Page 96 of Game Misconduct

Tanner mopped up the worst of the mess with an old shirt, tugged on underwear, and opened his bedroom door. When he did, he yelped as he came face-to-face with Mickey who was just coming out of the bathroom.

Mickey looked equally startled and they just stared at each other in the dim hallway for a moment. A nightlight glowed in the plug on the floor and the light from Tanner’s TV spilled out of his door.

Mickey and Rafe had the main bedroom—the one with the en suite bathroom—because Tanner had wanted the bigger closet in the second bedroom. The bathroom was right across the hall from Tanner’s bedroom and Mickey hardly ever used it.

“What are you doing here?” Tanner blurted out, wondering if Mickey had overheard him and Leif in his room. Tanner’s earbuds had died partway through their conversation, and he hadn’t been able to find his charging cable, so he’d switched to using the phone speaker. What if Mickey had recognized Leif’s voice or heard Tanner say Leif’s name or call him princess?

Shit.

Mickey raised an eyebrow. “Something Rafe ate isn’t agreeing with his stomach so he’s using our bathroom, and I wanted to pee before bed. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Right,” Tanner said. “No of course not. Makes sense. Hope he feels better soon.”

“I’m sure he will. I got him some electrolytes and ginger tea.”

They stared at each other for another long, tense moment. Tanner resisted the urge to explain what he was doing or fidget or …

“I was just talking to someone on a video chat,” he blurted out. Damn it, that part was supposed to stay inside his head.

Mickey’s gaze strayed to his stomach. “Apparently.”

Tanner nodded. “Yep. So that was fun.”

“Good. Is this the same person who you talked to before?”

“Umm,” Tanner said. “Yeah, probably.”

“You don’t remember?”

“No, I do,” Tanner said hastily because he was kind of a manwhore, but he wasn’tthatbad. Also, he wasn’t going to forget Leif. Not that he was going to tell Mickey that. “I just, um, didn’t want you to think I was going to get you sick again or anything.”

“No, Rafe is the one who is sick now.”

“That wasn’t my fault this time!” Tanner yelped. “I swear!”

He still felt so bad that last year he’d made out with someone who had some kind of virus or whatever that had gotten everyone on the team sick. The whole situation had been horrible, and it was what had caused Mickey to have the ear infection that everyone thought was a concussion. Tanner was pretty sure he’d single-handedly cost the team the chance of making much of a playoff run.

Which was almost impressive, when he thought about it that way. He wasthatimportant.

“I know that,” Mickey said calmly. “No one is blaming you.”

“Now,” Tanner said darkly, because on the wall of the locker room there was still a whiteboard sign with a picture of him and the words “My name is Tanner Clayton. It has been ___ days since I got anyone sick.” So rude. His team was full of assholes.

Although he was rather proud of his latest streak. And he was pretty sure that the latest sniffles were just from everyone coming back from Bye week after a bunch of travel.

Maybe Erik Wyatt had picked a bug up from the college student he’d hooked up with in Cabo. Maybe Anker had picked it up from someone sneezing on his flight back from Antigua. Tanner couldn’tpossiblybe to blame for every sickness.

“Well,” Mickey said. “It’s good that you’re seeing someone.”

“I’m not seeing anyone!” Tanner protested. “We’re just like … having some fun.”

“Why don’t you meet up in person?”

“Oh, he doesn’t live in Boston. He lives in New Y—the New England area,” Tanner corrected, trying to keep it vague. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure if New York was part of the new England area or not. He was pretty sure Boston was though. Whatever, Mickey was from Germany. How would he know? “He’s, you know … close-ish but not close enough to hook up with in person on the reg.”

“It’s nice that he is important enough to you that you would rather see him on your phone than see someone else in person.”

Tanner blinked. “Well, I don’t know aboutthat.”