Page 37 of Endgame

“Aaron, as in her ex, Aaron?”

Knight nodded.

“During sex?”

Knight nodded again with a wince.

“Well, damn.”

“Yeah.” Knight sniffed. “And then the fucker actually had the balls to call her right after, super high and confused. Which is awful, obviously, because he needs help.”

He sucked in another breath before continuing. “I helped her find him and get him back to his parents’ house. But afterwards, she just shut down. Didn’t acknowledge what she’d said or what happened between us. It was like it was nothing. Like we were nothing.”

His friend drew in a shaky breath. “I think I love her, man. But it’s obvious she’s not ready for that. She’s dealing with her own shit. I think things might be too complicated and fucked up for it to ever work out. She’s leaving next week, and I just… I feel like shit about all of it. And it’s been hard for me to deal with. I didn’t think that love could make you feel so damn miserable.”

King could empathize. He wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone. “I’m sorry, Knight, really. I feel your pain. But maybe her leaving will give her the time to get over her shit while you get over yours.” He shrugged. “I have to believe that a guy as good as you has good things coming his way.”

Knight’s smile was small, but it was there. “King Spencer, I think that behind that asshole exterior of yours is a pretty decent human being.”

“Yeah, well, don’t tell anybody, okay? I’ve got fear to instill and people to push away.”

“People like Lila.”

King grunted in frustration. “You know that’s different. I’m not the kind of person who deserves a happy ending. Especially not now.”

This wasn’t the first time they’d talked about it. King had tried to explain everything to Knight the evening his friend had given him a well-deserved black eye, but it had been difficult to verbalize. Knight was aware of how dysfunctional King’s family was, but that night, King shared just how much that dysfunction had messed with him, too.

“She deserves so much more than a guy with a fucked-up family who wouldn’t know a functional relationship if it punched him in the face. Pun intended,” King had remarked wryly as Knight grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and tossed it in his direction.

Knight had pinched the bridge of his nose and looked skyward for a moment. “King, you were already in a relationship with her, whether or not you choose to admit it, and it seemed like things were pretty damn great when you weren’t making a point of acting like an asshole.”

“I need her to hate me. It makes it easier for me to stay away.”

Knight blew out a frustrated gust of air. “Look, I care about both of you, King. But you hurt her, so much. And you’re hurting yourself, too. It doesn’t make any sense. You two are so good together.” He shook his head. “Look, I can’t get in the middle of this anymore. This is between the two of you. But I’ll keep punching you if you keep acting like a dick. And if you keep making her cry.”

“Fair,” King had conceded, even as his stomach bottomed out. He hated himself for making Lila cry.

As he went to leave, Knight had turned around and said one final thing: “I hope one of these days you stop getting in your own way, King. Because you are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for.”

As if Knight knew where King’s brain went, he repeated his words from that night, verbatim, thanks to his perfect memory.

King smirked. “So you’ve said before.”

Knight’s expression turned determined. “We’re going to be okay, King. Both of us. We’re going to figure our shit out.”

King glanced at the clock. “And make it to our final on time.”

“Yeah, also that.”

“If you do better on this than me without actually studying, I’ll kick your ass,” King joked.

“You can certainly try,” Knight replied with a smile, some of the former brightness returning to his face.

It was then that King had the sense that, at least for Knight, things would eventually be okay.

Chapter 20

The locker room was charged with a combination of testosterone and anticipation as King and his teammates readied themselves to take the field to play for the NCAA Championship. Bradley U’s team had played nearly flawlessly during the season, but they were up against the reigning champs, the same team they’d fallen to in the semis last year.

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