Page 85 of The Locker Room

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going to let you give that up. Not now. Not when there"s a whole lot of

time you still have.”

“And what about you?” Didn"t Chris want a home? Because

Xander wanted a home, dammit, and you couldn"t have one when you

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were playing in one state and your lover was playing on the other, and

you could only pretend to see each other personally once in a while!

“I love the game too,” Chris conceded—but he wasn"t passionate

about it, not by a long shot, and Xander"s heart grew tight and painful in

his chest. He wanted a home too. Xander had grown up knowing what

Chris wanted from life, and it didn"t have anything to do with living on

different sides of the country.

“Well, I"ll give it up before—”

“No no no no no no!!!” Leo snapped, standing up and pacing. “My

God. You two boys have the NBA panting after you like Comic-Con

fans after Joss Whedon. Do you think that just comes along for nothing?

I mean….”

Leo turned and looked at them, and for the first time there was

more than flirtatiousness or venality on his ruddy, blunt features. “Guys,

I"ve seen you move on the court. It"s the whole reason I got into this

business. Because when human beings can do what you do… God. It"s

fucking inspirational. You don"t just take that talent and flush it away

because you think you"re in love!”

“We"ve been in love since high school,” Xander said with dignity,

and Leo nodded his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Well, that"s nice. I hope it"s all sparkly and peachy and

everything, because I think we can do this. I think we can pull this off.

It"ll mean I sign a first-round draft pick with the world"s crappiest team,

and that"ll makemelook like shit, but I think we can do it. Because,

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