6

Nico

By the time the seminar ended on the first day, Nico felt like someone had put him in the dryer to tumble for a couple of hours. All he’d done was sit, take notes, and occasionally try to answer mind-bending questions (scrambling, of course, to make a good impression while the other grad students in the room tried to do the exact same thing). But his body ached, and his head throbbed, and he had a mountain of reading to do overnight.

All of which meant that, when Kaylee said, “We should all go out for drinks,” Nico began thinking of excuses.

“Wipe that look off your face,” Maya murmured.

Nico whispered, “We’ve got two hundred pages of reading. For tomorrow, Maya.”

“This is a networking event, isn’t that what you said?”

“I could use a glass of wine,” Gio announced.

“There you go,” Nico whispered to Maya. “That’s the answer. Hard pass.”

“Nico and I are probably going to hit the library,” Clark said, his hand coming to rest on Nico’s shoulder again.

Nico shrugged him off. “Maybe I will get that drink.”

At least Maya had the decency not to laugh.

They emerged from Eldridge Hall into the evening gloom. It was a little past five, but in another hour, it would be full dark. Old-fashioned lampposts made islands in the evening, and every so often, the familiar blue light of an emergency call box broke the gathering shadows. A guy in Chouteau sweats sat on a bench, watching something on his phone. The smell of the leaves whisked past them on a breeze. Ridson and Gio were arguing about something that had come up in the seminar, and Kaylee was tapping on her phone (looking for a wine bar to impress Gio, Nico guessed), and the sounds seemed louder because the campus was so still.

“Are you sure you don’t want to have a study sesh in the library?” Clark asked in a low voice as he strode along next to Nico. “It could be like old times.”

“I’m sure.”

Clark laughed quietly.

“Nico?” It was the guy on the bench. And then, Nico realized with a start that the guy was Jadon. He jogged toward them, a smile forming on his face. Nico had forgotten how big he was—tall and muscled and solid. Right then, it felt disorienting.

Nudging Nico, Clark whispered, “Who’s he?”

“Hey, sorry.” Jadon thumbed at the bench. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

The murmurs between Ridson and Gio faded. Maya was watching Nico with bright eyes. Kaylee’s gaze whipped up from her phone and then back down again. The humor faded from Clark’s face, and he examined Jadon.

Then he stepped forward and held out a hand, “Clark Beaumont.”

“Hey, man. Jadon Reck.”

And because he was Jadon, he shook hands and smiled.

“We were going to get a drink,” Clark said. Now Clark was smiling, and it had a strange cast to it that Nico hadn’t seen before. “You’re a friend of Nico’s, right? Why don’t you join us?”

“Uh.” Jadon swung his gaze to Nico. “Well, I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute. If that’s all right.”

“Anywhere around here you recommend?” Clark asked a little too loudly.

Maya shoved Nico, and he stumbled and barely caught himself. With a glare back at his alleged friend, Nico straightened up and managed to say, “Just for a minute.”

“There’s this place called Allure.” Jadon gestured. “Just a few blocks that way.”

Clark stared at him. Then he said, “Nico, don’t take too long. It’s chilly out here.”

Nico moved down the sidewalk. He chafed his arms, wishing he’d brought a heavier sweater and, as an added bonus, mentally cursing Emery for being right. Again. Jadon kept pace with him until they stopped under the next lamppost. The yellow light dusted Jadon’s hair, the bridge of his nose. It glistened on a full lower lip. He smelled a little like a warm male body and a little like new clothes that hadn’t been washed yet.

“If it’s about your clothes, I can Venmo you—”

“Would you like to have dinner?”

“What?”

Jadon’s shoulders relaxed, and his smile stretched wider. “Dinner. It’s this thing where two people eat food together.”

“I already told you, I don’t expect—”

“But I promised, right? I told you next time you came to St. Louis, I’d take you to dinner. And I meant it. And we’re both here, and we both have to eat, and you don’t know St. Louis.” His grin flashed out again. “And I’ve got a car, so we don’t have to stay on campus.”

“You realize that’s basically a pickup line for undergrads.”

Jadon’s grin slanted into a smirk. “Plus I know this great bar where they don’t ID.”

In spite of himself, Nico laughed. Then the cold settled over him again, and he shifted his weight. “I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“Nico,” Clark called. “We’re waiting.”

A furrow creased Jadon’s brow. “Are you—” He stopped. “None of my business.”

“No,” Nico said in answer to the half-asked question. “God, no.”

The smirk slipped across Jadon’s mouth again. “I promise we’ll be fast.”

“He’d love to go,” Maya shouted.

“You don’t even know what he’s asking,” Nico snapped back. “He might be asking if he can harvest my organs.”

“Please,” Maya called. “Get him out of here.”

“It’s my duty as a police officer to help citizens in distress,” Jadon said.

Nico chose to ignore that. He eyed Jadon and said, “Aren’t you cold?”

“A little.” Then, with a quiet laugh, “I’m freezing.”

“How long have you been waiting out here?”

Jadon groaned. “Please don’t make me tell you.”

Nico almost laughed at that; it was a close thing, and he was still fighting to smooth out his mouth when he asked, “How’d you find me?”

“I’m a little offended. I am a detective, you know.”

“Or a stalker.”

Darkly sandy eyebrows arched in amusement. “I can have hobbies.”

“Have a great time,” Maya called. “See you tomorrow!”

“Nico.” Clark’s voice was crisp. “We’re leaving.”

“I—” Nico’s gaze swung from Jadon to his friends. “I think I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Clark’s—what was it? disapproval? anger?—hardened the lines of his body, visible even in the dusk. He turned and strode away, followed in a ragged line by the rest of the grad students. Maya was last, and she gave a little finger wave in parting. Nico thought she might have been laughing.

“Ready?” Jadon asked.

Nico managed not to sigh. He nodded. “Starving.”