•spoilery-ish•

Nico, trying to get serious about his career and PhD, attends a conference in St. Louis where he runs into Jadon. Jadon is coping with his past trauma by running himself into the ground at work. When he's sent to a symposium at the same campus where Nico is, their chance encounter brings up old feelings, good and bad. But when Nico becomes the target of a stalker, they have to stay together to keep safe and catch the offender. 

We see Nico and Jadon in their meet cute short story ("Meet (Not Cute)", Tangents: Volume 1), but what we don't know until this book is that they started a texting friendship that ended when Jadon ghosted Nico. Jadon is going through it, rightfully so because he really has some trauma.  He stopped texting Nico because he has convinced himself he was so distracted by Shaw before that he missed the fact his partner was so evil, and he doesn't want that to happen again. He's running from his problems by burying himself in work and hoping everything goes away. When Nico comes back into his life, it's the wake up call that he needs. Nico sees how Jadon is worn down and pushes him to take care of himself and take the time to heal. Jadon is a sweet and patient man, and Nico is the spark of life he's been missing. I feel like I should've known more about Jadon's background, but I'm glad we get to a more rounded version of his character here and that he finally starts to recover from what he went through. 

Nico is just Nico. Bar the one scene from H&S: Union of Swords, I've always liked him even though he can be exasperating. He doesn't know exactly what he wants, he's always trying to impress other people, and copes with his insecurities by making everything a bit dramatic. Jadon ghosting him ramped up these insecurities even more but Jadon is so calm and cool that he has no problem calling Nico out on his shit. Jadon is truly interested in who Nico is as a person and wins him over by seeing through the shiny veneer to the nerdy and passionate guy underneath. He gives Nico a space where he's allowed to be his authentic, messy self, and Nico loves him for it. 

I'm so happy they found each other. They are good guys who were in love with people who couldn't love them back, but really they couldn't be more perfect for each other. The picnic date was all I needed to be sold on these two, but I do wish we got more of their texting relationship and how they went from two strangers on a couch to who they are in this book. It ends on a strong happy for now which work perfect for where they are at. 

The case was interesting but you could kind of tell what was going to happen. Poor Nico stuck in another traumatizing situation, but of course superhero Jadon is there to save the day. I loved the real talk scene with North and Shaw too, and I'm excited for more crossover shorts with Nico/Jadon and the whole gang. I'm so glad Ashe does these Sidetracks stories for our favorite side characters, hopefully there's more to come!

Read if you like:
• romantic suspense 
• Hazardverse 
• opposites attract  

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