Page 98 of Skins Game

Nicole raised one eyebrow. “Skins?”

This, Kingston could tell her. “My high school nickname was Skins. I discovered the gym during my sophomore year of upper school and played rugby on my school’s travel team. You know,murderball.I bulked up early, and people noticed I was always on the ‘skins’ team during pick-up games of absolutely anything because I was fifteen and wanted to show off.”

The funny little light he loved returned to her eyes.

“Rugby. Nickname. And lunch with a friend of yours.”

“Yes.”

She sat back on the bed a little. “Okay,for now.”

“I need to text Morrissey to tell him where our reservation is.”

Nicole looked off, and her head bobbled oddly as she asked, “Morrissey? Like Jim Morrissey?”

“Morrissey Sand.”

“Oh, okay.”

Kingston texted Morrissey,Rao’s, noon. DONT mention Im Last Chance. Just a sales guy at Sidewinder, but you know me from boarding school. You helped me get job at SG. *Not kidding.*

NOTHING about my parents etc.

40

Lunch with Morrissey

NICOLE LAMB

The next day at noon, Nicole sat across a round table from Morrissey Sand.

Kingston sat between them and had introduced them, but he seemed a little distant, like he knew they weren’t there to talk to him.

Morrissey’s pale blue eyes didn’t miss a thing, from her ringless hands when they shook to her cheap sundress from two years before. He watched how she awkwardly scooted in the chair Kingston held for her and fumbled with the thick menu.

Calculating.That’s the word that came to Nicole’s mind when she looked at his dark hair, loose and framing his face, and cold eyes:calculating.

All her mistakes and secrets rose in her mind, and she wondered if Morrissey Sand could pick them right out of her gray matter and examine them. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

Morrissey’s gaze raked over her like he was quantifying everything from her IQ to her cup size. “Likewise.”

After they’d ordered, Morrissey said to her, “So you asked to meet someone who knows him.”

“Well, yeah.” Way to put her on the spot. “I didn’t think he’d tell you that, though.”

“Kingston knows it’s best to tell me how to behave.”

She wasn’t going to be passed around Kingston’s friend group like a hot potato. “Otherwise, you might try to pick me up?”

“No. Otherwise, I might discuss coefficients of restitution with you the whole time and not get around to answering your real questions.”

“Are you an engineer?” she asked him, suddenly leaning in.

“Lawyer,” Morrissey said. “But my undergraduate degree was in physics.”

“That’s an interesting combination. Why?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to get a graduate degree in physics or math and end up working in the evil mines for Goldman Sachs.”