Against the Rules (Even The Score #4)

94. willow

CHAPTER 94

WILLOW

NEVER WOULD I HAVE EVER

At six in the morning, I was more dead than alive, sitting bleary-eyed in a chair while Piper did my makeup before the first football game of the season.

"No one should be alive at this hour," I mumbled, gazing straight into the face of someone I wouldn’t have recognized at the beginning of the summer. With my hair in a curly half-updo, I wore a Romans jersey and my lips shined with dark blue lipstick. I was a walking Marrs University endorsement.

"Guess what?" Kassie asked, gazing at me through the mirror’s reflection. "One of the guys filmed King’s speech."

" Huh? " I whipped back, all tiredness forgotten.

I heard all about the speech that King gave this morning but I didn’t actually get to see it. I hovered above Kassie’s phone while other football girlfriends came over from their places getting ready, everyone smushed in to see my boyfriend, talking to his teammates in the locker room.

Oh my god.

He looked so good .

Telling them how important today was as the first game of the season. Confident, poised, he motioned to the crowd of football players around him and pride welled up inside me.

"That’s my boyfriend," I sang, sticking out my tongue with a grin.

There was a knock on the door. One of Cleo’s replacements stuck their head in. "Willow? King’s requesting you."

I waved at the girls on my way out, to see the man who cheered the loudest for me at Gianna’s when I found out I aced the Shbair audition and the one who undoubtedly had my heart. But when I came to the hallway where we were supposed to meet, nobody was there.

"King?" I called, scanning both sides that would be packed in a few hours.

"Angel."

The single word echoed to me and I glanced over my shoulder to see him . In a dark suit for pictures before the actual game, his hair tousled, his intense eyes on me, as he kept up the steady walk in my direction, opening the nearest door, and sweeping me inside to…

A storage closet.

I didn’t have time to giggle before he hit the lights and we were bathed in darkness. His lips brushed against mine and I could feel the excitement pouring off of him.

"You came ."

I smiled into the next kiss, shaking my head. "You have such low expectations for me."

"I didn’t know if you’d…" His words trailed off before he kissed me again, wrapping his arms around my waist. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Aren’t you supposed to be doing captain obligations?"

"I needed to see you first." His fingers brushed against my neck before something clasped into place, a necklace. I touched it, unable to see it without the lights, and King kissed me again, eager, happy kisses, leaving me breathless.

"What is this?" I finally pulled away to ask.

"You’ll see," he murmured. "I couldn’t hide it in my dorm, I knew you’d find it. I’ve been keeping it in my locker. Wait thirty seconds, okay? I love you."

With a laugh, I wished him good luck as he slipped out of the storage closet and I turned on the lights the moment he left, back to where he was supposed to be. Thirty seconds so people wouldn’t think we were making out in a closet. Hilarious.

I whipped out my phone and stared at the screen, checking out the new gift on my neck, a jade and gold necklace.

Aw…King.

I thumbed the metal, my heart melting. How happy can a girl be? Giddy with endless happiness at my boyfriend who was so…so…

I stared at my lips. They’d been a dark, glistening blue from before but now the color was partly gone, down to a dull shade. My eyes flickered to the door.

Oh, shit .

"King!" I rushed out of the storage closet, hurrying down the hallway. " King! "

A door closed somewhere up ahead and I raced down the hallways, searching for him, until I stumbled into one of the few people who could help me. Adam, also in a suit.

"Adam—Adam—Adam?—"

"Huh? What?"

I gestured wildly towards my face. "Where’s King? He has my lipstick smeared all over him?—"

His eyes widened in recognition. " Shit . I just saw him, hold on?—"

The two of us headed off together and Adam easily outpaced me, stumbling to a stop by one of the railings, where we could clearly see King walking up to the other captains and the photographers, readying themselves for pictures.

"I got him!" Adam hurried over and I watched, mouth agape, as he grabbed King by the shoulder and yanked him back. King grunted before Adam whirled around to look at me. "I don’t have a napkin!"

A sigh echoed and I could see Dan step out from the photographers, his gaze sliding back to me. "Does anyone have a napkin for King?"

The blush burned bright on my skin while King’s eyes flickered to mine and I gestured towards my lips. The realization dawned on his face and he blushed bright red while a photographer passed him a makeup wipe. The bright blue lipstick was smeared over his lips but finally he wiped it away and Dan gave him a long look.

"Alright," he said finally. "Time for pictures."

I wasn’t supposed to come down this way but now that they had me, the photographers waved me closer and I took hesitant steps, busted. But Dan didn’t say anything about it. All he did was pose with his captains while I hung on the sidelines with Adam.

"Willow?" Dan nodded towards King. "Did you want a photo?"

That was his way of extending an olive branch. I flushed with pleasure and made my way next to King, next to my boyfriend who looked so damn good in his suit. But before we could take a picture, I held up a hand.

"Dan, you want to join us for one?"

For a couple of seconds, Dan hesitated, before he slipped off his Romans cap and stood on the other side of me. I relaxed against the railing and smiled for the cameras while they flashed, capturing me, King, and Dan.

Perfect .

They had to leave to get ready and I went back to the girls before we found our seats in the stadium. Before I knew it, we weren’t the only ones inside, and the place swelled with the crowd, everyone excited for the first game of the season.

I couldn’t believe I’d ever be this pumped for a football game.

Kassie, Piper, and I chatted excitedly, all in our boys’ jerseys. This was what our season would be like, me with my best friends in the world, getting to cheer on my new, extended family.

When they brought out the Romans, I shoved up from my seat, cheering wildly. It took me a moment to find seventy-two in the lineup but he was already looking my way, eyes on me.

"What are we doing after the game?" Piper asked. "I’ve been so swept up in classes, I forgot."

"Celebrating." I grinned. "Because they’re definitely going to win."