Page 19 of Endgame

“That information would have been useful to know before I let you put your hands all over my body. Inside my body.” Not to mention the number he’d done on her heart. Dammit, her stupid heart. She’d known better than this and had fallen anyway.

King just shrugged. Then, as quickly as she’d disappeared, the blonde was back, deftly sliding around Lila and repositioning herself on one of King’s toned thighs.

“We done here?” He smirked at Lila as he put his hands on the blonde’s ass and squeezed. Blondie giggled with delight, and Lila swallowed the bile that had accumulated in her throat.

Instead of answering, Lila turned on her heel and walked away, not even stopping when she passed Wren. Her friend’s long strides caught up with hers in no time, and soon, they’d exited the house, the cool autumn air a shock of a different kind.

She waited until they were in the car, Wren’s arms wrapped firmly around her, before she fell apart.

Chapter 10

Lila exited the RBG building and made her way to the Brad. She’d just finished her last final of the semester and breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, it had been an essay test, which was her personal favorite. She was a political science major with an English minor, and so she’d just gotten to write a paper about the intersection of American exceptionalism and toxic masculinity in 20th century literature. It was a blast.

In the time since her now legendary face-off with he who shall not be named, there was an unspoken agreement that she was granted joint custody of Knight and Jason, along with the rest of their friend group. She initially thought that they were going to all drop her too, but Knight made sure that didn’t happen. Jason, for all of his mischievous ways, also surprised her when he apologized for introducing her to King in the first place.

When she was still hanging out with King, she’d gotten into the habit of meeting up with them all for lunch. That continued, though she only made an appearance on the days that she knew King had class or would otherwise be away from that area of campus. Wren would also accompany her on the days their schedules aligned, which helped bolster Lila’s confidence.

She approached the table of the impossibly good-looking athletes, knowing that jealous eyes were upon her. The fact that the football team was playing in a major bowl game and the soccer team had the best record in their conference heading into the second half of the season were just two more reasons all of the players were getting even more attention from the student population.

Jason spotted her first. “Yo, Alexander! How was the final?”

She slid down in an empty seat between Will and Bear. “It went well, I think. I got to be all nerdy and analytical, which is basically my favorite thing in the entire universe.”

Jason chuckled and asked if she’d be willing to swap shifts at work. While they were working out logistics, a large disposable coffee cup, complete with lid and two skinny straws, was placed down in front of her. She smiled and glanced over her shoulder. “Hey, big bro.”

Knight smiled down at her. “A hazelnut hot chocolate with extra whip for my favorite little sis.” Then he rounded the table and took a seat.

She took a sip and moaned in delight. “You are officially my favorite person, Knight Donovan Patrick.”

He shot her a wink from across the table and then started talking bowl game strategy with Benny, one of the wide receivers. She sipped contentedly, catching snippets of conversations and contributing when engaged. She shot off a text to Wren, who was working a lunch shift, because they had plans to hit a movie after she got off work. The hairs on the back of her neck raised, and she sensed a shift in the energy around her. She looked over at Knight, his tense expression telling her everything she needed to know.

King Spencer was officially in the building. And there were no empty chairs to be found.

It had been over a month since that hellacious Halloween night, and the once-searing pain that had radiated in the center of Lila’s chest had tamped down to a dull ache. They’d managed to avoid each other up until now, and she knew that it was time to establish their new normal, to show him that she wasn’t going anywhere.

Everybody was watching the two of them to see what was going to happen, and before King could say anything, Lila picked up her drink and stood up. Then raised her eyebrow at Knight, hoping he’d pick up on what she was planning to do and be okay with it.

“This seat’s open,” she said over her shoulder as she made her way over to Knight. He patted his knee, and when she sat, he wrapped an arm around her waist. She didn’t spare King another glance as Knight and Benny roped her into a discussion about the best movies from the nineties.

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I’d say that Silence of the Lambs, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, and Pulp Fiction are all in my top ten. Ooh, and My Cousin Vinny.”

“Those cover a lot of bases, Li,” Knight laughed. “I never thought I’d hear Silence of the Lambs and 10 Things I Hate About You brought up in the same sentence.”

“Well, now you have.” Lila took another pull of her hot chocolate. “Hot damn, Knight, this is so effing good.”

“Only the best for you, Li. Besides, we’re celebrating. One more semester down, am I right? Also, thank you for taking the time to proof that paper for me. You are quite literally the best. I know I’m not the only one at the table who thinks so.”

Will, overhearing their conversation, chimed in. “Seriously, Lila, you saved my ass. I ended up getting a B+ on my humanities paper. Thanks so much for taking a look at it.”

“You’re very welcome, Will I Am.” Lila smiled. “It was the least I could do after all of the stats help. That is a class that I will not miss.” There were a couple of sympathetic rumbles from around the table because they’d been there, done that, plus that particular stats professor had a superiority complex and made the required general class absolutely miserable.

“But you’re still getting an A, right?” Knight bounced her a bit on his knee.

Lila pursed her lips. “Probably.”

“Atta girl. Look at you, going for that 4.0.”

“I mean, it might be an A minus. We’ll just have to see what the damn curve is,” Lila grunted. Because she really wanted that A. The last A minus she’d gotten was in the seventh grade, so she wanted to keep her streak alive.

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