CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #2
It had been really bad for players for a while there, especially in Toronto. According to Jesse, they’d been getting tips from a source within the Fisher Cats organization.
Wild.
The source had been fired or left or whatever and things had gone pretty quiet for a couple of years now. But it had picked up steam again in LA lately and sometimes Tanner saw stuff posted from New York or Dallas or other places around the league.
The sound of tires squealing nearby made Tanner glance around and he realized it was a car taking a corner too fast and he was parked in his spot at the Harriers’ Community Ice Complex ramp with zero memory of actually getting there.
He shut off his SUV then hopped out. The place was fucking deserted. Most of the player spots were empty and apparently, he was one of the first people on the team to arrive at the practice facility.
Weird, because he was usually one of the last.
Paulo Rocca, the team chef, did a double take when Tanner wandered into the kitchen area. Erik Wyatt and one of the call-ups were there, hunched over their plates and still looking half-asleep.
“Omelet?” Paulo offered.
Tanner shook his head. “I ate. Thanks, Paulsey.”
Paulo looked really confused because Tanner always ate breakfast at HCI but he nodded and didn’t comment when Tanner grabbed a couple of already cooked turkey sausage links to munch on as he ambled out of the kitchen.
Dude, this place was a fucking ghost town.
Maybe Tanner should have gone home first; it just seemed stupid not to head straight from the rental apartment to HCI. He was afraid if he sat down on the couch, he’d never get moving again.
The couch here was fine though because his teammates would drag him into the locker room when it was time to get ready, so he flopped down onto the one in the lounge area and turned on the TV.
There was an action movie playing that he’d seen before so he left it on. It made for nice background noise.
Tanner sent a message to Leif. Dude, I’m early AF today.
He got a reply back almost immediately. To practice?
Yeah.
For the first time ever?
Ha ha, Tanner sent back even though it was totally true. What’re you up 2?
Sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff.
DC next, yeah?
If we ever take off.
2 bad we couldn’t stay at the apt. Last night was fun
Yeah, it was. I ran into a fan of my dad’s while waiting for my ride though.
Tanner sent back a bunch of exclamation marks in response, then, Really??
Uhh, yeah. He asked some questions about what I was doing there. I just told him I was staying with a friend but …
Tanner chewed his lip. Shit. That wasn’t great. He was tempted to joke that it was probably someone from JockGossip but he had a feeling it would stress Leif out. We’ll b fine, he sent instead.
Will we?
Promise.
You can’t promise that.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Tanner glanced up from his phone to see Graham Pennington staring like he’d seen a ghost.
“Practice,” Tanner said with as much of a straight face as he could manage.
Graham made a face. “I know that. I just mean why are you here at this hour? You’re usually sliding in at the last second.”
“I stayed at someone’s place last night and they had to leave early for work,” Tanner said vaguely. “So I drove straight here rather than go home. That’s all.”
“Ahh. Good night?”
“Yeah.” Tanner smiled and waggled his eyebrows. “It was. Once last night, twice this morning.”
Graham winced. “Shit, dude. You’re gonna be gassed at practice.”
Tanner shrugged. “I’ve got stamina.”
“Apparently,” Graham said drily.
Tanner opened his mouth to ask if it was hard having a boyfriend as old as Thad—or maybe not hard?—but Graham shook his head. “I don’t need the details, Clayton.”
Tanner shrugged because for one, that wasn’t what he’d been about to say and for two, Graham was just that sort of guy.
Not shy about sex or disapproving or anything.
Just a little private. He’d been that way when he was dating women and nothing had changed since he realized he was bi, fell in love with Thad, and started dating him.
“How about you?” Tanner asked, because he wasn’t gonna be mean and push Graham over the limit of what he was comfortable with, but taking it riiiight up to that line was always kinda funny. “What’s it like being with an old dude?”
Graham’s smile widened and he glanced over his shoulder. “I have no complaints.”
Tanner followed his gaze to see Thad on the other side of the room, talking to Connor.
“I’d be happy to watch sometime,” Tanner said with a cheeky wink. “If you two were ever up for that.”
“Nope,” Graham said with an unamused look. “Not a chance.”
“Had to ask,” Tanner admitted.
Graham laughed. “Yeah. I know. Okay, I’ve gotta see Andy about my knee. Catch you later.”
“Bye S’mores,” Tanner said, already focused on his phone again.
There was a message from Leif that said, Taking off now. Talk later.
Annoyed, Tanner checked social media, sent a couple of messages to friends, responded to a few conversations he was having with people he’d hooked up with in the past or had been thinking about hooking up with in the future.
But when one of them asked if he was up for anything tonight, he hesitated.
Was he? Honestly, probably not. Between last night, this morning, and the workouts and practice they were about to have, he probably would be gassed AF by tonight.
That reminded him, he should hydrate. He got up and grabbed a blue sports drink.
He drank about a third of it, then responded to the person who’d messaged him. Not 2night. Maybe anthr time?
But Tanner wasn’t sure why he didn’t feel that excited about them anymore. They were super hot. Non-binary and vers and they’d had fun flirting before. But Tanner’s mind kept wandering back to the sounds Leif made in the shower this morning.
And the … well, whatever it was Leif had been feeling after breakfast. Tanner wasn’t really sure what that was about. He’d seemed super intense—which wasn’t exactly rare for Leif or anything, he was always kind of intense—and Tanner wouldn’t even say it was bad intense. Just … kinda …
Well, Tanner wasn’t sure what.
All he knew was that Leif had acted like he didn’t want to let go of Tanner, or something. And honestly, Tanner hadn’t wanted to let go either. It had been a huge bummer to realize that it would be a while before they saw each other again.
It shouldn’t matter. They’d hardly seen each other before this, right? But for some reason, it bothered him this time.
“There you are! We were starting to get worried.”
Tanner looked up to see Rafe frowning down at him.
“You were looking for me?” Tanner glanced at his phone to be sure he hadn’t missed a message, but no, there was nothing in the Roomies chat he had with Rafe and Mickey.
“Well yeah, you didn’t come home last night or this morning.”
Tanner stared at him. “I told you guys I was staying over with someone.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t say you weren’t going to be home at all before practice.”
Tanner smacked his forehead. “Shit. I meant to. I, uh, got here early actually.”
“Early?” Mickey walked up, looking pissed. “We were worried you’d been murdered!”
Tanner sighed. Seriously, he lived with a couple of old people. Like living with Mom and Jeff. No, worse, because Mom and Jeff were actually more chill than Rafe and Mickey.
“I’m fine,” Tanner said with a laugh.
He tried to listen while Mickey lectured him and Rafe nodded like a disappointed parent, but his mind wandered again and when it finally returned, they were both gone. Whoops. Hopefully he hadn’t made things worse.
Tanner went back to his phone but when he saw Leif hadn’t said anything else, he sent, I’m booooooooored. Entertain me. They had Wi-Fi on the plane. He knew they did.
Entertain yourself, he got back.
Good ur back! Just got lectured by my roomies
About what?
They’re old.
What the hell does that mean?
Tanner grinned and typed out a reply to Leif.
He was so lost in the conversation he jerked in surprise when Connor called out, “Are you joining us today, Clayton?”
Tanner popped to his feet, horrified to realize the lounge had totally cleared out and his captain was already dressed in base layers.
“Coming!” he called out, stuffing his phone in his pocket. “Sorry! Coming!”
Fuck! Only he could manage to arrive early at HCI and somehow still be late to practice.