Page 17 of Endgame

“You should have told him you were personally invited by the star athletes of both the football and soccer teams.”

“Believe me, I tried,” she groaned. “I even had a costume ready to go.” She shrugged. “Oh well. I can always save it for next year.”

“Holding you to that.” Knight pointed at her. He was a junior this year, so he’d be around for next year’s party. And although King was technically a senior, he was planning on still being around too, taking an extra year so he could play his last season of soccer. And hell, another year of school meant that his double major of economics and computer science would make him a more marketable candidate for an MBA, provided he didn’t get drafted to an MLS team.

Later, when King was walking Lila to her car, he noticed she still seemed off. Before she could open her door, he boxed her in against the side of it. “Everything okay, La?”

She avoided his eyes as she said that things were fine.

“I need your eyes, girl.”

She reluctantly looked up at him, their height disparity on full display because she was wearing flat shoes rather than the heels she wore when she wasn’t working.

“What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “I think I’m wanting things I know I can’t have, is all. Don’t worry about it. It’s not your problem; it’s mine.”

“Wanting things like what?” King was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted to hear her say it.

She took in a breath then looked up at him boldly. “Things like being your girlfriend.”

King stiffened. “But we agreed…”

“I know what we agreed on. But we also agreed to be honest, and that’s honestly how I’m feeling.”

She looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry, King, I can’t control it. But I don’t have expectations. Just because I’m feeling a certain way doesn’t mean things have to change.”

“It doesn’t,” King lied. Her confession had changed everything. She could say that nothing would change, but deep down he knew that they would anyway. He could feel the tightening of his chest. Having a girlfriend meant being trapped. Even if that weren’t the case, King still wouldn’t know what the hell to do with a girlfriend if he had one. It’s not like his parents were a model of healthy relationship behaviors. And admittedly, if you looked up the definition of “girlfriend material” in the dictionary, there was probably a damn picture of Lila Jane fucking Alexander.

She deserved more than what he could give her. He’d always known that, but now? He knew what he had to do. His stomach dropped as the idea took shape in his mind. But he knew it was necessary.

Temporarily pushing the feeling away, he kissed her, hungrily, memorizing the shape of her body with his hands, the softness of her skin, all while knowing it would be the last time he’d be with her this way. What he had planned wasn’t going to be pretty or pleasant, but it would be what was for the best—for him, but especially for Lila.

Chapter 9

Lila sneakily checked her phone. It was Halloween night, and the dinner rush had hit early. Consequently, the restaurant was pretty quiet, with only a small smattering of older patrons and a few groups of teens. She saw a text notification from Vicky, who she knew was at the Halloween party Knight had mentioned last week. Her heart sank as she took the message and the photo in.

VICKY: Sorry, girl. Just thought you should see this.

The attached photo showed a shirtless King grinding on a tall blonde clad in lingerie and what looked to be some type of angel/fairy wings. Lila felt sick to her stomach. Even though she knew she had no real claim to him, she didn’t think that he was capable of being so carelessly cruel. Because they hadn’t just been physical with each other. They’d been friends, too.

When she’d left his place a week ago, she’d thought that things were fine. But when she didn’t hear from him at all, and when he left her congratulatory text about his away game win on “read” without replying, she had the sinking feeling that things were, in fact, the complete opposite of fine.

She couldn’t have imagined that he’d already have moved on to someone else, though. Not that they were together or anything…except they kind of had been, labels or not. They’d spent so much time together, it seemed implausible that he would have been seeing anyone other than her. The image felt like a knife to the ribs, and she desperately tried to tamp down her sudden tears.

“That scumbag,” Wren hissed over her shoulder as she took in the photo.

Lila’s breaths became more labored as she felt a few tears spill over.

“Seriously, Li, I want to cut off his balls and make him wear them as earrings. Nobody does this to my bestest and gets away with it.”

Lila laughed through her tears. “That was graphically violent and shockingly specific, my friend. But thank you for always having my back.”

“Always,” Wren affirmed. “In fact, we’re getting out of here, and you’re going to make this jerkface sorry he ever messed with you.”

“I don’t know about that…” Lila’s voice trailed off as Wren abruptly left the server station and headed back to their kitchen manager. Her grin was beatific when she returned. “Because it’s so slow, I just convinced Nick to let the both of us go home, and we don’t even have to do side work.”

“Just like that, huh?”

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