Page 52 of Endgame

She reluctantly took a step back, and King dropped his hands. “Sorry about throwing that whole scenario at you. But I figured it was better than getting mauled by a group of superfans.”

“I mean, I think we did a great job at improv just then, and I am very grateful for the save.”

“And to think I was initially planning to just slink away and leave you to your own devices.”

He shuddered. “Super glad you chose option B.”

“Happy to help.” They wound their way over to the registers. “I’m closing tonight, so you’re more than welcome to come over later and partake in all the free food gloriousness.”

King pursed his lips. “As tempting as that sounds, I’m actually busy tonight. But I appreciate the invitation.”

“Got a hot date or something?” Lila word vomited, because she was actively trying not to think about all the ways she’d been “busy” with King in the past. She definitely didn’t want to think about him being “busy” with anyone else. But friends talked about this kind of stuff, right? So she needed to toughen up if she wanted to make this whole platonic thing work.

“Or something,” King replied, the left corner of his mouth curved into a sort of half smile. Then he slung an arm around her and pulled her into his body. “The groupies just looked over here,” he whispered into her ear.

“Ah. So our exercise in improv continues.”

“At least until we exit the bookstore, apparently.” King chuckled. “There’s some pretty hardcore hate-staring happening. All directed at you, of course.”

“Internalized misogyny strikes again,” Lila remarked solemnly. “Next thing you know, everybody will blame me if you don’t score a goal every game.”

“Forget people like that. I’ve had people try to control me and tell me how to live my life from the time I was born. I’ve got zero fucks left for that kind of bullshit.”

King dropped his arm so Lila could pay for her book, and then she hung out when he paid for his. They walked outside side by side, eyes alert for the approach of any more rabid fans.

“Looks like the coast is clear,” Lila remarked. “See ya around, King. Thanks for the two-minute quickie fake relationship.”

King’s forehead furrowed, just slightly, and then he nodded, giving her a little mock salute and an almost smile before walking off in the opposite direction.

Chapter 28

Billie Eilish’s latest was playing as Lila gave the bathroom counter one last swipe with a Clorox wipe. Admittedly, the bathroom was pretty clean already, but she wanted to make sure that everything was in perfect order for when her new, mysterious roommate showed up. She just prayed he’d be amenable to putting the seat down.

She’d put all of her toiletries and hair-styling implements in one of the two drawers and ensured that all of her shower stuff was in a caddy underneath the sink closest to her bedroom. There was a double vanity, a toilet and a pretty decent-sized walk-in shower, all decorated with light-gray subway tile and white granite. She’d spent a little money on new, fluffy, dove gray hand towels and some of her favorite hand soap for each sink. Not like most guys would even notice, but she did it anyway.

Lila also nervously double checked that she’d taken her vibrator out of the shower. One of the double-edged swords of “dating” King was that she realized that she had a pretty high sex drive. Which would be great if she were having sex on the reg, which she was definitely not. Besides the failed attempt to date Eli, Lila hadn’t gone out with or hooked up with anyone else.

It wasn’t like she didn’t get the occasional number slipped to her at work or that she didn’t notice the interest in some of Knight and Bear’s friends’ eyes. But she couldn’t fake it if she felt zero sparks. Especially now because she knew how potent chemistry between two people could be. So she was content to wait it out until she found someone she felt something for. Thus, all the sex toys, which were now stored in a shoe box underneath her bed.

Satisfied that the bathroom was in good shape, Lila headed back into her room, turned off the music, and made sure the deadbolt lock on her side of her bathroom door worked.

Check.

Such a nice feature, really. The handle locked from the inside of the bathroom, and the deadbolt locked the door from the other side.

Lila scanned her room. She’d gotten new bedding for her bigger bed when she moved in and picked a linen rose-colored bedspread with crisp white sheets. She’d hung up a full-length mirror on her closet door, and three poster-sized framed line drawings of abstract female nudes that she’d commissioned Dani to draw for her before she graduated with her degree in fine art on the wall. Even though Lila had only lived there a few months, she felt more at home in this room than she did when she visited her childhood bedroom.

She moved over to her desk and took stock of all of her textbooks. School was starting in a week, and she felt ready to start her last year. And even though some would say that graduating in three years was a little over the top, she wanted to get a jump start on graduate school, whether it was law school or something else. Hell, some people took a gap year before even starting college; she was just going to take one at the end instead.

The rumbling of male voices and the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs was muffled, but she could only assume it was her new roommate. She suddenly felt nervous, unsure of how to play the situation. She’d been getting better at dealing with her social awkwardness and shyness. The more she practiced being outgoing, the more outgoing she became. But she felt tongue-tied and awkward and almost gave in to the inclination to hide herself away in her room.

Chiding herself, she sucked in a breath and walked out of her room and down the hall to say hello.

She heard Knight’s uproarious laughter through the partially open door. He seemed to be talking to the new roomie, so she knocked before pushing the door open a little farther until the mystery guy’s face was visible.

Her eyes widened as she took in the form of one King Spencer. He caught her gawking and half smiled. “Hey, La.”

“Surprise!” Knight exclaimed, about giving Lila heart failure.

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