Page 150 of Game Misconduct

He fumbled for his phone and winced at the number of missed messages from Leif. He groaned when he realized his earlier text hadn’t even sent. He must’ve shut his screen off before he hitSend.

Nooooo.

Leif was either super worried about him or super pissed. Maybe both.

Tanner mashed the green phone button with his finger and paced around the patio, chewing his thumbnail as he waited for Leif to pick up.

“What?” Leif snapped. “Finally done with your hookup?”

“What?” Tanner squinted. “What are youtalkingabout?”

“That’s where you were, right? Hooking up with someone?”

“No,” Tanner said with a confused laugh. “Why would you think that?”

“Whyelsewould you be unavailable for hours?”

“I love that you think my stamina’s that good, especially after a game,” Tanner said, frowning. “But I wasn’t fucking anyone, I swear. And why would you care if I am anyway?”

The phone went silent, and then he heard Leif swallow. “Uhh. Never mind.”

“No. Tell mewhy, Princess.”

“I’m not your Princess,” Leif snapped.

“Do you want to be?” The words slipped out before Tanner could even stop them.

The phone really went silent then.

“What does that even mean?” Leif asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Tanner admitted because this didn’t feel like the right time to tell him he was in love with him. Or figure out how they’d make a relationship work even if Leif felt the same way. “I … I’m not sure. But you’re mad at the idea of me being with someone else and earlier, I felt sick telling someone that I hated you and now I’m confused. But when I’m with you, it feels right, okay? That’s what I know.”

Leif was silent for so long that Tanner pulled his phone away to check to make sure he hadn’t, like, accidentally ended the call somehow or something. Because that would be just his luck.

When Leif finally spoke, all he said was, “Okay.”

“Okay what?” Tanner asked.

“Okay, we don’t know what it means but we know it means something.”

“Are you still mad at me?”

Leif sighed. “Just tell me why you bailed on me tonight.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’tmeanto. I fucked up.”

“So what’s going on? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“No. I mean, I’m okay. I’m not hurt. I, uh.Fuck… I have to figure out how to explain this.”

“Why does that sound like you’re trying to come up with a lie that I’ll believe.” Leif’s voice tightened up again.

“Fuck, no!” Tanner said. “No, that’s not it. I’m trying to figure out how to explain it without … without telling you something that someone I care about wouldn’t want me to share.”

“Oh.”

Tanner took a deep breath. “So you know I went to O’Neill’s Pub—that’s our big hangout place—to celebrate Crawford’s milestone, right?”