End Game (Kings of Campus) by Monica Murphy

Author:Monica Murphy [Murphy, Monica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

EVERLEIGH

We’re halfway through the quarter, and classwork has ramped up to the point that I’m in a state of constant overwhelm. Between that and work and taking care of my agreed-upon responsibilities at the house, I’m swamped. I try to do homework locked up in my room, but even with my old AirPods stuck in my ears, I can’t drown out the sound of my roommates and their various friends playing video games. Because when they play, they’re loud.

They don’t have a lot of faults—wait, I’m lying, they totally do. We all do. But for the most part, we’re living a mostly peaceful existence together, especially if I avoid Nico.

Things have worked in my favor lately, though, and I don’t run into him often. Especially the last couple of days since our “agreement.” I’m able to sneak through his bedroom and use the bathroom to take a shower, doing my best not to leave my “girlie stuff”—Coop’s description, not mine—strewn all over the counter. He hasn’t been around much, and I wonder if that has to do with our “just friends” agreement.

Did I insult him? Has he run off and found someone else to mess around with? Is she prettier than me . . . ?

Wait a minute. I need to stop thinking like that. I don’t care if she’s prettier than me. I don’t care if he’s hooking up with twenty women who are more attractive than me. At least I’m not the one he’s stringing along and pretending to care about. Nico Valente is a dangerous man.

Dangerous when it comes to my precious feelings, which are still a little raw after our last interaction.

Men. They’re better left alone if you ask me.

Giving up on listening to the endless string of curses coming from our living room, I pack up my stuff and my laptop in my backpack and leave the house, heading for the campus library. It stays open till midnight Monday through Friday, which is ideal for situations like this. Though I don’t want to stay there too late. I have to be at work tomorrow morning at six thirty.

Groan.

Ten minutes later I’m walking through the library, grateful as always that our house is close to campus. I move through the somewhat crowded tables, shocked to see so many students here bent over massive textbooks or tapping away at their laptops. Everyone’s got headphones on or earbuds in, and hardly anyone is talking. It’s so quiet in here I feel like I’m too loud, thanks to the slapping noise my flip-flops make as they hit the bare floor.

Clutching them with my toes to make them a little quieter, I slip through the maze of row after row of books, heading deeper into the library. Not as many people sit in the back, and that’s my favorite place to work. Much more peaceful.

And that’s what I’m seeking tonight. A little peace.

I turn left at one point, heading for my favorite quiet nook of tables and chairs, and come to an abrupt stop when I see who’s sitting there.

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