Page 190 of The Locker Room

“No, sweetheart. Xander and I have known each other since I was

in pigtails—”

“And braces!” Xander interrupted playfully, because he knew it

would make her laugh. She didn"t, though.

“Yeah. I was young and naïve, and I didn"t realize that Xander was

totally in love with someone else.” Penny leaned over and covered

Audrey"s hand with her own. “It hurt like hell. It"s going to hurt you too.

Try not to hold it against the big doofus—he has no idea.”

The playful banter at the table died a sudden, violent death.

“Wow, Penny,” Xander said, feeling like an ogre at an elf party,

“that wasn"t awkward at all.”

Penny shook her head. “He plays like crap without you, Xander,

and, unless you"re on the court, you look even worse. That expression on

164 Amy Lane

your face, as we were all sitting here—I haven"t seen you look that out

of the loop since you were a kid and you didn"t know what food was.”

Xander blushed. “Penny,” he said with a weak smile, “you realize

that I"m not really excited about the world all up in my business, right? I

mean—” And he tried a winning expression on Mandy and Audrey.

“You know. There"s some shit that"s not all that interesting.”

“You look exhausted, Xander. How you sleeping on the road

trips?” she taunted, and Xander felt a hollowness empty out in his chest.

It took him a minute to identify it as hurt.

“Jesus, Penny—what"d I ever do to you?” He stood abruptly and

took his half-finished plate to the sink. Lucia clucked at him (she"d been

serving them, even though he"d told her she didn"t have to) and took the

plate out of his hands and tried to shoo him back to his place at the table.

“Go back and eat!” she admonished. “You look tired, you"ll never

sleep unless you eat!”

“I need to run,” he mumbled, and since that"s what he"d dressed for