Page 190 of Game Misconduct

“Hey,” he said, taking a seat next to her.

“Hei vennen min.” She set her phone down. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” Leif admitted. He’d gotten a lot more sleep than Tanner had but he also wasn’t running on pure Cup-fueled adrenaline. “Happy.”

“I like him,” she said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. He makes you smile more.”

Leif did smile at that. “He’s been driving me batshit crazy since we were sixteen.”

“I suspect he’s been trying to get your attention since the moment you met.”

Leif nodded. “Don’t tell anyone, but he’s—I think he’s going to ask for a trade to New York.”

“Oh wow. The relationshipisserious then.”

“Yes.” Leif chuckled at the idea that even his mom knew that nothing was more serious than a trade. No sign of commitment could mean more. “Hey, so, have you talked to Dad lately?”

“Some,” she said. “He was fairly drunk for a while there.”

Leif smiled because his dad wasn’t exactly a guy who got wild very often. Though he supposed that there was no better reason to let loose than coaching a Cup-winning team.

Tanner wandered around the O’Shea house, looking for Leif, but instead, he ran into Mickey and Rafe on the second floor.

“Hey, we were just looking for you!” Rafe said.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“We want to talk to you about something. Let’s sit,” Mickey said and Tanner got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.

There was a little sitting area on the second floor, so Tanner followed them into it. For some reason, he felt like he was about to get in trouble. He couldn’t stop jostling his knee up and down.

“Tanner.” Mickey took a seat and cleared his throat. “You know how much we have enjoyed living with you.”

Tanner smirked, relaxing a little. “Yeah, I know. I’mdelightful.”

Rafe grinned back, holding his hand up for a high five. Tanner leaned in and high-fived him back.

Mickey rolled his eyes. “But Rafe and I, we’ve been talking about this for a while. We think maybe it would be best if we—get our own place.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Tanner said with a sigh.

A startled expression crossed Mickey’s face and Rafe frowned at him.

“What?” Mickey asked hoarsely.

“Well, I didn’t know how to break it to you guys but, uh, I’m trying to get traded to New York.”

“You’re going to play for theRockets?” Rafe asked.

“Uhh, yeah. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?” Rafe looked hurt.

Tanner sighed. “Dude, I’m sorry. I … I really love this team. I don’t want to go anywhere. But I want to be with Leif and …”