Page 181 of Game Misconduct

“Plenty!” Leif snapped. “She managed to cut her wrist with it.” He pointed at the small drops of blood on the carpet. “Seriously. What were youthinking?”

Tanner shrugged. “It worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, because you werelucky.”

“Actually, he handled that pretty good,” one of the security guards still standing nearby said with a shrug. “He got her to drop the weapon before she could hurt herself or anyone else. That’s some impressive de-escalation stuff there.”

Leif glared at the guy. “Don’tencourage him!”

“You’re no fun,” Tanner scoffed.

“It’s more fun if you’re alive, you dummy!” Leif’s hands were shaking as he cupped Tanner’s cheeks. “Seriously. I know youhave a big heart and want to help people, but I want you tostay alive, okay?”

“Hey.” Tanner frowned. “You were really worried.”

“No shit!” Leif said, still holding him in place. “Iloveyou.”

“Aww,” someone said in the background, and it hit Leif that he’d kinda … outed their relationship.

Fuck.He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Tanner’s to give himself a minute. This was not good. This was not good atall.

Tanner reached up, gripping the back of Leif’s shirt. “I love you too, Princess. And I’m sorry I scared you.”

Leif sighed.Finally.Maybe the apology meant that he wouldn’t do something so reckless and stupid again. Of course, it wasTanner. This was pretty much what Leif had signed up for.

For the rest of his life. If he was lucky.

Leif brushed their lips together, then drew back, taking a moment to study Tanner’s face.

It was the same face he’d looked at almost a year ago in the alley in Chicago. And yet, he felt so different when he looked at it now. It filled him with worry at the moment, yes, but there was love and tenderness now.

Leif dropped his hands and turned to face the people in the room, but before anyone said anything, Tanner took his hand and said, “So yeah, Leif and me are together.”

“What the fuck?” Connor said. “Sincewhen?”

“My money’s on the North Atlantic tournament,” Jesse said. He narrowed his eyes. “Unless something happened last summer?”

Tanner grinned. “Right to both!”

“How the fuck does he know that?” Leif whispered.

“Goalies are weird and magical?” Tanner said with a shrug.

“Oh my God! Sorry!” Mandy said breathlessly as she stepped into the room, with a gaggle of SAPs trailing behind her. “We took forever taking pics and then the elevator was super slow.”

She glanced around the room. Darla was gone, thankfully, although a couple of security guards still stood there and Tom had his arms wrapped tightly around a trembling Krista.

“Uhh, guys?” Mandy said with a tilt of her head. “What thehelldid we just miss?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Tanner never fucking wanted to go through anything like the shit with Darla during the playoffs again.

It had been difficult enough trying to pull out wins against L.A. when theyweren’tdealing with being interviewed by the Boston police and shit, but it was distracting as hell when they were.

In the locker room before game four, Tom kept trying to apologize for his personal life impacting the team that way until Connor gruffly told him to shut it. Jesse rolled his eyes and assured Tom that no one blamed him. There was no way he could have known this would happen.

“Honestly,” he’d joked, tossing a smile at Tanner. “I think we all assumed it would be Tanner who brought home a stalker.”