Chapter 29

I t 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."

Lila stifled a laugh as they both settled into their seats. King had arranged it so that she was sitting next to him.

They all made small talk until it was time for kickoff, and then they all got caught up in the game. Lila pointed out Knight, Bear, Demarcus, and their other friends on the team, and Layla seemed to have a better grasp of the game than Lila had when she first started coming.

Lila more than made up for that now. " Come on, Knight! " she yelled when he held onto the ball and ran instead of passing it and swerved away from a potential tackle. When he crossed into the end zone, they all jumped up to cheer. King watched as she took a video of Knight's victory dance and then furiously started typing as she sat back down.

He did the same, right as she looked up and noticed that he was watching her and gave him her eyebrow face. "I'm sending it to Wren," she explained, and then her focus shifted back to her phone.

"So they're still talking?" King couldn't help but be curious. Normally he and Knight could talk about everything, but this was one instance where, beyond what they'd initially talked about, Knight was acting like Fort Knox with his version of events.

Lila hummed. "I plead the fifth." Then she shifted her gaze to his. "Honestly, I've mostly been staying out of it, so I don't really know. All I know is that she doesn't get mad at me when I do this kind of thing."

"As long as she doesn't hurt him again." King's tone came out harsher than he'd intended. "Because he was a mess."

Lila wrinkled her nose. "Who do you think got rid of all of those takeout containers?"

King glanced at her in surprise. He hadn't realized she'd been the one to clean his room. He should have, though. It made perfect sense, because that was just the kind of thing that Lila would do.

"Also, and I'm saying this because we're friends now, you don't know shit about what happened. They've each got some demons, and they both have to figure it out."

King felt appropriately chastened. "You're right, sorry. That came out harsher than I meant it to."

"Thanks. And I get it. It's Knight, and he's the best. For what it's worth, I think the universe will find a way of working things out. If that makes sense."

"Not really." King mimicked her eyebrow face. "But I'll take your word for it."

"Smart man."

"Not always." He couldn't help the feelings of remorse that crept in when he thought about how poorly he'd treated her. How he'd had this wonderful woman who was intelligent, beautiful, kind, and sexy as hell, and he thought it was a good idea to push her away. Twice. He didn't know what the future held for them, but he knew with a sinking certainty that he'd regret what he'd done for the rest of his life.

"You got pensive all of the sudden." Lila nudged him with her elbow. "Doing okay?"

"Just regretting how awful I was to you last year," he confessed. Her eyes widened in surprise. "It just hits me all at once sometimes. The regret."

"Not everything about last year was awful," Lila murmured as she turned her head to look at him. "In fact, some of it was wonderful. A lot of it was wonderful, actually."

"Hard agree," King said, nostalgia hitting him right in the gut.

Lila shifted her focus back to the football field. "When I decided to accept your apology, I made the decision to hold on to the good and let go of the bad. Otherwise our friendship would have never had a chance."

"I'm glad you gave us a chance, La."

"Same. I guess it's a good thing that you're pretty great at apologizing." She lowered her voice so only he could hear her. "Plus, you made me come twice my first time. I'm pretty sure you get major brownie points forever just for that."

"Did you just…" King was speechless. Also turned on.

"Bring up the fact that we've spent sexy naked time together? Yup. I mean, it's a thing that happened, so it's silly to pretend it didn't."

"It is definitely a thing that happened. Many times," King managed to grind out even as he tried to surreptitiously adjust himself.

Lila just smirked and turned her attention back to her sister. "Want a soft pretzel, sis? Maybe a churro? I'm hungry."