Page 158 of Game Misconduct

“That’s what it feels like. My brain. Like there’s a little hamster on a wheel and he’s going nine zillion miles an hour.”

“Huh,” Leif said.

“His name is Clarence.”

“Huh,” Leif said again.

“What do you call the thing in your head?”

“I don’t have a thing in my head.”

“No? Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure,” Leif said drily. “It’s a lot of panic and overthinking but it doesn’t look like anything.”

“Oh.” Tanner fell silent. “That sounds boring and annoying.”

Leif sighed and rolled over, pressing his lips to Tanner’s temple. “I love you and Clarence. Now will both of you shut up and go to sleep?”

Tanner smiled and snuggled closer to Leif. “Okay.”

And they did.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“Hey, Tommo! I need to talk to you,” Tanner said to Tom Bass as they skated off the ice after practice two days later.

Leif was back in New York, and they still didn’t really know what they were doing, but Tanner thought maybe Tom could help him figure it out.

Tom looked confused. “Okay? What’s up?”

“I’ll buy you lunch after we finish with stuff here.”

“I’m always up for lunch,” Tom said with a laugh. “But what is this about?”

“I’ll, uh, tell you when we’reatlunch.” Tanner rattled off the name of a nearby restaurant that he knew Tom liked.

“Sure.” Tom looked even more confused. “That sounds good. Let me text Krista to be sure it’ll work for her, okay?”

“Okay.”

Tanner reached for his phone, typing out a text to Leif.Hvng lunch with 1 of da boys. Talk 2nite!

“Okay,” Tanner said when they were at the restaurant later that afternoon and their hot waitress had set their food in front of them. “So I need to figure out something, and I think you can help me.”

Tom still looked amused. “Happy to help if you’ll tell me what’s going on.”

“How do youknowif you’re poly?” he asked, stabbing his chicken pasta with a fork. Fuck, he wasstarving.

“Oh.” Tom blinked. “For some reason, I didn’t think that was where this was going.”

“Where did you think it was going?” Tanner glanced up, catching the eye of a pretty blonde woman who took a seat at the table beside them.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, one thing to remember is that the community is trying to move away from using the word poly. Some Polynesian people feel that it is their word for their community.”

“Uhh,” Tanner said. “Honestly, I don’t even know what Polynesian people are.”

Tom smiled. “The indigenous people of the Polynesian islands. Like Hawaii, New Zealand?—”