Page 54 of Endgame

“Lila’s not here,” she said.

Knight grabbed the pillow and removed it from her face. “Say that again? Your voice was pretty muffled.”

“Never mind,” she groaned as she sat up.

Knight sat down on the edge of her bed and playfully hit her with her pillow. “Talk to me, Li.”

“I can’t, Knight.”

“C’mon.” He nudged her with his elbow. “I thought things were good between you and King now. I thought this would be a fun surprise. You don’t have to share your space with some random dude.”

Lila arranged her face into something she hoped resembled a smile. “You’re right. We’re like the best of buds right now. It’ll be a party. And I’ve got a whole drawer of ear plugs ready to go, so…we’re golden.”

Knight studied her intently for a minute. “So you’re telling me that you don’t have any more sexy feelings towards our new roommate, and you’re totally fine if he has sex with someone else within earshot?

“Yes?” Dammit, she’d made it sound like a question. This conversation was going downhill fast.

“Aw, babe. If you still have feelings for him, why don’t you tell him?”

She scoffed softly, her voice rising a note or two. “I so don’t. Besides, even if I did, hypothetically speaking, he’s made it abundantly clear that he just wants to be friends. Also, he’s the one who imploded everything before—twice—and I don’t know that I could ever trust that it wouldn’t happen again.”

Lila faked another smile. “And so it’s all fine. We’ve got a system already. It’s great. He can bang whomever he wants to bang.”

“Was the term ‘bang’ ever really a thing?”

“It is now.”

“Okay, Li. Whatever you say.” He kissed her on the forehead and then left her alone.

And she tried really, really hard not to cry tears of frustration. But failed quite miserably.

Chapter 29

It was a great morning for a football game. Due to Bradley U’s successful season last year, they’d secured a slot on ESPN’s College GameDay, which meant that the Bradley U Bulldogs had an earlier kickoff time than usual. King had come to tailgate with some of his teammates before they made their way to their seats right on the 50-yard line. He knew that Lila was planning on sitting by them and bringing her little sister, Layla, who was visiting for the weekend.

They’d officially been roommates for six days, not that he was counting or anything, and he didn’t think he’d ever forget the way she looked at him when she realized who she’d be sharing a bathroom with for the foreseeable future. It was shock and dread and sadness quickly masked by a friendly smile. And he saw, maybe for the first time, how much damage he’d caused the year before. She’d forgiven him, but there were, understandably, still scars underneath. When she suggested they set up a sexy time shower schedule? He almost lost his mind thinking about it. Because the only person he wanted in that damn shower with him was her.

Especially after their little act in the bookstore.

Shit, he’d almost forgotten how heady it was to touch her body, to breathe her in. The way she’d been able to perceive how uncomfortable he was and come to his rescue was hot as fuck. He’d had to veer off to calm his erection down like a 14-year-old boy.

He knew that Knight had gone in to talk to her, but he didn’t say anything to King except to say that both King and Lila needed to talk it out.

“Omigod, these seats are amaze!” an excited voice squeaked.

King turned his head toward the end of the row and saw Lila looking completely fuckable in a navy skater skirt and a cropped white tee. The girl next to her, who he assumed was Layla, couldn’t look more different from her sister if she tried. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and had definitely more of a tomboy style in cutoff jean shorts and an oversize striped tee.

Lila smiled at her sister as they made their way over to where King, Will, and Benny were sitting. “Hey guys. This is my sister, Layla. Layla, this is Benny, Will, and King.” They exchanged waves and even a “What’s up” from Benny.

Layla turned to her sister and loudly whispered, “Wait. King as in, like, the King?”

Lila quickly shushed her and then made a point to actually whisper in her sister’s ear so he couldn’t overhear the rest. But the fact of the matter was, she’d talked to her little sister about him. Interesting.

“Yup,” King rumbled with a knowing smile. “I’m the King, whatever that means.” He held out his hand for a fist bump, and Layla shot her sister an apologetic look as she returned the gesture, but Lila seemed surprisingly unruffled. She’d had the same exact affect around him the past few days they’d been living together, and he desperately wanted to know what was going on in that brain of hers.

“Layla’s just a huge soccer fan,” Lila said smoothly. “Right, sis?”

Layla nodded, a little too vigorously if you asked him. “Yup… I love all of the…kicking that happens.”

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