Page 175 of The Locker Room

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for everything I"m worth if he got his day in court.” Xander shrugged

and sighed. “Good thing I"m not worth much, right?"

150 Amy Lane

Xander was not prepared for the pillow in the face.

“Ow, Penny, fuck! What was that for?”

“My brother"s breaking his heart over you, so shut up!” she

snapped, and Xander threw his head back against the pillows and patted

the side of the bed.

“No,” she sniffed. “I"m still mad at you.”

“Your brother"s doing better at this than I am,” he told her, feeling

it. “He took Denver to a win tonight, you saw that, right?”

“Cliff took Denver to a win. Chris stuck around for the ride.”

“That"s a hot lie—Cliff is only that good when he"s playing with

your brother. See? Everyone says it"s me, but I think you"re all bug-shit

crazy. It"s him.” Oh God. It was. Chris was the one who was golden.

Xander was just the Cave Man. Big, hulking, silent—unless, of course,

he was beating douchebags over the head with his clubs.

“What happened at halftime?” Penny asked, at random.

“I don"t know. Coach chewed everyone a new asshole. They got

tired of sitting on it and remembered to run.”

Penny gave another snort. “The sound picked up on you, you

know? „Goddammit, you shouldn"t take that shot"? Is that ringing any

bells?”

Xander blushed. “I"m an ass. It"s why I don"t talk—I should

probably break wind instead.”

This time Penny threw some sort of glass tchotchke that Chris had

picked up on a trip to Vancouver that summer. Xander dodged neatly

and caught it, and looked at her in outrage.

“Penny!”

“Grow up, Xander. You grow up, and I guarantee you, your

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