Page 87 of The Locker Room

then. You guys… you"ve got five, ten, hell, fifteen years of playing to

go, since Super-Xan here seems to be injury proof.” And now he turned

to Xander in supplication.

“I"ll do everything you want, Xander, but you gotta do something

for me, okay?” At Xander"s tentative nod, he said, “How about you not

take this… this gift from the gods you got going in that obscenely tall

body of yours and piss it away, right?”

“Chris has the same gift,” Xander said stubbornly, and Leo waved

him away.

“Of course he does, sweetheart—the NBA does not scout hanger-

onners just because they"re cute.” Leo tried a leer then. “And boy

howdy, are you cute!”

Chris returned with a stony-faced glare, and Leo held out his hands

in peace again. “Okay okay okay okay… I get it. No flirting.” Chris"s

expression eased up, and Leo took a look around Xander"s austere, no-

frills room. There were pennants from games they"d won and the Most

Outstanding Player trophy Xander had gotten when UNC had taken the

NCAA championship, and one picture of him and Chris, taken by Penny

right after they"d gone hang gliding off of Nag"s Head and were standing

The Locker Room

companionably with their arms around each other and easy, triumphant

grins on their faces.

“You know, my darling boys, it"s probably a good thing you two

are going to be in the closet for the rest of your lives. The only thing gay

about the two of you seems to be each other.”

Xander hadn"t had any idea what the guy was talking about, and

neither had Chris, so they"d let him hold their hands through the draft

pick, and hoped for the best.

It was worth it. The buying of the expensive, specially tailored