Page 30 of The Head Game

“Yeah, yeah, hate sex in an alley. Been there, done that. So hot.” She rolled her eyes.

“It wasn’t in an alley!” he protested, although he was laughing. “We went to a hotel. And we should have gone sooner because Kate is pissed.”

“Did you tell her who he was?”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Uhh, so she can handle the fallout if someone figures out who he is?”

“Right, like you’ve told your publicist about your pregnancy?” he snapped.

Annoyed, he stood, tossing his takeout container on the coffee table.

He crossed the room and looked out the expansive windows, staring at Lake Ontario. The water was choppy today, the skies sullen and laden with dark snow clouds. The gray water was churned up into white-capped frothy waves.

It looked like Nico felt inside.

He didn’t know if it was the worry about his head or that he hadn’t heard from August. Maybe it was the lecture from Kate or maybe he was finally losing it.

Maybe all of the above.

The soft pad of Skylar’s bare feet on the wood floors reached his ears a moment before she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Sorry,” she murmured, pressing her cheek against his shoulder blade.

“No, I’m sorry” he admitted, patting her hand. He didn’t know why he and Skylar were always like this, picking at the ragged edges of one another’s patience and leaving no sore spot un-poked at. “I was being a dick and that wasn’t fair.”

“Hey, Nics, I’ll make you a deal,” she said, slipping under his arm to stand beside him.

He smiled at the Neeks. Shortly after they met, she’d given him a nickname of his nickname.

No one ever called him Nicolaas. Not even his mother when she was mad at him.

He let Skylar lean on him, though he kept staring out the window. “What kind of deal?”

“Once you talk to Dr. Strickland, I’ll set up a meeting with Mommy and Daddy to tell them their precious baby is a whore with a bun in the oven.”

Nico coughed. “Well, I might not word it like that.” Even for him that was a little much.

She shrugged, jostling the arm he had draped over her shoulders. “I mean, what else are they going to think?”

Wincing, he admitted she might be right. “Still …”

“Oh fine. I will tell them their darling daughter, who already is such a disappointment for making her own living as an influencer instead of going into something sensible like running the family business, is with child.”

“Yeah, deal,” Nico agreed without hesitation. “I’ll talk to Dr. Strickland this week. I promise.”

He’d promised three people that now. He sure was doing a great job not following through so far but he did want Skylar to tell her family.

Not because he thought it was going to go well—it definitely wasn’t—but because she needed to get it over with. Rip off the bandage and all that.

Of course, he should take his own advice.

“Good.” Skylar squeezed him a little tighter. “I’m scared for you.”

“I’m scared too,” he admitted, still staring at the leaden sky and churned-up waves. “What if something is really wrong with me?”

“What if it’s something they can fix?” she asked.

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