Page 114 of Game Misconduct

Entertain yourself,he got back.

Good ur back! Just got lectured by my roomies

About what?

They’re old.

What the hell does that mean?

Tanner grinned and typed out a reply to Leif.

He was so lost in the conversation he jerked in surprise when Connor called out, “Are you joining us today, Clayton?”

Tanner popped to his feet, horrified to realize the lounge had totally cleared out and his captain was already dressed in base layers.

“Coming!” he called out, stuffing his phone in his pocket. “Sorry! Coming!”

Fuck!Only he could manage to arrive early at HCI and somehowstillbe late to practice.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Goddamn,” Drew Palmer said with a low whistle as they dressed for warmups later that night. “That’s a hell of a hickey there, Rass.”

Leif’s face went hot and he glanced down. He hadn’tseenanything in the mirror earlier. He’d checked too. Maybe it showed up later?

Drew rotated his finger. “Not there. On the back of your neck.”

Leif slapped a hand to the spot, suddenly remembering the scrape of Tanner’s teeth against his skin and the wet heat of his mouth.Shit.They should have been more careful.

Drew smirked. “Guess we know who took it up the ass last night, huh, boys?”

There were a few laughs from around the room and Mirsad Renner turned away, looking vaguely disgusted.

Stomach churning, Leif was confused and a little horrified by the whole situation. He bit back the urge to correct Drew andtell him it had been this morning, not last night. But that would probably only add fuel to the fire.

Awkwardly aware that everyone except Renner was still staring at him. Leif went hot, then cold, glancing around the room like he was going to find some sort of help there.

“Hey, guys, knock it off,” Nicky said but it was halfhearted at best and in the background, someone muttered something. Nicky’s gaze met Leif’s, then slid away. From the guilty looks Ian Salter was shooting him,hefelt guilty too.

But Ian and Leif weren’t the kind of guys who spoke up much. They were more of the ‘keep your head down and get along’ types.

And he guessed maybe Nicky was too. He didn’t really know. Nicky hadn’t been around to lead the team much.

An ache built in Leif’s stomach. He hadn’t wanted to startanythinglike this.

Because what? Was he supposed to beashamedof bottoming? Like it would be fine if he was gay but not if he was the one who took it up the ass? Notthatold garbage.

Leif clenched his jaw, trying to come up with a decent retort, but Nicky glanced at the locker room clock on the wall and said, “Get moving, boys!”

Everyone hurried to finish dressing and they went through their usual routines. Nicky made a little speech about how important the game against D.C. was, that they needed to win tonight and that they all needed to pull together.

But it felt hollow after the mocking from Palmer. Half the guys in that locker room thought Leif’s sex life was a fucking joke. Theywere an older team, with more guys from the time before Noah Boucher came out.

New York was still stuck in that era and no one had done much to drag it into the future. It really hadn’t bothered Leif before but hearing the way Tanner talked about his team, about how tight the Harriers were, about how open and comfortable they were with queer players, well … it made Leif wish that the Rockets were different. Better.

As Leif filed out into the hallway, he caught Nicky’s gaze. Leif nodded at him in thanks for what he’d said. Had he done much? No. But it was more than anyone else had.

Nicky just frowned.