End Game

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Nate

I can't believe I told Aurora she should go on a date with TJ. The second the words left my mouth I wanted to yank them back. Saying it—acting like I was alright with her giving him a shot—made me feel sick. What was I trying to prove? That I didn't care? That I wasn't falling for her too fast?

Worse, she actually considered it. Not an immediate no. Not even a hesitant maybe—she seriously thought about saying yes when I was standing right there.

It hit harder than any slap.

And she went.

I know because TJ wouldn't shut up about it in the locker room. I'd been avoiding him since—dodging his smug looks, staying out of his path—but we live together, play together, share classes. He is everywhere. Right now, that felt like salt poured into an open wound.

I reached for a bottle of water, planning to slip back upstairs unnoticed, when TJ's voice floated from the living room, too loud, too pleased.

"Yeah, so I took her to the Santa Monica Pier," he said. "Rented bikes, rode along the beach, then hit the Ferris wheel. She loved it, man."

My grip tightened until the plastic creaked. I'd imagined doing that with her—her laughing on the boardwalk, the Ferris-wheel lights catching in her hair. Hearing him talk about it felt like a punch in the gut.

Lincoln piped up, predictably leering. "So... you get anywhere? Seal the deal?"

"Not really," TJ said, unbothered.

"Not really?" Lincoln pressed.

"It was the first date," TJ shrugged.

Lincoln laughed. Relief flickered—she hadn't kissed him—and then the old anger flared up again. She'd still gone. She'd still said yes. After what I'd done to her, after how raw and close we'd been, she'd let him take her out.

"She agreed to go out with me again," TJ crowed. I felt the words like a hot coal in my gut. "There's no way I'm in the friendzone. I'm gonna get that kiss and then some. It's only a matter of time."

They laughed. The casual cruelty of it made bile rise in my throat.

Lincoln snarked, "Hopefully she's looking for a quick rebound. That breakup was recent, right?"

TJ didn't miss a beat. "I hope I'm a rebound. If she wants to use me for sex, I'm in. I'm not looking for a girlfriend anyway. She's hot. I've never fucked a redhead before."

The locker-room high-five that followed sounded obscene. My hands curled into fists so tight my knuckles throbbed. A slow, white-hot fury built in my chest—part anger at TJ's arrogance, part fury at myself for letting this happen, and beneath it all, a raw hurt that she'd given him the time of day.

Aurora deserved better. She deserved someone who saw her worth—who didn't reduce her to a story to brag about. Hearing them talk about her like she was a prize to win made something in me snap toward violence. I wanted to storm into the living room, rip that smug grin off TJ's face, tell him exactly what she was to me.

Footsteps creaked behind me. I braced for TJ—but it was Samuel who walked into the kitchen, blinking at my clenched fists and the tight line of my jaw.

He was watching me—calm, arms crossed, that look that says he can tell I'm two seconds from snapping. Knowing he sees it only makes the anger spike.

"Hey," he says, leaning against the counter beside me. He doesn't pry or demand I explain. He just waits, like he knows I'll crack when I'm ready.