Page 12 of Finders Keepers
“Wow. Okay. Cool.” She turned to her task, grinning and shaking her head as she typed.
When she was done, she handed him back his cards and a receipt. “Welcome to Omaha. Good luck this season.”
“Thanks.” He waited for the inevitable ask while he tucked his cards back into his wallet, but a request for a selfie or autograph didn’t seem forthcoming. He breathed a sigh of relief. He liked fans who didn’t automatically presume. Who treated him like a person. That made it easier to offer. “Would you like an autograph and a picture?”
Her face lit up. “Oh— Yes, please! I’ll be right out.”
She disappeared through a door next to a wall full of pictures. Family and friends, no doubt, and Nate wondered if he’d end up immortalized there as well. She came around the nearby corner a moment later, holding her cell phone, credentials removed from her neck and hanging off her arm.
“Can you?” She held out her phone and laughed. “I have short arms and my selfie skills are crap.”
Nate chuckled. “Sure. Yeah. Okay.”
They stood in front of a blank wall, and he hovered one arm around her back and held the other out, phone in hand. They looked at the screen together, and the camera shutter whirred in the quiet space—the distant drone of the tv from the waiting room the only other sound.
“There you go.” He handed back the phone. “Hey listen...can you not mention this is where you met me? Wesley was attacked and he wants to keep a low profile. Being anywhere with me might bring him unwanted attention.”
Nate didn’t know if that was really the case since the police hadn’t been involved, but it sounded plausible and would protect them both. He sure didn’t need any questions as to why he was in a hospital in the middle of the night.
“Oh, my gosh. Of course.” She lifted her phone, a huge smile on her face. “Thanks again.”
“My pleasure.” If only every fan was so easily pleased.
With a final wave, Nate padded into the waiting room, where half a dozen sleepy people sat slumped in chairs. National news droned quietly from a flat screen hung in one corner. The time in the bottom corner of the screen said 4:47 a.m. Nate found a wall to lean against and tugged the brim of his cap farther over his eyes, but no one gave him a second glance.
His wait lasted only a few minutes by the time Wesley was wheeled out. Nate led them to his SUV and, after covering thefront seat with the blanket Wesley had hidden beneath earlier, helped Wesley climb in and buckle up.
Chapter Five
The drive to Nate’s condo lasted all of ten minutes considering it was a few minutes past five a.m. at this point. The streets were mostly empty, and the sky had lightened a shade or two from the deep navy of the wee small hours. He dropped Wesley off next to the elevator door, parked in his slot, and jogged back to his guest. Wesley limped into the elevator and leaned wearily against the stainless-steel wall.
Fatigue pulled at Nate’s eyelids. They exited on the twelfth floor and Nate followed as Wesley made his way slowly down the corridor in the direction he’d indicated.
Once in the condo, Wesley shuffled past the main living space—kitchen, dining area, living room—to the bank of windows.
“Wow. Great view.”
Lights glittered across the northern part of the city. Headlights and taillights moved like the dot-eating monsters in the old Pac-Man game through the maze of streets and the freeway beyond, but the side streets were generally empty. Streetlights stood sentry in otherwise dark neighborhoods, their glow filtering through leafy trees.
“It is,” Nate agreed. The view was the only thing about the condo he liked, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. The Locomotives had made the arrangements for him—a couple of his teammates apparently lived in the building and had recommended it. It’s not that he didn’t appreciate having someplace to lay his head, he did. It was better than living in a hotel with his stuff in storage. Been there, done that. But this place fit him about as well as an outgrown pair of skates. He really needed to make time to find a new place before training camp got underway. Problem was, he didn’t know anythingabout Omaha. Which meant more time and effort to research. He had no idea what he was looking for. He’d know it when he saw it, right? And that’s what real estate agents were for, weren’t they?
Almost shoulder to shoulder, they stared into the early morning world, and for the first time in a long time, the chasm of loneliness that normally lived in his chest didn’t seem quite so wide.
Don’t get used to it.
Barring any serious medical setbacks, Wesley would be returning to his life in a day or so, and Nate would be alone again. Maybe he ought to get a roommate. Take on a rookie. The Locomotives had one, didn’t they? Nate swiped a hand down his face, whiskers prickling his palm. Jesus, he really needed to study the composition of his new team.
The silence was broken when Wesley’s jaw cracked with a huge yawn followed by a moan. “Oh, God, my whole head hurtths.” His voice was rough, a bit frayed at the edges, like speaking took effort. His shoulders sagged and he listed toward Nate.
Nate bumped his shoulder gently. “Yep, it will for a while. Come on. Spare room’s this way,” said Nate, leading the way.
He flipped on the overhead light and moved a pile of folded towels from the bed to the old wooden desk. He pulled down the covers and waved toward the door. “Bathroom’s across the hall.”
Large hands and elegant fingers twisted at Wesley’s mid-section where the two bottom corners of his ruined blouse had been tied closed. Hands and fingers that had touched Nate, had already coaxed pleasure and powerful orgasms. Desire stirred deep within, but he clenched his abs to stay any outward evidence of arousal. The guy had been through enough. He didn’t need Nate lusting after him. Nate dragged his gaze to Wesley’s face.
Wesley remained in the doorway, a grimace on his face, top teeth digging into his plush bottom lip.
“What’s the matter?”
