Page 28 of Scoring Position

Figuring he might as well give himself a break from the frustration of failing to sleep, he got out of bed, slipped on some sweats and shoes, and headed into the hall. Maybe a midnight stroll would calm his brain.

He wandered down to the stairs, then took them up a flight. He meandered along, cataloging the ugly geometric carpet, the mass-produced reproductions of art, the bland taupe walls—“They say taupe is very soothing”—and the door to the stairs at the other end that looked exactly like the door he’d come through. The homogeneity of it all was nauseating.

Back on his own floor, he exited the stairwell, turned a corner, and nearly walked straight into someone’s very nice chest.

“Scheiße!”

Ryan knew that voice, though he didn’t often hear it speaking German off the ice. “Hey, Nico.”

“Uh, hi.” Nico blushed. He was dressed in a Fuel T-shirt from the team’s inaugural year, and, well, dressing in clothes from his twinkier days was doing the newly ripped Nico all sorts of favors. So were the threadbare sweatpants that valiantly clung to his hips and thighs.

Ryan cleared his throat. “What brought you out for a stroll?”

Nico pointed to the vending machine just behind Ryan and to his left. “Snack.”

“You know,” Ryan said as he stepped aside to give Nico access, “room service is a thing.”

“It’s after midnight. They don’t want to bring me food. Besides, what’s the point of bothering them when I can get something here?”

He picked a bag of peanuts like a good pro athlete and then, after a glance over his shoulder, a Mars bar, looking like a naughty child.

Ryan wanted to buy him a case of Mars bars.

“Considerate of you.” He cleared his throat again and fell into step next to Nico. “You’re up late, no?”

Nico side-eyed him. “Day off tomorrow, remember?” Then he shrugged. “I was talking to a friend in Germany. It’s hard to make time to chat with her when we’re in California. Late night works best.”

Right, time zones. “Did she wake up super early or something?”

“Or something.” His mouth twitched. “It’s after nine there. Ella’s first class is at ten.”

Because Nico’s friends were still in college. All appearances to the contrary, Nico was an infant. “What’s she studying?”

“Law.”

“Oh, an underachiever.”

That made Nico laugh that soft, fluffy laugh again. It was no less compelling in the intimate liminal space of a deserted hotel corridor. “I’ll tell her you said so.” They turned down one of the indistinguishable beige hallways. “What about you? Can’t sleep?”

“You’d think I’d be better at it by now.” He used sleep aids when necessary, but he hated them. They made waking up awful. “I have a… thing. Not nightmares, though. I just wake up abruptly. And sometimes my brain just doesn’t want to shut off.” Nico opened his mouth. “Don’t. Come on.” Ryan nudged him. “That’s low-hanging fruit.”

Nico stopped dead, mouthing the words. “Low-hanging…. What?” He was clearly on the verge of laughter. “Is this a gay joke?”

Ryan barked a laugh. Apparently Nico hadn’t heard that one. “No—it means, uh, it just means it’s an easy joke. Like it’s so obvious, it’s not even funny. Like scoring on an empty net.”

“Scoring isalwaysfun.”

He must be tired if he was mixing upfunandfunny. It wouldn’t be the first time Ryan had noticed a German doing that, though, and he wasn’t going to pick on Nico about it. He’d pulled his pigtails enough for one day. “Yeah, well. I can’t argue with that.”

“I think you could argue with anything.”

Now who was being argumentative? Ryan narrowed his eyes, intending to retort, but then he caught the playful glint in Nico’s eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first to say so.”

They were coming up on his room, and he should really go to bed. Sure, they had a day off tomorrow, but the more he screwed up his sleep schedule now, the more difficult it would be to get a good night’s rest before the game. He was about towell, this is mehis way out of the conversation when he noticed Nico rolling his shoulder in discomfort.

“Did you see the trainer for that?” he asked before he could think better of it.

Nico hummed around a bite of the Mars bar he’d just opened. When he’d swallowed, he elaborated, “In Indy. It’s not serious, just annoying. Monica taped me up, but it came off.”

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