Page 136 of The Head Game

“Nico?” Charlie said lightly.

“Coming,” Nico said as he turned away. Before he could follow Charlie, August grabbed his hand.

Nico glanced back and his expression was suddenly serious now. Intent. “I would miss you,” he said and Nico stared, open-mouthed, because he hadn’t expected August to admit it.

Hadn’t expected the intensity in his gaze or his voice, like his words meant more than he was actually saying.

Especially not in front of Nico’s team.

“I mean, I have to do something to keep me occupied while I’m suspended,” August added, the teasing light returning to his eyes.

Nico laughed and leaned down to kiss him. Lightly at first, then with a little tongue.

In the background, Colton groaned. “Nooo, there’s another annoying couple we have to watch suck face. I thought Charlie and Dustin were bad enough. What did I do to deserve this?”

Nico straightened, licking his lips. “For a guy in a happy relationship, you’re awfully judge-y about PDA there, Yaterator.”

“Birdie and I are just more mature than the rest of you and outgrew that phase,” he said in a lofty tone.

Nico scoffed. “Sure. You keep telling yourself that.”

He followed Charlie into the new kitchen, looking around the redesigned space. The layout was the same but everything else had been updated. “This really is gorgeous.”

Charlie beamed. “Thank you! We’re both delighted with the way it turned out. I am planning to do the big reveal on social media soon. I had it all set to go and then someone had to go get a brain tumor.”

Charlie’s teasing made Nico laugh. It was nice that at least someone around here was still giving him shit.

“Well, you know me,” Nico joked. “Gotta go for maximum drama.”

“I think most of us would have preferred another sex tape leak,” Charlie joked.

“Definitely,” Nico agreed. “Much more fun for all parties involved.”

“Maybe not Yates,” Charlie said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, maybe not him.” Nico smirked. “So is this why you wanted to get me alone?” he asked with a teasing grin, leaning against the counter. “To flirt and talk about sex tapes? I know you want me but Dustin and August are right out there. They’ll definitely notice if we start going at it on your gorgeous granite counters.”

Charlie grinned and winked. “You found me out. I can no longer resist you.”

Nico snorted. Yeah right. But he had missed the joking flirty banter with his captain’s husband. It made him feel so normal.

Charlie quickly sobered though. “Seriously though, you doing okay? You hide it well but you seem frustrated.”

Nico sighed. “Everything is … kind of tedious and boring right now.”

“Well, I definitely get why you’re frustrated you can’t push through this recovery,” Charlie said. “I tried to do that when I was in rehab for my eating disorder.”

Nico blinked. Following the weird bullshit Charlie’s mom had pulled at the charity player auction earlier this season, Nico had more or less figured out Charlie was a recovering anorexic.

It was the first time he’d ever heard Charlie speak so openly about it though.

“Yeah?” Nico replied, wanting to hear more but unsure of what else to say. If Charlie wanted to pretend like this was the kind of conversation they had all the time, Nico would roll with it but he didn’t want to be pushy about it either.

“Yeah.” Charlie turned away, reaching in the refrigerator for a pitcher of something. “I wanted the cheat codes to get well.”

Nico laughed. God, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d played video games with Charlie and the boys on the team. He missed that too. “Sure, I get that.”

“I wanted to know how to get through the recovery as fast as possible so I could get back to normal immediately.”

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