Page 114 of Breakaway Goals

“Well, I wasn’t going to be doing it,” Morgan grumbled. Looked over at Hayes and then made a groaning sound in the back of his throat. “Can you stop being so . . .so . . .”

“So?” Hayes questioned. The only positive of this sex-less path was how much Morgan seemed to regret suggesting it in the first place.

“So . . .” Morgan waved a hand, encompassing Hayes’ entire self. “So completely, totally irresistible. Good at kissing. Good at hockey. Good at just lying there.”

“Nope,” Hayes said, but he felt good. Yes, the fear was still there. It was going to take more than two rounds of exemplary, life-altering sex, some love confessions, andMorgan’s earnestness to banish it completely. But he could imagine that someday, he’d look over at Morgan and Morgan would look back, and he’d besure.

Sure beyond any reasonable doubt.

“You don’t have to sound so delighted about it,” Morgan claimed.

“Actually, I do. Feels good. Seems good. What isn’t there to be delighted about?” Hayes could think of one thing, but he wasn’t going to say it.

He shouldn’t have worried; Morgan said it, anyway. “Could be a little less delighted I’m not gonna stick my dick in you,” he said gruffly.

“I’ll cry about it in the shower,” Hayes promised. Sliding out of bed. He grabbed his coffee, then pressed a kiss to Morgan’s cheek. “And the answer is that no, I don’t have any plans tomorrow night. I’m all yours.”

Half an hour later, Morgan was gone after giving him one last, long, entirely perfect kiss, and he was showered, scrambling eggs in a pan on the stove while he debated whether Zach would be awake yet.

Decided this was momentous enough that Zach could deal with an early wake-up call.

He’d just finished pouring himself a second cup of coffee, humming under his breath, when he dialed Zach.

It rang once, twice, then three times. It was just after six a.m. west coast time, in Portland, where Zach coached now with his boyfriend and head coach of the Portland U Evergreens, Gavin Blackburn.

“What,” Zach answered flatly, sounding three-quarters asleep still. “You okay, Monty?”

“Oh, I’m just peachy,” Hayes trilled.

“You sound way too happy for it to be—” Zach paused, mumbling to someone next to him. Gavin, definitely. “Six fucking a.m.”

“Don’t you have early class today?” Zach was still working on his master’s.

“No,” Zach said petulantly. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or are you just going to act annoyingly awake and mysterious?”

Hayes took a deep breath. He wasn’t naive enough to think Zach would be happy about this, but he needed to tell him. Zach was not only his best friend, but he would tell him the truth. About his joy, and about his fear.

“I saw Morgan last night. We uh . . .talked. A lot. Then we um—”

“You slept with him,” Zach said, sounding incredibly non-judgmental. There was a reason he’d always loved Zachy so much.

“Yeah. But—”

Zach interrupted again. “It’s okay. I’m not surprised.”

“What?” Maybe Zach wasn’t all that shocked it had happened, but Hayes couldn’t parse his reaction.

“You were back in his orbit. He was back in yours. It was bound to happen.”

“Sort of inevitable, honestly.” This was a comment provided by a second, deeper voice. Gavin. “Was he at least not an asshole about it?”

“Not at all, in fact.” It was ridiculous to be afraid of Morgan and the chaos he could bring to Hayes’ life and also feel compelled to defend him to Zach and Gavin.

“Well, that’s something,” Zach said wryly.

There was rustling, and then Gavin asked, “What happened?”

“Well, uh, like I said he came over. Most of the team came over, actually. Earlier game, and the win streak and all. But Finn brought him. Jacob’s out of town.”