Excerpt: The Game

Nathan looked like Peter -- disheveled, tired, and confused (if not mildly freaked out). He hadn't shaved in a few days (he was sporting stubble) and he was dressed in a ruffled blue button-up and black dress pants.

"This," Nathan said, shoving his Treo in Peter's face. Peter took it, slowly. "This is what I just got."

Looking down at the screen, Peter slowly read the message.

Yes, Nathan, Let him in already.

"Somebody's screwing with us," Nathan continued, sounding very, very annoyed. His entryway light was on, but the rest of the apartment was dark. Peter followed Nathan down the hall and into the kitchen, switching on lights as he went. "They know something about us and they're just trying to screw with us. Pranksters. It's no big deal."

Peter frowned, watching as Nathan moved to make coffee, filling the coffeemaker with water.

"They haven't told us anything that hasn't been published in the newspapers," Nathan said, confidently. "So we're just going to wait this out, and if it gets any more dangerous, we'll take it from there."

Peter hummed thoughtfully. He wondered if Nathan was saying this to try to calm Peter down, or to try to calm himself down. Or both. Peter knew how seriously Nathan took his role of "big brother" (a little too seriously, sometimes). If anything weird was happening, Nathan would want to console Peter. Unfortunately, his consolations weren't very soothing.

"You think I should just go home?" Peter asked.

"No," Nathan said, quickly. "They could be following us. And if you're not following the game, you might piss them off. We shouldn't give them a reason to attack."

Just then, Nathan's cell phone rang again.

"Fuck," Nathan growled. He pulled the Treo from Peter's hands. Peter quickly stood, going to look over Nathan's shoulder to read the message. It was only one word long:

She.

"She," Nathan repeated, menace in his voice. "Great, she. She. She apparently has my goddamn apartment bugged."

Peter stepped back, wordlessly, leaning against the kitchen wall. His phone was silent.

"You and me," Nathan said, "Are going to stay in today, and we're going to watch the Giants game on TV. And we're going to order a pizza. And we're going to just have... a nice time until this girl gets bored and stops texting. Okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Yeah, Nate," he said. "That sounds great." His tone was mostly dry, but it really had been a very long time since he and Nathan had "hung out". It was kind of sad that it took weird text messages to make them buddy up again.

"Come on." Nathan grabbed Peter's arm. "It's too damn early for this. I have a pair of pajamas with your name on them and coffee on a timer for nine o'clock. Sleep in a little."

Peter sighed, nodding. Nathan set down his Treo on the kitchen counter, and then, after a moment, picked it back up, turned it off, and set it back down. Peter followed suit.

Moving down the hall, Peter followed Nathan towards the man's bedroom. It was a nice place (a big place, definitely), but it only had one bedroom. Nathan didn't really need more, considering his separation from Heidi and his children. Of course, it wasn't something Peter was going to bring up randomly. Nathan was already having a rough night.