Page 207 of The Locker Room

sleeping at all.

After Chris had left, wearing wrinkled jeans and Xander"s sweat

and seed on his skin, Xander flopped back onto the bed and looked

miserably at the clock. He had two hours before he had to leave, and all

he could do was remember the feeling of Chris"s hands skimming his

face as they kissed.

June,he repeated to himself.June. We can do this until June. June.

It seemed a thousand years away.

The Locker Room 179

Under the Influence

XANDER"S foot completely healed in the next week, and he played like

a fucking god.

All of the sports pages said so, which was one of the reasons

Xander was glad he and Chris had never gotten into the habit of reading

them.

All he knew was that, on the court? The world was perfect. People

were where he expected them to be, and the ball went through the net.

That was really the be all and end all right there, wasn"t it? The ball went

through the net. Such a simple goal. Nothing complex. The roar of the

crowd, the strain of muscles, the smell of sweat? Trivial. All that

mattered was that the ball went through the net.

On the court, Xander was happy and free. He wasn"t a showboat,

not like Chris, but since Chris wasn"t there, he started to let his joy show

to the rest of the team. He started to urge the whole team on, to shout out

orders when he was on the sideline, to rule the court with that one simple

desire: get the ball through the net.

Chris would tell him over the computer that it was beautiful to

watch. Leo would tell him that he needed to think about next season.

Penny would glower at him and ask him if any of this would change if he

came out. The press would tell him that he was a bona fide superstar.