Page 192 of Game Misconduct

“Okay,” Leif said. “Do you think love is enough for me and Tanner?”

His dad smiled. “I hope so. It’ll be hard being on two different teams?—”

“He’s going to request a trade,” Leif admitted, under his breath. “He hasn’t told Gavin yet, but …”

“Wow. That’s huge.”

Leif nodded.

“Then I’d say you two are off to a good start.” His dad smiled faintly. “And that’s another tick in the column of me saying yes to New York then, huh?”

Leif grinned, already feeling a spark of excitement about what next season could bring.

Tanner eventually found Gavin on the rooftop patio.

The sun was beating down, and Gavin had his short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned, showing off a slice of tanned chest and stomach.It was covered in fuzzy silver hair, and Tanner eyed his GM appreciatively for a moment.

Damn, he could get it for an old guy too. Good for Dakota.

“Uhh,” Tanner said, clearing his throat. “Gav?”

He sat upright, squinting at Tanner for a moment before he shaded his eyes. “Hey, Tanner. Everything alright?”

Tanner stepped in front of Gavin, blocking the sun a little and he lowered his hand.

Tanner took a deep breath. “I want you to trade me to the Rockets.”

Gavin stared at him, water bottle hanging loosely from his fingertips. “I’m sorry. I must still be more drunk than I thought. I thought I heard you say you wanted to be traded to theNew York Rockets.”

“No, you heard me right,” Tanner said.

Gavin straightened, setting his water on the side table. “Is this because of Rasmussen?”

“Well yeah. It’s not like I’d want to go play for a shit-ass team like that otherwise,” he said with a snort.

“Tanner, we justwon a Cup.”

“I know! Neat, huh?”

Gavin rubbed his forehead. “Most guys don’t want to leave the team they just won with.”

“Well, I don’twantto leave,” Tanner said. “But I want to be with Leif.”

“And you can’t do that from a distance?”

“Nope. I mean, Ican, but it’ll suck and I’ll be distracted all the time.”

Gavin sighed but he didn’t say anything.

“So I was thinking I’d tell you and like, we can figure out what’ll work.”

“We really should be discussing this through your agent.” Gavin rubbed his head again.

“He already knows but I told him I wanted to let you know in person because I didn’t want to totally take you by surprise.”

“And yet here I am,” Gavin muttered.

“Crawford’s retiring now, isn’t he?”