Page 129 of The Locker Room

it “man-sturizer”) that smelled like cedar, and Xander liked the smell. He

smoothed some on Chris"s back now, and along his neck, and over his

shoulders. Chris had never really gotten Xander"s chest-mane, so he just

sort of left his little patch of gold hair alone. Xander liked playing with

it, and teasing him about it, and he rubbed it once the bulk of the body

lotion was gone.

The tattoo, the one with Xander"s name on it, stood out in stark

relief with Chris"s silver-pale skin, and Xander"s fingers traced that

pattern, the only public proof of what had privately been a marriage

lasting nearly ten years. He was so damned proud of that. The day the

two of them had gone to get the tats had felt like their wedding day.

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They"d even gone out to dinner afterward, the bandages over their

shoulders hidden by the cut of new suits.

That day felt far away now, and Xander"s fingers tightened on

Chris"s marked shoulder.

“I told him,” he said softly into the waiting silence.

“What"d he say?”

Xander rubbed his cheek against Chris"s short hair. Maybe he

could grow it out now. He didn"t have to try to please the bastard

anymore, right?

“He said the owners were on the phone, and he"d get back to us

when they were off.”

Chris shivered, and Xander draped his bigger body completely over

his back. “So soon?” he asked, sounding as small in his voice as

Xander"s embrace made him look in the mirror.

“I don"t know how to make it slow down,” Xander said, meaning

it. “It"s like… we just kept running down the court, and now we"re in

one of those big hamster wheels and it"s going downhill without us.”

Chris smiled a little, and opened his mouth to answer, but he was