Page 247 of The Locker Room

For her part, Audrey was interested in everything he said, from

how to calculate meds to tricks to helping move Chris"s body without

pain.

“I can live with that,” Chris quipped quietly, and he met Xander"s

eyes. They could both see it—interest, compatibility—and Xander"s

inner romantic (very, very inner—Xander really didn"t relate to people

well enough for that guy to exist on the surface of his skin) nodded

approvingly.

Little Audrey might have found a guy actually worth a trip back to

her apartment or, in this case, her room at the Chris & Xander Flophouse

for Lost Girls.

214 Amy Lane

Watching their byplay was enough to rouse Xander from his couch

coma so he could ask the question that had been brewing at the back of

his mind.

“Hey, Peter, you got a sec?”

Peter, the straight male nurse, adjusted one of Chris"s inflatable

casts and patted the blanket solidly around those blessedly wiggling pink

toes. “Why, Mr. Karcek, what do you need?”

Xander raised his eyebrows at Chris and asked, “When can he go

out in a wheelchair? I know he gets solid casts in a couple of days. Can

we transport him in, say, a week and a half?”

Chris looked at him curiously. “Whatcha thinkin", Xan?”

Xander smiled, not trying to be mysterious, but hating to commit to

something when he couldn"t predict the future. “I"m thinking, if we get

to six games against New York, you get a court side seat.”

Chris looked tired today. Pain, constant pain, could do that to a

person. So there they sat, both tired, both surrounded by parts of a life

that were pretty wonderful and parts of a life they deeply regretted. It

was a testament to the magic golden boy that still resided in Chris"s heart