Page 152 of Game Misconduct

He’d hated Tanner Clayton six months ago. Hell,threemonths ago. So why did it feel like he couldn’t imagine being without him now?

“Fuck!” Leif smacked the back of an upholstered chair and wished he had something to throw. A stick to smash against the boards or something.

But there was just the rental apartment with its perfect un-mussed bland decor. And he could afford to pay for damages but the thought of making someone else clean up after his temper tantrum made him feel vaguely ill.

And if word got out … if he got the reputation for being “troubled” …

Leif bent over, grasping the back of the couch and breathing shallowly.

Jesus. He was about to get dumped by a guy he’d never actually been dating, and he’d wreck a rental apartment andJockGossipwould find out everything.

Leif was so deep in that spiral in his head that it wasn’t until he felt a hand on his back that he realized that someone had come in.

He let out a yelp, stifled it, then turned to see who it was.

ItwasTanner, thankfully.

It was Tanner and his curls were a mess and he wasn’t smiling—he lookedworried, in fact—and he was here. He’d shown up and …

Leif’s hands were trembling as he cupped Tanner’s face. “Fuck. You came.”

Tanner nodded. “I told you I would. I know I’m not, like,greatat following through, but I wanted you to know?—”

Leif cut off whatever he was going to say. He swept the words out of Tanner’s mouth with his tongue and kissed him deeply, kissing him and kissing him until Tanner finally placed a hand on his chest and pulled back.

Leif looked at him, worried he’d done something wrong, but Tanner was already undoing the buttons on Leif’s shirt and Leif worked on his belt and trousers before they turned their attention to Tanner’s clothes.

Once those were off too, he pulled him close. “I need to fuck you,” Leif heard himself saying in a shaky voice. “I need to fuck you.Please.”

“Okay. Okay.”

Tanner knelt down, digging through the overnight bag at his feet. He pulled out supplies, but when he turned, probably intending to stand, Leif knelt too and stopped him with a hand on his back. “Stay there,” he whispered.

Tanner craned his head to look over his shoulder at him but whatever he saw on Leif’s face made him nod and he passed the lube and condoms back.

Leif wanted to ask if they reallyneededthe condoms, but he also didn’t want to start a fight with Tanner, so he just pressed his lips together and got them both ready.

It didn’t take terribly long, and Leif let out a relieved breath once he was finally inside Tanner.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and he wasn’t even sure what he was apologizing for.

Tanner hung his head and said, “Me too. Now fuck me.”

So Leif did. He hung on, digging his fingers into Tanner’s hips, and fucking him like his life depended on it. Like his very next breath depended on it.

Tanner was vocal as always, egging him on, urging him to go faster, telling him how good it felt. Leif felt a sudden pang as he wondered if this would be the last time he ever heard Tanner’s nonsense, ever saw sweat bead up on his shoulders, or saw his toss his sweaty, tangled curls off his forehead.

After, when they lay there panting on the rug, sticky and messy, bodies wound together, he turned and pressed his lips to Tanner’s throat. To the exact spot where he’d thought about kissing him in that alley in Chicago and prayed that this wouldn’t be the last time.

It couldn’t be. It justcouldn’t.

Leif didn’t seem okay.

Tanner wasn’t sure what was wrong—not exactly—but he could tell that Leif was having some kind of crisis or something. For fuck’s sake, they were lying on the floor covered in all kinds of bodily fluids and Leif hadn’t even gotten up to take off the condom or clean up. If that wasn’t a crisis, Tanner didn’t know what was.

So after he caught his breath, and the sweat was beginning to cool, he tangled his fingers in the back of Leif’s hair and tugged, pulling him away from where he’d had his face tucked in the crook of his neck.

Leif blinked, looking a little grumpy, and Tanner frowned at him. “We should talk. We can’t avoid this forever.”