“How’d that go?” Not that he cared. Careful not to spill his drink, Nico stepped down and sat in the seat he’d been using before.
“Probably not as well as Kent was hoping. Mr. Rayner shook hands, then continued our conversation. Kent said something about seeing if you wanted a drink and left Seb with us.”
“That was . . .” Shitty of him. “Nice of him to think of me.”
“He took off before I could tell him I was going to get you something.” Luke took another drink. “It didn’t look like you two were discussing future plans.”
From the corner of his eye, Nico saw Luke look at him. He tried to feign interest in the game, but he couldn’t keep it up. “I told him you deserved much better than how he treated you. He told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. We agreed to disagree when you showed up.”
Luke watched him for a long moment, then leaned over and feathered a kiss on Nico’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“It’s true.” Nico put his hand on his cheek, feeling the warm ghost of Luke’s lips. “Your next boyfriend needs to treat you right. If you like . . .”
“Yeah?”
“If you like, when we’re done pretending to be boyfriends, you can let me . . . you know, tell you if they’re doing right by you.” He’d nearly slipped and offered to show him how he should be treated. But he wasn’t the one Luke wanted.
Even if Luke was vaguely curious about them, Nico hadn’t been acting one hundred percent himself. And as soon as he did, Luke would lose any interest. He’d be the Luke he’d first encountered at Harrison. Maybe a little less douchey, because they were friends.
Friends, and fake boyfriends.
He dropped his hand from his cheek.
Luke’s smile wavered, and he quickly took a drink. “Thanks, but I think I need to figure out who is treating me right on my own, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Luke put his feet on the cement wall, leaned back, and stared at the field. “Tell me what happened while I talked to Mr. Rayner. Obviously Nola’s pitching a good game.”
“Struck out five already.” Nico turned his attention to the game. “But the Phillies’ bats aren’t exactly on fire.”
“Yeah, but so long as Nola keeps the Cubbies off the bases, they don’t need more than the two they have.”
The inning ended and the next one began without either of them saying a word. Luke kept looking over his shoulder, but Kent never appeared.
God, even if Luke experienced the same electric spark between them, he so clearly wasn’t over his ex.
Nico shivered, cold and tired. If he had been in the outside seat, he’d have probably excused himself to get a drink and set off home. Gone for a run, and finally, finally set up the air mattress that had arrived before they’d left.
Luke
Luke: Thought you were just getting drinks.
Kent: Seb isn’t feeling well, so we left.
Luke: Sorry, hope he feels better.
Kent: Thanks, it’s just a migraine, He’ll be okay once he lies down.
Luke: What did you say to Nico?
Kent: You should ask him what he said. He cursed at me in Italian.
That sounded like Nico. Not the cursing part. But if he got mad at someone, he’d do it in Italian.
What happened that he swore at Kent? Whatever it was, it changed Nico’s mood. His step lost its spring and his smiles had turned stiff.
Fuck, fuckety, fuck, fuck, fuck! This was supposed to be a time to relax and have fun, not ramp up his anxiety. Maybe bringing Nico had been a mistake. Not because of Nico, but he should have figured Kent would be jealous. Shit. That was part of the reason he asked Nico. Wasn’t it?
The fact he couldn’t answer it easily told Luke this had gotten more complicated. Almost from the time they met, Nico had been good to him. Things seemed to just happen at the time Luke needed something. There was always too much food for one person, so Luke should eat with him or it would go bad. When the summer was over, Nico planned to send the stuff he’d bought for the apartment to his family, so no reason for Luke to kick in half. There was never an expectation for anything in return.
But they were also just friends. Nico made that clear when he told Luke how his next boyfriend should treat him. Which was consistent with everything he’d said before. Nico wasn’t ready to date.
So why had he agreed to practice with Luke?
Hell, why had Luke even suggested it?
Because he enjoyed the contact.
They both had.
And it didn’t necessarily mean anything more than that. You didn’t need to date someone to have sex. Friends with benefits, no strings attached, fuck buddies; those were things. They weren’t really Luke’s thing, but . . . .