Page 195 of Game Misconduct

Thankfully, Tanner had gotten rid of a lot of random shit he didn’t really use, and he and Jesse, Mickey, and Rafe had managed to stuff it all into Tanner’s SUV with enough room for Jesse to fit in the passenger seat.

It had been weird leaving his old apartment, but, well,everythingwas changing.

Mickey and Rafe were taking over Tanner’s lease until they found a new place.

Crawford had officially retired from the NHL.

He was going to be taking over O’Neill’s, and Jesse had thrown an epic going-away party at O’Neill’s last night. The party had been both for Tanner and because Liam was retiring too and would officially be signing the bar over to Crawford in a few weeks.

Some of the speeches at the party had made Tanner cry, but Jesse had done what he did best and it wasn’t long before everyone was dancing, singing, and drinking.

The perfect way to end Tanner’s career in Boston.

The drive down to New York today had been a blast with Jesse riding shotgun. They had the tunes cranked, some top-notch snacks to munch on, and had made good time getting into Manhattan.

Although Tanner was still confused by why Connor had made Jesse promise not to get detained at the border. He was bad at knowing where shit was on a map—half the time he thought Boston was south of New York—but evenheknew they hadn’t gone anywhere near the Canadian border today.

Jesse tugged at Tanner’s shirt, and he collapsed onto the bed too, squirming until he could put his head on Jesse’s shoulder. They were both gross and sweaty, but it was nice anyway.

“Well, this is a pretty sweet place,” Jesse said. It sounded like he was grinning. “You happy?”

“Yeah.” Tanner beamed back. “Like …stupidhappy. I feel good about all of it. The trade. Moving in with Leif. I’m gonna miss you guys, but this feels like the right choice, you know?

“Good,” Jesse said, patting his thigh. “Hey, I’m gonna let Connor know I’ll stick around for another hour or so to help you finish unpacking, then head for the train station after.”

“Sounds good.”

Jesse grabbed his phone and stood, walking out of the room.

Tanner sighed happily and sprawled out with a contented sigh, even though he knew it was dangerous to get horizontal. He could totally end up stuck here. Oh well, Jesse would get him moving when he came back.

Tanner was pretty psyched to get his shit set up.

Leif’s Tribeca condo was fucking gorgeous, and Leif had given him a wholeroomto himself. They would sleep in the main bedroom together, but Tanner could do whatever he wanted with the second one.

He already had a comfy new bed that he was getting sweat all over—oops—and he was gonna set up a gaming area in here. It’d be nice to have a place to do his own thing when Leif needed peace and quiet.

“You don’t mind?” Tanner had asked, because it meant Leif had to move his desk into the open plan living/dining/kitchen area.

“If it means the mess stays in here and isn’t spread out everywhere else? Yes,” Leif had said, dropping a kiss on his lips.

Which … fair. It was a relief for Tanner to know he wasn’t going to feel like he had to be perfectly neat and tidyeverywhere. And this was way less stressful for Leif. Win-win.

“Okay,” Jesse said, coming back in. “You’ve got me for another hour before I head out.”

“Okay,” Tanner said, holding out his hand so Jesse would drag him to his feet. “Let’s get this shit done.”

It definitelywasn’tdone by the time Jesse needed to leave to catch his train, but Tanner hugged him hard anyway. “Gonna miss you,” he admitted, surprised by how watery eyed he was getting.

“Gonna miss you too. But I have a good feeling about your future in New York,” Jesse said.

Tanner smiled. “Me too.”

Half an hour later, Tanner had his head stuffed in the media console, trying to untangle the mess of cords for his gaming system.

While he’d packed in Boston, he’d started listening to a couple of Rockets podcasts, trying to get a feel for what the vibes around the team were. The one he liked best was calledLiftoff, whichwas hosted by a guy who went by Mac and another guy named Richie Robles.

Richie was an old, crusty dude who had never played hockey but had worked as a scout and Mac was a former college hockey player named Beauregard Major McCann III. It was literallythe mosthilarious name Tanner could imagine, and he didn’t blame the guy for going by Mac instead.