Page 59 of The Head Game

August belatedly realized he was still clutching the sweating drink in one hand and a bag of food in the other. “Oh, yes. I brought food for Skylar and figured I might as well get something for myself. If I’d known you were here, I’d have picked up something for all of you. I’m so sorry.”

Or, more likely, made a run for it. But she didn’t need to know that.

Isa brushed off his apology. “Oh, we’re fine. We ate on the flight over. Or, well, we tried.” A shadow of worry crossed her face.

August felt a twinge of sympathy. He’d been sick with worry over Nico; he couldn’t imagine how his family felt.

“You found nachos?” Skylar asked hopefully.

“Yes. I did.” More or less. Procured them for her anyway.

Jesus, August was turning into a person who never told the full truth.

He’d blame Nico but, well, he wasn’t exactly here to defend himself so that didn’t seem fair.

And August planned to get the hell out of this situation as quickly as possible.

August dug through the bag, found the container with her nachos, then handed it over along with the coffee.

“And your decaf iced latte with oat milk. Although the ice is mostly melted at this point. Sorry.”

“Don’t care. It’s coffee. Even if it doesn’t have caffeine, it’ll get me through. Thank you. You’re the best, Auggie.” Skylar kissed his cheek, then sat down and took a big slurp from the straw.

He blinked, frozen in place by the nickname. “How did you know Nico calls me that?”

“Oh, I didn’t. I don’t think he’s mentioned it. It just seemed to fit. Then again, I call him Nics and he calls me Sky, so …”

“It’s a thing in our family,” Isa said with a small laugh as she took a seat, crossing her long legs. Everything about her looked expensive. Elegant. “We rarely go by our given names and growing up Nico was absolutely insistent that he did not want to be called Nicolaas.”

“I will admit,” August said grimly, “I wouldn’t choose Auggie for myself. Nico, uh, gave the nickname to me and frankly, I’d just as soon return it.”

Isa chuckled. “Fair enough but I must admit, I find it sweet.”

The name was something August had hoped would disappear along with any ties to Nico or his friends and family after this was all done.

But for now, it appeared he was stuck with it.

Of course, if these people found out he’d been lying about his engagement to Nico, they’d stop being so nice to him.

August was grateful when they began speaking quietly to each other, leaving him and Skylar to eat in peace.

He’d finished his chicken tacos and was packing away the trash when an unfamiliar man in a white coat walked in. “I’m here for Nico Arents’ family?”

Isa stood. “That’s us.”

“I’m Dr. Fuller. I’m the surgical resident and have been assisting with Nico’s procedure. We’re about halfway through the surgery and it’s going well. The margins of the tumor are clear, which means removing it cleanly will be much simpler. Everything is going exactly as we hoped so sit tight for a while longer. Once we’ve closed him up and he’s back in his room, you’ll be allowed in to see him.”

Isa smiled. “Thank you, doctor.”

Dr. Fuller left with a murmured goodbye and everyone in the room seemed to let out a collective breath.

“Well, that’s good news,” Skylar said.

Isa sighed softly. “Yes. It is. I just wish we could have seen him before the procedure. Two seizures and the second bad enough they had to rush him in for emergency surgery. That part worries me.”

“It does me too,” Pieter murmured.

Noor reached up and brushed Pieter’s hair off his forehead, murmuring something to him, and Anika squeezed Isa’s hand.

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