Page 36 of The Head Game

Nico followed August placidly but August had a feeling it was only because he let it happen.

After the door closed firmly behind them, August turned to face Nico. “Seriously. What are you doing here?”

Nico shrugged, jamming his hands into his pockets. “I just wanted to have a chat.”

“What part of keeping what happened the other night a secret are you not getting?” August asked. “You are terrible at this! So much for your spy shit.”

Nico snickered. “Me? You’re the one acting like you’re guilty as hell. If you wanted to not turn this into a big deal, you utterly failed.”

August grumbled under his breath, annoyed.

“We are allowed to speak, you know,” Nico said. “It’s not that weird for a player and ref to have a friendly conversation.”

“Yes, but when there’s already speculation about you being involved with someone in the league, it’s stupid and reckless. Why on earth would you try to meet here in the arena? Are you crazy? Do you want to draw more attention to us?”

“Yikes. Lay off the weed. You are getting paranoid as fuck.”

August crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t smoke.”

“Of course you don’t.” Nico raked his gaze across August, his eyes lighting up. “Oh my God, is that a sweater vest, Auggie? I figured you were the type to wear cardigans or something but shit, you took it one step further, didn’t you?”

He sounded weirdly delighted.

August scowled. “Why are you here? What did you want from me?”

“I wanted to see if you’d meet me for a drink again.” Nico dropped his voice into a stage whisper. “And by meet for a drink, I mean fuck.”

“Good lord, you really do want us to get caught.” August pinched the bridge of his nose.

Nico’s laugh came out as a short, sharp bark. “I truly worry about your blood pressure.”

“My blood pressure was 107 over 76 at my last physical,” August snapped.

“Yeah, but it’s not that now.”

“Well maybe that’s because you’re driving me insane! I thought we agreed we’d never see each other again.”

“When did we say that?” Nico looked genuinely confused.

“When we spoke on the phone,” August said slowly. “Four days ago.”

“Oh, right. Right. Yeah, I remember now. Sorry, this road trip has been a little crazy.” Nico raked a hand through his hair.

If August remembered right, the Fisher Cats had flown to New York, played a game in Manhattan, then another on Long Island, then flown to Buffalo.

Not that August had been paying particular attention to the team or Nico lately, or anything.

Also, not the most taxing road trip schedule August had ever seen, but he knew they could be tiring.

Huh. Nico did look tired actually. He had circles under his eyes and his hair seemed a little limp, hanging in his eyes.

“Well, if you remember now,” August said, “We agreed I would send my coat to the thrift store to avoid the risk of me being recognized.”

Shit, talk about forgetting things. August hadn’t done that yet.

He’d meant to but in the middle of running errands, he’d gotten a call from a retired linesman he knew and they’d spoken on the phone for a while.

He’d let August know his beloved wife had passed away from cancer and August hadn’t had the heart to wrap up the conversation early when the guy needed to talk.

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