Page 124 of The Head Game

“No,” August said firmly. That was the one thing he could say that was not a lie in any way, shape, or form. “Absolutely not.”

“So this happened in the off-season,” Jon prompted. “How did you meet?”

August froze. Shit, shit, shit. He and Nico had talked about this. What was he supposed to say again?

Nico chimed in. “Well, August lives in Hamilton, Ontario, but he’s in Toronto a lot. We happened to bump into each other one night when we were both out,” Nico said with a shrug. “It wasn’t planned at all. We struck up a conversation and well … we connected.”

August was suddenly, desperately grateful Nico was here because there was no way he could manage a response right now. It was true that August spent a fair amount of time in Toronto. And it was true they’d bumped into each other unexpectedly.

They just hadn’t bumped into each other unexpectedly in Toronto.

August was no good at lying and damn, Nico was so much better at skirting around the truth with carefully worded statements than he was. Under most circumstances, that wouldn’t have been a selling point but right now, August wanted to kiss Nico in thanks.

Jon made a note. “And you kept in contact after?”

“We did,” Nico said with a smile. “August left me voicemails and texts and we talked on the phone.”

All strictly true as well, August thought, impressed.

“And you started a relationship?”

“We tried to resist it,” August blurted out. “I … the last thing I wanted was to start anything with Nico but …”

Jon nodded. “Sometimes life takes us by surprise.”

August let out a strangled little laugh and adjusted his shirt collar. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“I think a lot of people can understand how this might have gone from friendship to being a romantic relationship but why didn’t you notify the league about it once it did?”

“Well, I …” August floundered but, thankfully, Jon continued speaking.

“Look, we can all admit it’s a new situation for the league to deal with. To my knowledge we’ve never had a ref and player involved previously, although I suppose we’ll never know. There could have been a couple of guys in the closet …”

“Right,” August said. “Well, we—”

“Jon,” Nico said, leaning forward and cutting in again. “I’m going to be honest here. At first, we were only hooking up. We didn’t want to have any feelings for each other and we tried to deny them, and August figured he could compartmentalize those feelings when he officiated games I played.”

August nodded.

Jon gave them an understanding smile. “Guys, I get that. But you have to admit, when you got engaged, you should have disclosed your relationship. There might have been a way around this if you’d contacted us. We could have spoken with the league about assigning August to games where the Fisher Cats aren’t playing. There would have been some outrage over impartiality anyway, but that would have at least headed it off at the pass. As it is, many fans are frothing at the mouth now.”

August sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe … maybe he should come clean. Maybe this whole fake engagement was stupid.

“Jon, I …” August’s voice cracked. “There’s something you should know about our engagement.”

Nico leaned closer, grabbing August’s thigh, and digging in hard enough to hurt. August stifled a wince.

“Auggie, you know you get a little emotional about this so let me talk, baby.” There was a faint warning note in Nico’s voice as he leaned in toward the camera. “What we’re trying to say is that what you suggested wouldn’t have been possible because August and I didn’t get engaged until after I was in the hospital.”

August barely managed to keep his jaw from landing on the floor. What the fuck? What are you doing, Nico?

But Nico smiled at the screen. “When August saw me fall to the ice and begin seizing, he was terrified for me and concerned his actions had led to my injury. He blamed himself. He rushed to the hospital to be by my side as soon as he could. But when he found out only family could get updates on the patient’s condition, he panicked. He blurted out we were engaged but it was a lie.”

August pulled in a sharp breath but he managed not to whip his head around and stare at Nico in horror.

What is happening? Is this some sort of plan to torpedo my career?

August gritted his teeth and stared into the screen, feeling his future slipping away from him.

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