Chapter 8

" Y eah, right there," Lila moaned softly. "Ohhh, that feels so good, King. So. Good." Her head rolled back to rest on the arm of the couch as she continued to make soft, satisfied noises.

King laughed as he continued to rub the arch of her foot. They were at his place, her feet in his lap. She'd just gotten done with a double shift and hadn't sat down once in that entire 12 hours, so he offered to rub her feet.

"For real, King, if the whole soccer thing doesn't work out for you, I think you just might be able to make a career out of massage therapy, with an emphasis on feet."

"I'll keep that in mind," he deadpanned. They'd been hanging out a lot the past few weeks, carving out time for each other around their busy schedules. In addition to school, Lila worked at least 30 hours a week, and King was in the middle of fall soccer season. His very sexy make-out buddy had come to most of the home games, usually with Wren in tow. He liked having her there, a lot, and appreciated that she didn't try to get all over him in public like a lot of the other girls he'd hooked up with. The ones who came wearing his jersey, acting like he was going to wife them up or something. Though, he wouldn't exactly mind if Lila showed up to a game wearing his jersey.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to your game today." Lila's voice broke him out of his head. "But I saw your stats. A hat trick, huh?"

"Second hat trick in a row, if we're being technical about it."

"So modest."

"That's me, Mr. Humility." He started rubbing her calves, eliciting even more groans.

"Humble and so good with your hands," Lila breathed.

"And my fingers." King looked at her knowingly as she blushed. He loved making her blush. Which wasn't happening quite as often, as she was becoming bolder and bolder with her sexuality. They hadn't had sex yet, but he'd become very familiar with her perfect tits and had made her come with his fingers many times. He was desperate to try with his tongue. They were taking things slow-ish.

Normally, if a girl wasn't into the whole sex thing, there'd be no hard feelings or pressure, but King would've moved on to someone else who was into a casual one-time thing. He'd never invested this kind of time, nor had he gotten to know a girl the way he'd gotten to know Lila. Because they didn't just fool around. They talked. For hours. They talked and laughed, and he found himself telling her things he hadn't thought he'd tell anyone. He wanted her to know him, and in turn, he wanted to know her, too.

"How are things with the un-ironically named Becky?" King asked. They usually spent time at his place because Lila's roommate was kind of a nightmare. Plus, King had his own room, so they could have privacy when they wanted it.

"Ugh." Lila covered her face with her hands. "She threw out my cashew milk and Vicky's cow's milk yesterday because she said that she couldn't have her soy milk near any other kind of milk."

"Seriously?"

"Yup," Lila groaned. "Then she forgot that she'd scheduled dates with both Andy and Joe at the same time, so there was fist fighting involved. Actually, it was more like spirited slapping, but you get the idea."

King chuffed out a laugh at that image. "You really need to move."

"Tell me about it. If I could get out of my contract early, I would. Stupid off-campus housing rules."

"Which thankfully don't apply to athletes," King ribbed.

She threw a cushion at his face. "Thanks for rubbing it in. I super appreciate it."

"Anytime."

The front door opened, and Knight and one of his roommates, a giant defensive lineman aptly named Bear, came through the door. Knight zeroed in on Lila and grinned widely.

"Little sister!"

She turned her head to him and smiled. "Hey big bro. How's the bye-week treating you?"

"Well, look at you becoming a super sports fan. So proud of you, Li. I feel like our imaginary shared parents would definitely approve."

"Just soccer and football for me, thanks. Baseball and I still have to go through some counseling together. And basketball would be much better if they still wore those mid-thigh-length shorts from the 80s." She waggled her eyebrows as Knight and Bear laughed.

Now that it was firmly established that Lila and Knight's relationship was entirely platonic, King wasn't as bothered by their friendly dynamic. He didn't feel as threatened as he had in the beginning, which was a relief because Knight was one of his closest friends.

Lila sat up and removed her feet from King's lap, crawling over to sit next to him. He slid an arm around her waist and rearranged her right on his lap. He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger absentmindedly.

"You guys wanna come sit?" King asked, even as his friends were taking the empty space that Lila had just abandoned.

Before long, Lila had everybody laughing their asses off as she shared some server horror stories from her shifts that day. When she got up to go to the bathroom, Bear nudged King in the ribs.

"Seriously, dude, your girlfriend is super fun. You've gotta hold on to that one; she's like a unicorn. Beautiful, funny, smart. You lucky bastard."

For some reason, the word girlfriend rubbed him the wrong way. It was a box, and he didn't want to feel trapped inside. "She's not my girlfriend. We're just hanging out."

He avoided the glare he knew was coming from Knight's direction, because, well, he already knew what his friend thought about his whole anti-girlfriend stance. Especially since Lila was involved.

"Suuuuuure," Bear scoffed. "You were just rubbing her damn feet. Playing with her hair. You're booed up and loving it."

"For real, man. I don't do girlfriends. They expect too much. This is just for fun, nothing serious."

Knight cleared his throat, drawing King's attention to Lila, who'd come back out from the bathroom. Based on the fact that her smile seemed forced and didn't reach her eyes, he could tell she'd heard some, if not all, of what he'd just said. But that's what they'd agreed to, right? She'd said she was okay without labels. So why would she be upset?

Her expression did strange things to his insides. Like he didn't want to be responsible for causing it, but he also suddenly felt trapped.

"You coming to the Halloween extravaganza this weekend, sis?" Knight asked as she moved to sit back down next to King.

"Unfortunately, my boss wouldn't let me take the night off." She rolled her eyes. "So, unless by some miracle I get cut early, I probably won't make it."

"You should have told him you were personally invited by the star athletes of both the football and soccer teams."

"Believe me, I tried," she groaned. "I even had a costume ready to go." She shrugged. "Oh well. I can always save it for next year."

"Holding you to that." Knight pointed at her. He was a junior this year, so he'd be around for next year's party. And although King was technically a senior, he was planning on still being around too, taking an extra year so he could play his last season of soccer. And hell, another year of school meant that his double major of economics and computer science would make him a more marketable candidate for an MBA, provided he didn't get drafted to an MLS team.

Later, when King was walking Lila to her car, he noticed she still seemed off. Before she could open her door, he boxed her in against the side of it. "Everything okay, La?"

She avoided his eyes as she said that things were fine.

"I need your eyes, girl."

She reluctantly looked up at him, their height disparity on full display because she was wearing flat shoes rather than the heels she wore when she wasn't working.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I think I'm wanting things I know I can't have, is all. Don't worry about it. It's not your problem; it's mine."

"Wanting things like what?" King was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted to hear her say it.

She took in a breath then looked up at him boldly. "Things like being your girlfriend."

King stiffened. "But we agreed…"

"I know what we agreed on. But we also agreed to be honest, and that's honestly how I'm feeling."

She looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, King, I can't control it. But I don't have expectations. Just because I'm feeling a certain way doesn't mean things have to change."

"It doesn't," King lied. Her confession had changed everything. She could say that nothing would change, but deep down he knew that they would anyway. He could feel the tightening of his chest. Having a girlfriend meant being trapped. Even if that weren't the case, King still wouldn't know what the hell to do with a girlfriend if he had one. It's not like his parents were a model of healthy relationship behaviors. And admittedly, if you looked up the definition of "girlfriend material" in the dictionary, there was probably a damn picture of Lila Jane fucking Alexander.

She deserved more than what he could give her. He'd always known that, but now? He knew what he had to do. His stomach dropped as the idea took shape in his mind. But he knew it was necessary.

Temporarily pushing the feeling away, he kissed her, hungrily, memorizing the shape of her body with his hands, the softness of her skin, all while knowing it would be the last time he'd be with her this way. What he had planned wasn't going to be pretty or pleasant, but it would be what was for the best—for him, but especially for Lila.