CHAPTER TWELVE #2
“Yeah?” Tanner asked, surprised. He was usually pretty proud of his play but man, that was nice to hear. Especially from someone like Zane Murphy.
Zane clapped him on the shoulder. “Really. Keep it up, Clayton.”
“Awesome!” Tanner beamed. That kinda shit made him feel like he might actually be a grown-up player someday.
Of course, twenty minutes later, he got back to his room and realized he’d left his key card in the room and he’d have to go down to the desk to get a new one. He might be good at the whole hockey thing, but he definitely didn’t have it all together in other ways.
You win some, you lose some, he decided with a shrug as he returned to his room, let himself in, and began trying to pack.
At least he had hockey.
Leif had just tucked the last of his belongings into his suitcase and finished a sweep of the room to be sure he hadn’t missed anything—he hadn’t, he never did—when he got a text message.
It was from Tanner and it was only a picture of his charging cable on Tanner’s messy bed. After the first night Leif loaned it to him, Tanner had forgotten to take the cord with him. He’d eventually just started plugging in his phone whenever he was in Leif’s room.
Last night, Leif had brought the cable with him when he came to Tanner’s room, knowing his phone was probably already dead.
What? Leif sent back now in answer.
Cum get ur cable
Leif rolled his eyes at the spelling. It’s a gift, he explained. You keep it.
Cum here anyway. That message was accompanied by winky face and tongue out emojis. Leif sighed.
He’d sort of expected this. Not so much the cable thing but Tanner wanting one last hookup. There was a reason Leif had left himself some extra time before he needed to leave for the airport.
Okay, so, maybe he wanted it too.
It didn’t take him long to get to Tanner’s floor. He got a couple of confused looks from Team USA guys dragging their luggage to the elevator, but he didn’t know any of them well and he waited until they’d disappeared before he knocked, then used his key card on Tanner’s door.
He’d grabbed the card this morning to get Tanner breakfast. It didn’t seem to work now though, so he knocked again.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Tanner said when he opened the door. “I left my card here in the room this morning and had to get a new one after breakfast. They must have deactivated the old ones.”
“You are a walking, talking disaster, aren’t you?” Leif asked.
“Pretty much.” Tanner grinned.
“How’s the hangover?”
“Better. Thanks to you.” Tanner turned away, walking farther into the room.
“Yeah?” Leif hid a smile and followed him.
“Yeah. I remember you making me drink some electrolytes last night and the coffee and food really helped this morning.”
“Good.”
“I should really thank you for that,” Tanner said, stopping at the foot of the bed and turning to face him again.
He hooked a finger in Leif’s belt loop. “And make up for being too drunk to fuck last night. Thanks for that, by the way. I would have been happy to have sex, but it was the right thing to do.”
Leif nodded, glancing around. Jesus, it looked like a bomb had gone off in here. Tanner’s shit was everywhere.
Tanner tugged at him again. “Dude, seriously. Come over here. Let me make it up to you.”
“Oh my God, you’re not packed at all,” Leif said, horrified.
“You’re worried about that when I could be sucking your dick?”
“Yes.”
Tanner groaned. “You are so boring, dude.”
“I’m responsible.”
“I usually just jam everything in my suitcase, sit on it, then zip it shut anyway,” Tanner said with a shrug.
Leif shook his head. “Not this time. I’m going to show you how to pack properly.”
“Uuugh.” Tanner flopped back on the bed. “You suck.”
“Not until after we pack.”
Tanner sat up. “Did you just make a sex joke?”
“Maybe.” Leif began to sort things into piles by type, grimacing when he realized that the dirty clothes were mixed in with the ones that still seemed clean.
He retrieved a laundry bag from the closet, tucked the dirty clothing in there, and zipped it into one of the luggage compartments.
He’d just begun to pack when he heard a weird beeping noise.
He glanced up to see that Tanner was playing games on his phone.
“You are supposed to be paying attention,” Leif pointed out.
Tanner didn’t lower his phone. “But you’re doing so good by yourself.”
“How are you going to learn?” Leif asked.
“Bold of you to assume I care if my suitcase is a hot mess or not.”
Leif sighed and took a seat on the bed. “You’re impossible.”
“That’s why you like me.”
“Do I?” Leif asked. “Because I am not sure I can like a guy who doesn’t care if his toiletry bag smells like foot funk.”
Tanner tossed his phone on the bed and, anticipating it, Leif caught it before it could end up on the floor. “Also bold of you to assume I care if you like me.”
Leif snorted. “You have been trying to make me like you for a decade.”
Tanner sat up, crawling on his hands and knees across the bed and dislodging the neat piles Leif had made. “I think maybe it’s working.”
With a groan, Leif grabbed him and pulled him closer. “I think maybe it is,” he whispered before he kissed him.
Somehow, nearly an hour later, Leif finally left Tanner’s room. They’d given each other blowjobs, then returned to packing. Well, Leif packed while Tanner flirted with him and talked about how they could meet up whenever they were in each other’s cities.
“And we can do sexy video chats!” Tanner had called as Leif walked out the door.
Grateful the hall was empty now, Leif was still shaking his head about that comment long after he returned to his floor, fetched his luggage, then went down to the lobby to wait for his ride to the airport.