Page 58 of The Game

“I know the feeling,” Janus says from right behind us. “All the speculation in the press Jo and I dealt with drove us mad. Come and have a drink.”

“Is the glass of wine from yesterday still available? It’s rest day tomorrow. I might as well celebrate with half a glass.”

Janus grins. “Absolutely. Let’s go wild. Adam?”

“I’ll have whatever Anna’s having, thanks. Make mine a full glass.” I wink at him.

Anna claps her hands like an excited child. “I’ve none of my nutritionist’s food! Can we do a takeout? Oh, this is like a holiday!”

Janus starts to laugh. “I’m up for that. What do you want?”

“Indian. The full works—tandoori chicken, korma, samosas, rice, naan. I’m starved. All I had was an energy bar because I didn’t have my prepped meal and we couldn’t buy a sandwich without being hassled.”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Janus says.

“Gah, I wouldn’t have got anywhere if I buckled under a bit of media aggravation.”

She absorbs pressure like a sponge. She doesn’t take any bullshit from anyone. She reminds me of Jo. Perhaps you have to be like that when people are snapping at your heels all the time.

Janus winks at her. “So, what are you doing hiding out here then?”

“Someone else is here,” she says, cheeks going a bit pink as her eyes dart to mine and away again.

And my whole body roars.She likes me?We were friends, and she was okay with the jujitsu debacle, but this feels like a deeper admission. An admissionthat she wants to be withme. That this is good for her. This remarkable woman who is made of titanium. And for the first time it occurs to me that perhaps she was as eager as I was for what we did on the floor of her gym and I didn’t cross some boundary I shouldn’t have crossed. I want to smack my head. I’m always two steps behind, like I’m so rusty I can’t keep up with how this works. I made her come, and I ran away like an idiot. I should have lifted her over my shoulder and taken her to bed. I want to push Janus to one side and pin her against the kitchen cupboards.

NowI’mturning into an antsy, aggressive guy.

“Let’s order Indian,” Janus says, like I’m not exploding inside.

I can hardly manage sitting quietly nursing a glass of wine while Janus and Anna chat about their days. I am mute.

“So, you’re going to stay for a few days, right?” Janus says, after the food has arrived and containers are spread out across his dining table. I can almost see the cogs in his brain whirring, how he’s sliding into the role of matchmaker. He’s invested after he persuaded me to go to that event. He’s never been Mr. Subtle.

Anna’s eyes dart from him to me, and I smile at her because, dammit, I was already down for staying at her apartment. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve just switched venues.

“To be honest, you’d be doing me a favor,” Janus adds. “We can do Thanksgiving together. It’s shit on my own when Jo’s away, and you can’t leave me with this guy.” He jerks his thumb toward me.

Manipulative bastard.

Anna forks some rice into her mouth. “I’m sure you guys would have an amazing time being geeks together.”

She’s not buying his smokescreen. A laugh bubbles up.

“It’d be good to escape the media attention, though, wouldn’t it?” Janus counters with a smile.

She shakes her head. “I can’t believe I thought it was a sensible idea to encourage it.”

He shrugs. “It’s difficult to make publicity work how you want, especially when you’ve got assholes working against you.”

For a hot flash I think he means me, but then I realize he’s talking about Arty Maroz.

“Why did I get involved with Arty the Asshole?” Anna says with a deep sigh. “I’d love to stay, Janus. I’ll ask someone to bring my stuff over here.”

Later on, we all veg out on the couch in front of a soccer game. Anna’s case arrives, and soon after, at about 9 p.m., she declares she’s tired and is going to bed. Janus decides he’s got some more work to do on his software, so I chat with him for about ten minutes and then follow Anna into the bedroom. She’s sitting on the bedcovers in the T-shirt of mine she wore last night, her long bare legs crossed as she studies her phone.

Somehow this is more loaded than yesterday. “Are you okay with sharing a room?”

She raises her head, smiling. “That’s a question?”

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