Page 78 of The Head Game

“I’m sorry,” Kate said softly. “I shouldn’t have been quite so abrupt with you. I’m just very concerned about this situation. Let’s discuss how we want to handle this.”

Kate and Skylar took chairs so the three of them formed a small triangle at one end of the table. Kate set a bottle of water in front of August, then looked him in the eye. “I want you to be honest with me, August. Are you and Nico actually engaged?”

“No.” August squeezed his eyes shut. “We’re definitely not. I …”

“It’s partly my fault, Kate,” Skylar said. “I—”

Kate held up a hand. “Let’s start at the beginning. August, tell me exactly what’s happened between you and Nico and how this lie began.”

August reached for the water bottle, still feeling shaky. “Nico and I ran into each other on the sidewalk in Evanston after the jersey retirement ceremony …”

By the time he was finished, he was a little hoarse. “And I didn’t know how to get myself out of this situation,” he admitted. “I wanted to but …”

“That part’s kinda my fault,” Skylar said. “I … I don’t know. It sort of snowballed and got out of control. I asked August to wait with me during Nico’s surgery because I didn’t want to be alone but Isa was supposed to text me when they landed. Instead she just showed up. The nurse mentioned the fiancé to her and then I was trying to explain that no, Nico and I weren’t engaged. And then Nico’s parents sounded so relieved when they found out Nico had a fiancé after all and August showed back up and it … got even more complicated. Ugh. I’m sorry. I fucked up too so please don’t blame this all on August.”

Kate sighed. “You did make this a great deal more complicated, Skylar. But at least all of the pieces make sense now. I knew something felt off. This didn’t fit with anything I know about Nico and …”

“Yeah, I know it’s ludicrous to think we’d end up together,” August said. “Believe me. I’m aware we’d make no sense as a couple.”

“No, that wasn’t it. I know Nico was protective of you when the first article came out but the way he worded it didn’t mesh with the idea of you two being secretly engaged at all. When I saw the second one, my gut told me there was something hinky going on.”

“Yeah. Your gut was right.” August sighed. “I feel terrible I lied to anyone. That isn’t me and I truly regret it. Nico’s family is very nice and I’ve let them down.”

Not to mention Nico.

Kate nodded. “Explaining the truth won’t be pleasant, but I’m sure they’ll understand you were concerned about Nico and how the lie snowballed from there. But we have bigger issues at the moment.”

“Like my career being completely torpedoed?” he asked gloomily.

“I have thoughts on how we could manage this.”

August laughed hollowly. “Manage this? What is there to manage?”

“The public is aware you were at the hospital with Nico and his family. Even if you explained you weren’t his fiancé, the damage is done. The information has been picked up by major sports networks because it directly impacts actual game play.”

“Fuck.”

Kate continued. “The league will be investigating this. You have an intimate relationship with a player. And fiancé or not, that will be their primary concern.”

“Right. So I’m fucked.”

She let out a little humming noise. “Not necessarily. An engagement is something that can be sold.”

August blinked. “I … what are you suggesting?”

“You stay engaged to Nico.”

“We were never actually engaged!” he argued.

“Well, yes. Fine. You need to appear to stay engaged to Nico. You lean into the love story and sell it.”

“What? But … that’s … that’s completely insane,” August protested.

Skylar gave him a thoughtful look. “No, she’s right, Auggie. The public goes crazy for stories like this. Sell them a romance and they’ll forgive anything.”

“I don’t know,” he said doubtfully. “And why would the league care about what the public thinks about our relationship?”

“No, think about it. Nico and I talked about this last year. When everyone was outraged about Gabriel Theriault dating his coach—”

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