Page 112 of The Betrayal You Serve

"What's new?" I joke but it falls flat because we both know that Luca is anything but miserable usually.

"He'll be fine. We've got a tough away game on Saturday, Dad's on his ass…"

"I'm with Kane," I add.

"Yeah, that too. It'll blow over. If you were it for him, then you'd have been together long before now. He just needs to hold on to something familiar right now as everything spirals."

"I get he’s pissed at me, and the shit with your dad but—"

"Dad wants him to enter the draft early."

"Oh. He doesn't want to?"

"No, he wants to finish college and get his degree first. He might want the same career as our dad but he doesn't want to only set his sights on football and make the same mistakes Dad did."

"Understandable."

"He'll sort it out. Plus, if this season goes tits up without our star wide receiver then the draft won't really be an option."

"The season's barely begun, glad to see you're thinking positively," I mutter, shoving a mug under the coffee machine and hitting start.

"Something just feels off this season, and it's worse without him."

"Don't tell him that, he's already struggling enough right now," I tell Lee.

"S'all good. All we can do is our best, right?"

"Sure is. Here." I pass his coffee over before starting on the others.

We finally join Kane and Ella, much to Kane's delight because Ella's still talking to him like they're long-lost best friends.

"Thank you," he whispers to me when I pass his coffee over, although I don't think for a second it's the coffee he's so desperate for.

"So, Ella's caught you up on everything you've missed then."

"Sure have," Ella beams. "The dorm isn't the same without you, Let. When are you heading back?"

I look between Ella and Kane and swallow nervously.

"A-actually—"

"You're not, are you?"

I shake my head sadly, because I am sad. I love our dorm and the guys, but it's not where I belong. "I'm sorry, El. I'm going to stay here with Kane and commute for now while we look for a place of our own."

She smiles at me and although it doesn't meet her eyes, I know she gets it.

"Fair enough. We're going to miss you."

"I'll miss you guys too. You all were everything I didn't know I needed at the beginning of the semester."

"I'll be back in class next week so we can hang again and once we've got a place closer we'll be able to party."

"Hell, yes," she says, raising her mug like it's an alcoholic drink. "And now you two are official, you"—she pins Kane with a look—"won't have to drag her away from her friends to do wicked things to her."

"Ella," I warn as a smirk appears on Leon's face.

"What? We're all thinking it," she mutters, lifting her mug for a sip.