Page 81 of The Head Game

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Right. Okay.”

“Make the call,” she urged. “Unless you’re planning to walk out the door and try to bluff your way through this, you need to look like a fiancé now. It will look better when the inevitable suspension happens.”

“Shit.” August rubbed his forehead.

“Play the doting fiancé card. It’ll work. You can talk to Nico about the situation as soon as he’s up for it but for your own sake, you need to get on top of this before it’s completely out of your control.”

He swallowed hard, nodding. He couldn’t keep putting this off and hoping it would go away. “You’re right.”

“I usually am.” She smiled, although there was something in her expression that made August decide he never wanted to be on her bad side.

“And you really do feel like this is the best way to handle this?” he asked.

“I do,” she said firmly. “I think it’s the best thing for the team, for Nico, and for you.”

“Okay.” August pulled in a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll go along with the fake engagement for now and once Nico knows, we’ll figure out a plan together for what we want to do.”

“Perfect. In the meantime, no one from the Fisher Cats will confirm or deny anything.”

He frowned. “Aren’t you going to need to make a public statement to the press? They must be hounding you about this.”

“There’s a reason the phrase ‘no comment’ was invented,” she said with a wry little grin. “We’ll simply limit questions to Nico’s health and well-being. We’ll tell the media our focus is on that and any questions regarding your relationship will be addressed at an appropriate time.”

“If you think that’ll work …”

“It will,” Kate said. “I’ll make it work. And honestly, it’s up to you. Your career is on the line here, August. Nico will get a slap on the wrist at most. And realistically, he probably won’t get anything unless they decide to make an example of him because of the new Code of Conduct. It doesn’t matter how a player feels about an official. It’s the official who needs to remain impartial.”

And August nodded because she was right.

It was his career in jeopardy and he had no one to blame but himself for that.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Five days after Nico’s surgery, he was finally allowed to go home.

He sat in a wheelchair in the elevator on the way down to the lobby, still tired and frustrated by the restrictions. He’d been ready to go home for the past couple of days and waiting was killing him.

He was desperately looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and not having everyone fussing all the time.

Of course, his parents were staying with him for a while so the fussing wasn’t going to end completely. But at least he wouldn’t have a nurse waking him up in the middle of the night anymore.

Everyone kept talking about how much he needed to rest but how was he supposed to do that when they interrupted his sleep constantly?

Nico was grateful for August though.

He was quiet and steady. Yesterday he’d managed to politely herd Nico’s family out of the room to give Nico a break when they started arguing about if he needed an in-home nurse or not.

Nico still had no memory of being engaged to him but this morning when Nico had tried to apologize, August had frowned, glancing over at the nurse who was answering some questions Nico’s parents had about the discharge instructions.

“Don’t worry about it,” he’d said. “We can talk about it more later when you’re feeling up to it.”

But Nico felt bad. How could he forget his fiancé?

Did that make him an asshole? Well, he was definitely an asshole but he didn’t usually forget people.

Nico slouched in the chair as he was wheeled through the lobby. Everyone had circled around to hide him from view but the last thing Nico wanted was for the public to see him like this.

Eventually, he was going to rock the short hair look but for now he’d put a toque on to cover the bandage. He still looked rough and he knew it.

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