Page 71 of Game Misconduct

“You did. Jeff was really impressed with your game-tying goal in the semifinal. He was bragging to all of his buddies about it.”

Dude, his stepdad was the fucking best. “And it was a great experience. I got to hang out with a ton of the guys in the Out in the NHL chat, and it was just really cool.”

And then there was Leif.

“By the way, what did you say to Leif Rasmussen after you knocked him out of the semifinal?” his mom asked, because she had the weirdest ability to read his mind. “I’ve been wondering about that.”

“Uhh. Something I shouldn’t have.”

“Baby …” She gave him a look.

“I know. But I apologized!” He took a sip of Coke, the bubbles tickling his nose.

Frowning, she studied his face. “And he accepted it without punching you in the face?”

Tanner grinned. “Eventually.”

“Well, I’m glad you two managed to behave. I’malwaysglad when you two can get along.”

“Mmm,” Tanner said, taking a sip of his Coke because if he said anything else he’d get himself in trouble.

“Tan …”

“What?” He looked up at his mom and widened his eyes. Not that the innocent look ever worked on her but …

“What did you do?” She set her mug down and crossed her arms.

“Umm, why do you think I did something?” he asked, making another attempt at an innocent look.

She laughed. “Because Iknowyou.”

“Leif and me, we, uh, wekindahookedupatthetourney,” he mumbled against the rim of his glass before he took another sip.

“I’m sorry, did you say that you twohooked up?”

“Mayyybee.” He shifted on the stool, hooking his ankles around the bars so he didn’t start bouncing his knee.

“Tanner Vernon Clayton.” She straightened, letting her arms drop. “Why? You know that didn’t end well last time!”

“It went betterthistime!” he protested, wincing that he’d been full named. He knew it was bad when she busted out the Vernon. He’d been named after her turnip farmer grandpa or something. He was ‘Tan’ when she was feeling soft and ‘Tanner Vernon Clayton’ when she was tempted to smack him upside the head to knock some sense into him.

His mom shot him a skeptical, unimpressed look. Yeah, she was definitely thinking about smacking him upside the head.

“It did! I mean he stayed in Chicago after the Nordic team got knocked out so we could keep hooking up. Like, what more do you want?”

She frowned, her expression turning thoughtful now. “Oh, this ismorethan hooking up then.”

“What?” Tanner laughed, confused. “No. What are you talking about? It’s nothing serious.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Of course I am. We’re just … having fun, you know?” But then he thought about the movie night after Leif had lost and whenTanner had come back to the hotel drunk, and the way Leif had packed Tanner’s bag before he left.

Okay, maybe he’d only done that last one because he was weird and uptight. But still. Tanner felt a funny little lurch in his stomach.

“Are you going to keep seeing each other?”

“When our teams play each other, yeah.”