1. Lea

Chapter one

Lea

Saturday, November 30, 2024

I t’s the first time since high school that I’ve lived anywhere that wasn’t with Mona, but I knew when Grant asked me to help with the proposal that the time would be coming soon.

It makes sense. Mona’s nothing if not practical, and as much as she loves Grant, she would never marry someone without living with them first. She likes things a certain way, and they should find out sooner rather than later whether they’re as compatible under the same roof as they are elsewhere.

Regardless of all that, I can still feel my heart thumping violently against my ribs as I make my way up to the third floor of Liam’s apartment. Or at least what used to be his apartment.

Evidently, when Mona decided to move out, she also refused to let me figure it out on my own. I got a call from my brother the same night that she told me she was planning to move in with Grant. Liam said that Kai had been struggling to make rent since he left last month, and he was convinced that us moving in together would be the perfect solution.

I halt in my tracks, mere feet from the door, when I hear a familiar voice billowing through it.

“No, Liam! You know exactly why she can’t fucking be here!” Kai all but screeches from the other side of the door.

My grip tightens on my luggage handle, and I can’t help but shift on my feet, apprehension freely flowing through me. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but I hadn’t realized Kai had this much of a problem with me.

“Kai, come on, man. You’re being unreasonable. She’s going to be here any second. Please don’t let her hear you like this,” Liam pleads quietly.

Too late .

I can’t bring myself to interrupt, so here I stand, embarrassed, confused, and annoyed.

I could’ve found my own damn place. I definitely didn’t need to move in with Kai, of all people, but no . Liam convinced me I’d be doing both of them a favor.

I guess this goes to show that was a fucking lie.

“No, Liam. I can’t do this. You know I can’t,” he says. His last words sound small and defeated. It almost makes me feel bad for him.

Almost, but not quite. He’s still an ass.

I hear whispered words between them, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.

Just as I’m about to raise my fist and knock, the door swings open, slamming against the wall behind it. Kai’s dark eyes narrow as he takes me in, fists clenched at his side while he storms past me.

“Nice to see you too,” I mumble sarcastically, rolling my luggage behind me.

Liam’s brows shoot up his forehead when he sees me amble through the doorway. “Hey!” he shouts, his voice high-pitched, and he sounds a little too excited to see me.

He doesn’t wait for me to respond or even put my things down before his arms wrap around me in a crushing hug.

“I’ve missed you!” he says, his voice sounding off.

He finally releases me, and I take a step back, letting go of my suitcase.

“Liam,” I say, my voice acting as a warning that he’s about to get his ass handed to him.

“Please, Lea. Please , don’t start. I wasn’t lying—he does need you to take my place. He can’t afford it on his own. He’s got a lot of personal shit going on with his mom that he wants to keep pretending isn’t happening, but it is. He doesn’t like talking about it, and you’ve known him your whole life. You know he never asks anyone for help.” He grips the meaty part of my arms, his eyes pleading with me. “Just do this for me, okay?”

This motherfucker.

I groan loudly, unwilling to let him get off scot-free. “Liam, if he doesn’t want me here, neither of us,” I say, pointing between us, “can make the decision for him. He needs to be the one to decide this. For himself. ”

Liam hangs his head, rubbing the back of his neck as he releases a long sigh. “I hate it when you’re right,” he says with a groan. When he looks back up to meet my eyes, a pair of twin emeralds that mirror my own shine back at me with so much hope in them. “Just let me talk to him one more time before you leave, okay? Now that he’s had some time to cool off, yeah?”

“Fine,” I agree, dragging my luggage to Liam’s old room. “But I’ve got to get to practice, and I’m not dragging my shit back downstairs beforehand, so he’s just gonna have to deal with me taking up space in your old room for the day.”

“I’ll let you know what he ends up deciding before you get done at practice.”

Mona and I sit beside each other on the locker room bench, drenched in sweat with our chests heaving.

My muscles are fatigued as hell, and I feel a twinge of a headache coming on. “You have an electrolyte packet in your bag?” I ask Mona, and she nods, bending forward to rifle around in her duffel. When she finds one, she tosses it to me.

“Thanks.” I nod at her, pouring it into what’s left of my water.

“I’ll order another—” she says, her words getting cut off mid-thought. “Shit, I guess I won’t order another box for the apartment.”

My heart sinks just the smallest bit. “It’s fine. I’ll pick some up on my way back to Liam’s.”

She raises a dark brow at me as she stands to undress for a shower, now that we’ve caught our breath.

“And how’s that going? Kai okay with you moving in?”

I roll my eyes at her. “No, apparently, Liam hadn’t even asked him, so I had the immense displeasure of arriving to hear them bickering like an old married couple. I knew Kai was never my biggest fan, but I guess I never realized just how much he can’t stand me.”

Her brows pinch together, confusion written plainly on her face. “Lea, I think you’re delusional. That man looks at you like he wants to eat you for all three meals and snacks in between.”

“Now who’s the delusional one?” I ask, rolling my eyes as I get up to head to the showers.

“Clearly, still you. I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for why he wouldn’t want you living with him. Hell, maybe he doesn’t think he’ll be able to keep his hands off of you,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Yeah, don’t think that’s it,” I say with a laugh. Thankfully, our conversation is cut short as we enter our separate stalls by our teammate’s voices that are too loud to speak over the partition.

By the time I make it back to my car, Liam’s left me two voicemails and six texts. All of which tell me that Kai has “gotten over himself” and is “happy to have me.” Which I’m certain are Liam’s words, not Kai’s.

I shake my head, toss my phone in the passenger seat, and head back to the apartment. I’ll have to take Liam’s word for it because, as it stands, I don’t have anywhere else to go anyway.