Page 168 of The Blame Game

He wouldn’t have to face this alone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“How are you holding up?” Charlie asked as he stepped into the small private waiting area, August trailing on his heels and holding two big cups of coffee. Charlie had a cup of tea.

“Oh, not too bad.” Shea glanced at his phone to check the time. “They took him in about half an hour ago.”

“It’s a relatively short procedure, right?” August asked, handing over one of the coffee cups. “Nico’s brain surgery went so long I thought I’d lose my mind.”

“I’ll bet.” Shea took the coffee gratefully. “Thanks for this and for volunteering to sit with me.”

“Of course.” Charlie took a seat on one side of him and pried the lid off his cup, dunking the tea bag. “We didn’t want you to be alone.”

“My sister offered to come. But it’s so early and I didn’t want her to have to drive all the way from Ottawa and miss work and all that.”

Charlie shot him a little smile. “That’s thoughtful of you.”

Shea shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. Audra would’ve been here too of course, but the potential for her to be spotted and for something to end up in JockGossip was simply too large.

“It means a lot to Dom that you’re here,” Shea said. “And to me too.”

“Honestly, the whole team wanted to be here,” Charlie said, getting up to toss the teabag in the trash. “But A: that’s too many large, loud men in a hospital and B: they’re on a road trip. So we figured it was a job for the SAPs. Especially since you’re one of us now.”

Shea wasn’t, not really, but did Charlie and August know that?

Fuck, their cover stories were getting much, much too tangled to keep track of. And frankly, at least to Shea, they were starting to feel like they weren’t cover stories at all.

He still couldn’t get over how open Dom had been about the stuff with his father. Day by day, Dom was learning how to communicate.

How to be a partner.

Shea glanced over at August who gave him a small smile. “Seriously, Shea. I was in your shoes last year and it’s not fun. Having company made a huge difference. I would have lost my mind without Nico’s best friend, Skylar, to distract me.”

“It’s definitely not how I’d like to spend my time,” Shea agreed, taking a sip of his coffee. “And this isn’t even brain surgery.”

“No.” August chuckled. “Hey, you want to hear a funny story about how Nico and I ended up together though?”

“Sure.” Shea grinned. “Lay it on me.”

His jaw dropped as August told him about their hookup in Evanston, the JockGossip article, Nico’s seizure, the hospital visit from Nico’s ex-girlfriend and rather unusual family, and how August had accidentally ended up pretending to be engaged to a guy he barely knew.

“No way,” Shea said, laughing. “That’s wild. So you were totally faking the whole thing?”

“Up to a point.” August shrugged. “But I think it got pretty real long before either of us were ready to admit it.”

“It was like that for Dustin and me too,” Charlie said.

“Wait,” Shea looked between August and Charlie. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Charlie shot him a little grin. “I think Dustin just told Dom about the whole thing recently, actually.”

August looked gobsmacked. “I had no idea you and Dustin had faked a relationship too.”

Charlie giggled. “We had a very hasty drunken Vegas wedding that needed to get covered up. At the time, I couldn’t stand the thought of being married to him but Dustin has become one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

Shea smiled. “That’s sweet.”

“There’s been a rash of fake relationships on the team lately, actually. Dustin and me, apparently you and Nico, August—which I kinda suspected but didn’t know for sure until now—Jonah and Felix, Matty and Antoni …”

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