Page 15 of Game Misconduct

Leif ground his teeth together to stop himself from reaching out and doing something that would probably end with them tussling again. Or, worse, something he would regret even more. Especially in front of his father.

“What is it with you two?” his dad said with an amused look when Tanner was gone. “You really can’t let bygones be bygones?”

“Not when he’s an annoying prick all the time,” Leif said.

His dad gave him a disbelieving look. “And you’ve never done anything to deliberately antagonize him?”

Leif opened his mouth to protest. To say no, he definitely hadn’t, but that was a flat-out lie and he didn’t lie to his father. He never had.

“Maybesometimes,” he conceded.

Aksel grinned and shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”

CHAPTER THREE

FEBRUARY

Tanner fidgeted with his phone as he waited for the elevator to arrive on the second floor where the hotel bar was located. All of the other guys were there already—his phone had been blowing up with messages from the guys on the Out in the NHL app for the past ten minutes—and he was running late.

As usual.

But he’d gotten distracted texting a woman he’d hooked up with a couple of times before.

She was back in Boston, and he was in Toronto for the North Atlantic Ice Hockey Tournament so unfortunately, the super hot pics she’d sent him were kinda wasted. Well, not totally wasted—he’d definitely be jerking off to them in the future—but they weren’t going to lead to a repeat of their last hookup tonight.

He’d promised to make it up to her once he was back in Boston, but then his phone had blown up with messages, and he’d realized they were waiting for him at the bar.

Usually, the mid-season break meant going to the All-Star tournament. But this year they’d decided to do something new. Since NHL players still weren’t allowed to play in the Olympics—dumb, if you asked Tanner—they’d invented a new tourney.

He was psyched to be invited, even if he thought it was stupid they were holding it in Toronto and Chicago inFebruary.

“Going up?” someone said and Tanner glanced up from his phone to see a smoking-hot woman in a flight attendant uniform standing in the open doors of the elevator. She had curves for days and he was so focused on that it took him a moment for the words, “I’m heading down to the lobby,” to process.

He shook his head, glanced around, realized they were actually on the second floor, then stepped forward with a smile.

“I’d love to go down on—I mean,withyou,” he said with a wink. “But my friends are in the bar.”

He nodded at the entrance across the hall as they switched spots.

She rolled her eyes, grinned, and held up her left hand. “Happily married and you’re about a decade too young for me, honey, but I’m flattered.”

“I hope your spouse knows how lucky they are to have you!” Tanner called out as the doors closed.

With a spring in his step because flirting was his favorite pastime, he spun on his heel, walked over to the bar, and scanned the room. Ahh,therethey were.

There were several big groups of players in the bar tonight, but he was here for the queer gathering. The Out in the NHL guys were seated at a long row of padded benches along one wall, with chairs on the other side of the tables.

“I have arrived!” Tanner said grandly as he approached them, throwing his arms wide.

“Late as always!” Mickey Krause called out.

Tanner laughed and shrugged. He was used to the shit he got from his roommate by now.

A couple of guys stood and hugged Tanner—he got nearly squeezed to death by Matty Carlson, who he’d been partnered with at the skills camp in Evanston a lot last summer—and he hugged dudes and kissed cheeks and then he was shoved toward an empty spot on the benches.

A hot waiter came over to take Tanner’s order, and he flirted with him as he got his drink and caught up with guys around the table. It wasn’t until the dust settled that he realized who was sitting to his left. He glanced over and grinned at the familiar unhappy face.

“Oh, hey there, Princess!”