. More whole.

Wren had, for all intents and purposes, moved in, so Lila and Wren were finally able to be roommates, even if it was in a slightly different way than they’d always envisioned. More often than not, King and Knight would arrive home from practice and find them curled up on the couch watching their favorite shows and snacking on their special mix of buttered popcorn and peanut butter M&Ms.

When dinner was over and they’d said their goodbyes to Lila’s family, King drove up to the overlook. As if sensing he needed her close, Lila climbed over from her seat and straddled King’s lap.

“What did Coach say?” Lila asked while running her fingers through his waves.

“He thinks I have a shot at playing in Europe.”

Her fingers halted suddenly, elation readily visible on her face. “King! That’s incredible!” Her hands moved down to shake his shoulders as she peered down at his face and her expression sobered. “Or maybe it’s not so great?”

King sighed deeply as he traced a hand up her side. “It’s great. A dream, actually. I never thought that playing over there would be a possibility. Hell, I thought playing professionally here would be a stretch.”

“So what’s going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours, then?”

King squeezed her side and leaned forward to kiss her softly. “You.” Her brow wrinkled and his chest squeezed. “I don’t want to leave you, and I don’t expect you to drop your life and come with me. I don’t want to take you away from your family and from Wren and Knight. Fuck, I feel like we just found each other again. I don’t want to lose this. You’re more important to me than a game.”

Lila pressed her forehead against his, her scent flooding over him like a wave. “I love my family, and I love Wren and Knight. But…” She cupped his face with her hands. “I love you the most. You’re the most important person in my life.”

“But law school…”

“Might be something that I still want to pursue. But honestly? I am graduating college in three years instead of four. I’m kind of burned out. I can afford to take some time to figure out what I really want to do and not what I’ve put pressure on myself to do just because it fits some prescribed path I envisioned years ago.”

She lowered her face to his as she started to make little movements back and forth over his lap. “There are really amazing law schools in Europe, you know. I wouldn’t be mad about channeling Amal Clooney and going the international law route. After a bit of a break, of course.”

When her tongue grazed his bottom lip, he couldn’t help but bite it.

“I fucking love you.” He gripped her hair loosely at the base of her skull and pulled so that her neck was exposed to him.

“Same,” she hummed as he kissed and sucked and bit the length of her throat. “We’re in this together. We’ll figure things out together. Endgame, remember?”

“Endgame,” King hissed as she freed him from his pants and started stroking him. After some surprisingly dexterous maneuvering, Lila extracted herself from her jeans and then lowered herself onto King’s throbbing cock.

They didn’t talk again for a good, long while.

Chapter 38

King pulled on the jacket of his newly acquired charcoal gray suit and assessed his appearance in the mirror. He’d unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of his white dress shirt because he was only going to wear a tie if something threatened him with bodily harm. Even then, it was a tossup. He aimed his voice at the partially open bathroom door.

“How’s it going in there, La? You almost ready?”

She stepped into his room, and the sight of her damn near took his breath away. She was dressed in a spaghetti-strapped floral sundress and strappy heels, her hair styled in waves that fell down to the small of her back. Her navy graduation robe was draped around her shoulders, unfastened. Lila gave him a little twirl. “Well, what do you think?”

“I think I may have to bend you over the counter before we leave,” King growled, only half joking.

Lila’s light laugh was one of his favorite sounds in the world. “Promise?” she teased. “Or we can just skip it altogether. I mean, I’m done with classes. The diploma’s already in the mail. I’ve already graduated. Walking is just a formality. And you aren’t walking. So.” She popped a hip at him.

“That’s because I’ve been here for five years and it would be anticlimactic. You’re walking. End of discussion,” King said, channeling his old, grumpier self before breaking out into a smirk. “Also, your mom would kill me if we ditched. I have a vested interest in staying on her good side.”

“Please, she loves you more than me,” Lila replied with a smirk. “Not that I blame her. So do I.”

King made no effort to hide his grin. He couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that they were standing here, happy and together, after everything that had happened between them.

The past few months had flown by in a whir of events, all life-changing in their own magical little ways.

Right on the heels of Knight leading the Bradley U football team to win the National Championship, he and Wren welcomed their daughter, Ivy Lila Wright-Patrick to the world. Lila had been by Wren’s and Knight’s side the entirety of the 24 hours of Wren’s labor, while King had paced the floor of the waiting room and had done food and drink runs. The new family of three found a non-student apartment a few miles away, and Lila and King visited often, even babysitting once in a while for their friends. They had to get in their friend time while they could, because Knight had been drafted in the first round by the New York Giants, and he and Wren were planning to move to the city in a couple of weeks.

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