Prologue

King Spencer wasn't the most patient person in the world. Perhaps it was because, even as a junior, he was one of Bradley University's star soccer players and was thus used to there being an entire group of hangers-on anxious to ensure that his needs were being met. Or perhaps it was a by-product of his overly privileged upbringing, where there'd been a revolving door of nannies and the occasional housekeeper who all had a vested interest in keeping King's father happy by keeping his only child entertained and thereby out of his hair.

Or maybe it was because he was a grumpy motherfucker whose affect was as fuzzy as a desert full of cacti.

At any rate, it was probably a good thing that dear old dad had cut him off today. King hated the smarmy bastard anyway, and he had the benefit of a full-ride athletic scholarship as well as the money he'd saved while working when he was in middle and high school. Turned out his modest investments had brought about slightly un-modest returns, so King had enough to support himself, at least for the next couple of years. Plus, anything that came from Solomon Spencer always had strings attached.

Just ask King's mother.

King was currently not so patiently waiting for his friend/roommate/teammate, Jason, to wrap up his shift at one of the local restaurants that were all within close proximity to Bradley U. He was sitting at one of the booths in Jason's section, sipping a comped raspberry lemonade (because he didn't drink any soda or alcohol during the season) as his friend cleaned up his now closed-down section of the restaurant.

He could hear Jason's spirited voice teasing and flirting from the wait station. People typically didn't know what to make of the two when they hung out together. Jason, with the mischievous glint in his blue eyes, gregarious and loud, and King, dark-eyed, quiet unless he demanded to be heard, inscrutable, and impassive unless he was on the soccer field. It was a wonder they hit it off at all. But King was also fiercely loyal, and he guessed his friends put up with all of his other bullshit because they knew he'd always have their backs.

King stretched his long legs so that they were perched on the bench across from him and took another sip of his drink.

That's when he saw her.

She was young, maybe a freshman, possibly a sophomore. Her shiny dark hair was expertly woven into a long braid that fell past the middle of her back. Clad in a black T-shirt with the silver restaurant logo printed on it tucked into a pair of high-waisted jeans, she made her way over to refill the salad bar. The shy smile that she flashed at a customer as she waited for them to finish up struck some sort of a nerve deep within King's chest.

He liked it and he hated it all at the same time.

When she was finished, she disappeared behind an "Employees Only" swinging door, and King breathed out a sigh that lived somewhere in the gray area between relief and disappointment. As he continued to wait, he was definitely not watching for the girl to reappear, nor was he thinking about brushing or braiding her lustrous hair, because that would be weird as fuck. King was more of a hair puller than a hair braider, anyway.

Jason finished up soon after, and as they made their way to King's car, King briefly thought about asking about the girl he'd seen. He assumed that Jason knew who she was; the restaurant wasn't that big. But something stopped him from speaking. Self-preservation, maybe? Or perhaps it was his overarching assholery? He was inclined to believe the latter but had the sinking suspicion it might be the former.

Before he could dwell on it any further, King shut it all down in his mind. He'd come to pick up his friend, and that was the end of it. The girl, her smile, her damn hair , weren't anything to be preoccupied with. It was just a strange moment at the end of a strange day.

So, in spite (or because?) of the weird pull he'd felt and the disconcerting appearance of something that bordered on an emotional response that had occurred that day, he didn't step foot in that restaurant again for another year.

When he did? The innocent-looking girl with the shiny braid and the shy smile would become a part of him in ways he couldn't even fathom.