Page 59 of Sidelined Love

Despite being new to the game, he quickly demonstrates a knack for anticipating my moves. When I capture one of his pawns with my knight, he responds by putting my king in checkwith his queen. I'm impressed by how quickly he's picking up on things.

“You're a fast learner,” I remark as I block his check.

“I have a good teacher,” he replies without a second thought.

I bite my lip and shake my head, choosing to focus on our game. I counterattack, putting his king in checkmate. “Checkmate in fifteen moves. Not bad at all,” I say.

Levi grins. “Ready for another round so I can try to beat my new record?”

“If that's what you want to do,” I say before sticking a piece of brownie in my mouth.

He laughs, a genuine and carefree sound. “If there's one thing you should know about me, I'm not one to give up easily.”

I absolutely believe that. With him not being turned off by my snarkiness or my pushing him away, he must have the patience of a saint.

Levi moves first this time, pushing his king's pawn into the center of the board. We fall into a rhythm that feels natural and any nerves I had when I first arrived are long gone.

As we play, I realize that despite my reservations about getting involved with someone like Levi because of his popularity, I'm beginning to appreciate the person he is beyond the image. His humor when he feigns shock at my aggressive moves, his gentle way of teasing when I take too long to decide on a move, all of it is calming to me. It's beginning to feel more and more normal.

“You know,” Levi says after I've taken one of his knights, “I was reading up on chess after our last lesson. Did you know they call it the game of kings?”

I snort lightly. “Yeah, because historically, it was played by nobility or because of the king chess piece. What are you trying to say? That you're king material?”

“Well,” he draws out the word with a playful smirk. “Considering my last name is Jamison and James means supplanter, which could loosely be interpreted as one who takes over, a king isn't too far-fetched.”

I laugh harder than I probably should have at his logic. I don't remember the last time I laughed this hard, and the grin on Levi's face only grows. “I'll remember not to underestimate King Levi when it comes to chess then.”

“Don't underestimate me when it comes to anything. I know what I want, and I go after what I want full stop.”

His words send a shiver down my spine, and I can't help but think about what it might be like when we finally give in to the tension that is coursing between the two of us.

The game continues and this time it stretches longer as Levi becomes more cautious with his moves. When we finally conclude our second game, he manages to extend his record to twenty-five moves. But what's interesting to me is that after our conversation and subsequent chess lesson, the energy around us is more friendly and, at least in my opinion, our connection has grown stronger.

“It's getting late,” Levi comments as we pack up the chess set. “Thanks for sticking around for a couple of games.”

“It was fun,” I admit truthfully. Part of me didn't want to leave, and that's when another thought came to my mind. “When are you going to be able to help me with the chess event at Oak Terrace?”

Levi pauses his movements for a moment as he processes the question. “Yeah, we need to do that. How about we meet up at either your place or mine in the next couple of weeks?”

I pull out my phone and start looking through my calendar. “When do you have an evening free? I'm working several early shifts this week. Why don't we meet at your place?” Thelast thing I need is for Jade to see Levi walking around our apartment.

“What about two Thursdays from now?”

“I can come over after chess club.”

“That would be perfect. Why don't I also fix dinner for us if you think you'll be hungry.”

I tilt my head and stare directly into his eyes. “This is beginning to sound more like a date.”

“And what if it is? Do you have a problem with that?”

I smile for what feels like the millionth time since I came here. “Not a one.”

24

HAILEY

Ineed to stop staring at my phone. It's doing nothing but getting me into trouble. I can't take my eyes off it for longer than a few minutes because of Levi. We've been texting back and forth since we talked about what happened at Sapphire Tavern a couple of weeks ago, and tonight is the night I'm going over to his place to talk about what I envision for the event at Oak Terrace.

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