Page 74 of Game Misconduct

Mostly it was random nonsense from Tanner. Lots of stream-of-consciousness texts about his day or funny stories about what had happened in practice. Nothing too personal, really.

That was probably why it felt weird that he’d been quiet today. Maybe he was waiting for Leif to say something? But what? The last message had been about lunch at the practice facility. They’d been trying to one-up each other with the best meals the respective team chefs had prepared. Hardly anything serious orimportant.

Tired of making a big deal out of nothing, Leif finally typed out,What was the best thing that happened to you today?Then hitSend.

Leif promptly regretted it. Half an hour later, when there was still no answer, hereallyregretted it.

Stupid. Why did he care?

He scrolled through some other texts, responding to a few messages from friends and various guys he’d been vaguely flirting with. Sérgio was trying to get something going again but Leif hadn’t responded to his poor attempts.

Was he really supposed to go back to protein-shake-bland Sérgio when there was steak-and-lobster-tail sex with Tanner Clayton?

And then Leif groaned because it was ridiculous. Hehatedthe fact that Tanner was, hands down, the best hookup he’d ever had. That shouldn’t be true. He didn’t want that to be true.

But it was and he hadn’t replied to Leif’s message and Leif really, really hated that it bothered him.

He groaned again and tipped his head back. Was this his life now? Really?

No. They’d agreed they were going to keep seeing other people. And why not? He and Tanner would barely see each other formonths on end. What were they going to do? Jerk off on camera for each other and be content with that? Ridiculous.

There were millions of hot men in the area. Surely one of them could offer him more than Tanner.

Though, Tanner did have the advantage of actually understanding his schedule and commitments. The models Leif usually dated were always jetting off to shows in London or Paris or Rome. Hardly around more than Tanner would be.

So what was Leif going to do? Chat up the barista at the coffee shop in the Westchester practice facility? Hardly. The guy was cute but what on earth would they have in common?

Leif tossed his phone onto the cushion with an annoyed huff. He was being ridiculous.

He’d just reached for the television remote when his phone buzzed. He picked it up to see a reply from Tanner.Hung out with the fam! Gotta drive bk to Boston now tho. BORING. Text ltr.

Leif dithered over it for a moment before he reached for his earbuds. Why not? What else did he have to do tonight? Go all the way toBushwickto hook up withSérgio? No thank you.

“Uh, hi?” Tanner said when their call connected. “What’s up?”

“Is this okay?” Leif asked, suddenly wondering if he’d made a mistake. “I thought you might like to talk while you drove back to Boston but if it’ll be a distraction, I can?—”

“No! This is … this is fine.”

Leif frowned. Something still seemed off. “So you hung out with your family today?”

“Yeah. After practice I drove to Belmont and saw my mom and sisters. Jeff had a travel game.”

“Oh, he’s still coaching?”

That was the strange thing. Leif alreadyknewTanner’s family. He knew his mom was named Stephanie and she was dark-haired and pretty in a normal mom way. He knew Tanner’s sisters were Mia and Olivia and they were twins.

Tanner rambled on about family stuff for a minute before he said, “What did you do?”

“After practice I had a meeting with a brand I’m considering partnering with. Ran a few errands.”

“Cool. Uh, sounds fun.”

Leif’s frown deepened. “Why do you soundweird, Clayton?”

“Are we back to Clayton now?” Tanner asked.

“I don’t know,” Leif said slowly. “Arewe?”