Page 165 of Game Misconduct

Connor flashed a smile Jesse’s way and Jesse blew him a kiss across the locker room. Tanner caught a glimpse of Tom smiling at their interaction and Mickey and Rafe were talking quietly and intently off to one side.

Sure, they’d lost game four after an unexpected rally by the Rockets but that was agoodthing, right? It was more fun to play against a team who was fighting for it.

Yeah, that sweep in the first round had been nice. It had given the Harriers some rest, but it was more fun tocompete. To feel like they’d reallyearnedit, instead of just going up against a team too banged-up and too outclassed to put up a fight.

Besides, as frustrating as he was on the ice, watching Leif play was something Tanner could never get enough of. He was so fucking gorgeous out there, lean and quick, his eyes narrowed as he focused on the play.

His hockey made Tanner hot and the win they’d gotten had fired Leif up too. They’d both been too gassed to do anything after the game two nights ago, but the second they’d gotten on video chat last night Leif had been pushy and demanding. Tanner had sighed happily and let Leif tell him what to do as he fucked his hole with a toy.

Winning Leif was horny Leif and Tanner would always support that.

He laughed to himself. Well, up to a point. There was no way infuckhe was letting the Rockets beat them tonight.

When the guys were dressed and ready to head out onto the ice for warmups, Tanner turned and faced the room.

“Who’s the hottest team in the league?” Tanner shouted over the music.

“We are!” Guys chorused back.

“Who’s going to kick some Rocket ass tonight?” he fired back.

“We are!”

“Let’s do this thaaaaaaaaaaang,” Tanner bellowed.

He turned to Crawford and they did their usual handshake that always ended with simultaneous punches to the chest.

Luke looked feral already, his smile promising all sorts of nasty things for the Rockets, and Tanner silently prayed that he didn’t, like …totallydestroy his boyfriend or anything.

He kinda needed him in one piece after this was all over.

A few minutes later, as Tanner burst out of the tunnel and onto the ice behind Jesse, he whooped, grinning manically at the cheers from the crowd. He fucked loved Harriers fans.

The whole game it felt like there were sparks in his veins, pushing him forward, making him play even harder.

He got an assist in the first period when he fed the puck to Anker, who tucked it neatly behind Roman Poole.

“I fucking told you he was favoring his left side,” Tanner shouted to Anker after.

“Good catch!” Anker said, bonking him on the helmet, and Tanner beamed.

He’d noticed it in the previous game. He wasn’t sure if it was that Poole was just old or if he was hurt but his reaction times when he was pushing left to right were slower.

Tanner might be shit at a lot of things, but reading a goalie? Yeah, he was fucking good at that.

By the end of the second period, the Harriers were up 2-1 and although it was nowhere near a comfortable lead, the vibes were good as the team filtered off the ice.

Leif wished his team had managed to even the score up before the end of the second period, but Nicky seemed determined to remain optimistic that they could do it.

He stood by the door to the tunnel, tapping guys on the back as they left the ice and saying things like, “Poole, great save there against Pennington. Good job against the boards, Renner, keep it up. Rasmussen, great chances there at the end, keep going, the puck’ll go in soon.”

It better fucking go in, Leif thought, because if this shitty puck luck continued, he was going to fucking lose it. But he nodded and tried to let Nicky’s positivity flow through him.

Tanner had been a fucking menace all night too, driving Leif absolutely up the wall. He’d been disrupting Leif’s shooting lanes and trying to draw a penalty every chance he had.

He wasn’t quite as mouthy as usual, but probably only because the pace of playoff games was too fast. He needed that oxygen to keep going more than he needed to shoot off his mouth.

Though, being Tanner, he still managed more of it than most.