Page 196 of Game Misconduct

It would’ve been better if Rich’s name had something to do with cheese though, because a mac and cheese podcast would’ve rocked. That had sent Tanner down a rabbit hole—turned out there were several podcasts with that name already—but he was pretty intoLiftoffso far.

And sure, Leif had warned him that it was a bad idea to listen to one about his own team and that he’d probably hear something he didn’t like about himself. But so far, the guys seemed pretty into the trade.

They’d called him ‘worth the price’, which was great.

Mac suuure fucking seemed to hate Nicky Calhoun though, which Tanner found kinda funny.

Rich might be super old and crusty, but Mac was hot for a dude in his early forties, with thick dark hair and sharp, intense features. But today, he was on a fuckingtearabout Nicky to his co-host.

Tanner was laughing about one comment when his phone buzzed.

He nearly brained himself on the underside of the media console as he shimmied out and grabbed the phone where he’d left it onthe floor. Tanner paused the podcast so he could read the text. Itwasn’t from Leif like he’d expected, but a message from Nicky.

Hey, I’m near your building. Wanted to drop off a welcome to New York/moving gift. You around?

Tanner sent a thumbs-up emoji.Meet u there or u wanna cum up?

I can come up. Can you call the desk to okay it?

After Tanner called down, he stood, straightened his sweaty clothes, and glanced in a mirror. Yeah, his hair was a fucking wreck. He dug one of the brand-new Rockets caps from the box the media department had sent over and jammed it over the mess.

Whatever, he’d take a shower later anyway. With Leif, if he could talk him into it.

Tanner dicked around on his phone until Nicky got there and when he opened the door, Nicky was holding a crate so big it blocked his face.

“Dude,” Tanner said, opening the door.

“I might have gone a little bit overboard,” Nicky said, carrying the crate in and setting it on the counter with a thump. “But I amreallyexcited to have you on the team.”

“I’m excited to be here!”

“You’re looking good by the way,” Nicky said.

Tanner winked. “Hell yeah I am.”

Nicky laughed. “I meant the hat, but sure.”

“So can I open it or do I need to wait for Leif?” Tanner asked, already tugging at the ribbon that tied the crinkly, clear plastic shut.

“You can open it. It’s for you.”

Tanner inspected what was in the crate. Some of it was boring stuff like olive oil and sea salt and vanilla and shit. Leif was trying to teach him to cook but Tanner mostly liked distracting him, which usually ended up with Tanner on his knees and Leif’s cock in his mouth. So that part was fun.

The chopping and stirring bit wasn’t as exciting.

“I wasn’t sure what to get you,” Nicky said. “I mean I don’t know what you like, or what your diet is like, so I went for kind of a broad approach with New York-based small batch artisan stuff.”

“No, this is great,” Tanner said. “Leif will be super into the cooking stuff, and I’m hyped for the snacks. These cookies lookgreat.”

There was a bag of round cookies that were iced half white, half black.

“A New York classic,” Nicky said. “And kosher deli pickles, of course.”

“Crawford would love these,” Tanner said, inspecting the jar. “He has a pickle and peanut butter sandwich before every game.”

Nicky made a face. “I knew something was wrong with that guy.”

Tanner laughed and reached for his phone to take a picture of the crate to send to Leif. Also, he was going to send one to Connor and ask him why he’d never gotten a welcome basketfromhim. He needed to level the fuck up. “Seriously, thank you. This is awesome.”