Page 91 of The Game

“How about I talk to Fabian?” he says.

“Oh God. I’ve never gone against Konstantin. I don’t know what would happen.”

“If I know Fabian, he’ll already have been digging into it. I didn’t ask him to do that, but he can’t stand crooks or people getting away with things. At the very least we could talk to him, then decide.”

“Okay.”

“Would you rest easier if I called him now?”

“It’s late.”

Adam laughs. “It’s not late for him—he’s a night owl. He won’t be in bed. Unless he’s with Kate—and if that’s the case, he’ll just tell me.”

He rolls over and unplugs his phone from the nightstand, propping himself up on one elbow. I watch all the defined muscles shift in his back.

“Hey,” he says, “I’ve got Anna with me. She turned up tonight, and Konstantin has insisted she goes back to Russia.”

I can hear Fabian’s raised voice on the other end of the line.

“Let me put you on speaker,” Adam says, and he turns toward me and puts the phone on the bedcover between us. Dammit that’s worse—now I can see the smattering of blond hair across his chest.

“Don’t go, Anna. Seriously, that guy is dangerous. If shit went down, I don’t know how we’d get you out,” Fabian says.

“I know.”

“I’ve been digging into him,” Fabian adds, and Adam meets my eyes with a smirk. “I’ve gathered a lot of information. We could meet tomorrow and go through it if you like?”

The very idea I might find out more about this, after all these years. My heart flutters in my chest. “How about after practice, at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center? Does that work?”

“Perfect. I can run there from my place—it’s about nine miles,” he says.

“I’ll come, too,” Adam says. “But not on a run.”

“You don’t have to …” I start but he presses his fingers to my lips just as Fabian says, “Wimp.”

Adam laughs. “Thanks, Fab,” he says.

“No problem, I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Adam plugs his phone back in and settles back down. I shuffle over to him and curl into his side, and he shifts his arm to wrap it around me.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

He gives me a squeeze and kisses my hair.

“Let’s see if we can make Konstantin Lebedev go away,” he says.

34

ADAM

I’m not sure what to make of Anna turning up at my apartment. If I’m honest, it’s wrecked me a little. The first time I met her, I felt she was lonely and needed a friend—and despite her curling around me in bed last night, I think I’m now firmly cast in that role with her. I’m only too aware that I’ve agreed to it,again, but the idea of being friend-zoned now … Two weeks ago, I thought we were heading to a different place, and the loss of what might have been is like a yawning cavern in my chest. I hung on so long with Celine and missed so many clues because she seemed like my dream, and I couldn’t bring myself to give it up. Is this just another hopeless dream?

Ugh. Can I not have a relationship with a woman where I don’t become so attached? I keep coming back to the question of why Anna would want something more withme. People are funny about this kind of thing, imagining that, despite some huge mismatch in status, some amazing person will look their way. She’s famous. A multimillionaire tennis player. She’s going to end up with another celebrity, some gorgeous guy, because that’s how this works. My business is just about washing its face now, but I still sit in a back office designing electronic boards with magnifying glasses on my head and wearing old jeans and a sweater when it’s cold.

Anna disappeared early for her practice this morning, and I persuaded her to leave Pepper with me. As I head into work with the world’s cutest Papillon at my side, I’m having perhaps the best commute I’ve ever had. Everyone stops to talk to me, well, to talk to Pepper actually, not because they recognize her from TikTok, but because she’s just that delightful. I take loads of videos on the way and end up posting one of a girl cooing over Pepper after getting her permission to share it. I tag Pepper’s account and put a comment on it:

I’ve got a new coworker, and I’m hoping that this one will work harder than all the slackers I’ve got in the office.

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