Page 146 of The Locker Room

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this morning?”

“Tripped on a rut in the road and kicked a rock.”

Malloy was an older black man, with buzz-cut graying hair and

small, laser-point black eyes. The gaze he leveled at Xander was

disconcerting, to say the least. “How"s Chris doing?” he asked quietly,

and Xander looked away.

“He"s settling in. Staying with Cliff in Denver.”

“With that harpy of a wife Cliff"s got? God, we"re going to miss

him here.”

Xander must have made a sound, because Malloy patted his

shoulder.

“Well, you don"t have to be married to a guy to miss him.

Roommates, brothers, whatever. You spend some time with someone;

they leave a hole when they"re gone. You take care of yourself, Xander.

You"ve got to get your head in the game. Chris could read your mind out

there, and Pollack out there—he can barely read a newspaper! You"re

going to have to bust your ass to keep this team in the playoffs, right?”

126 Amy Lane

“Playoffs?” Xander had been wandering.He"s not my roommate.

He"s not my brother. He"s my lover, my husband, my reason to live.

What would Malloy say to that?

“Well, yeah!” And now Malloy"s laser-point look had changed,

become fathomless, and he was looking at Xander in mute supplication.

“Xander… man, I"ve been working for this team for fifteen years, and

I"ve seen us in two places. I"ve seen us in “almost enough” and “two

floors down from the basement.” God… you and Edwards? That"s as

close as this team"s been to winning, you know?”

It"s only a goddamned game!He thought it, but he couldn"t say it.

The guy had just wrapped his toes and listened to the shit he didn"t say.

Xander might be pretty good at self-pity, but he was usuallyawesomeat

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