Page 123 of Breakaway Goals

Swore he still felt Morgan’s gaze burning into him even after he was off the ice, sliding down the bench.

Wouldn’t even be surprised if when he got to the locker room during the first intermission and looked at his phone, Morgan would’ve been unable to resist sending a text about that play.

It was the kind of classic misdirection that Morgan loved more than anything else, the sort of move he’d made his bread and butter as he’d gotten older and wasn’t the fastest or the strongest guy out there any longer.

But he’d always been the smartest, and his brain had only gotten sharper as he’d grown older.

Hayes hoped that he could do the same. Hoped that the Sentinels could see it, too.

At thirty-one, he didn’t want to start over. He wanted to stay with this team and continue building.

Hayes pushed the thought away and re-focused on the game. What mattered was this team and what Hayes could do for them right now.

Not in a year. Not in two years or four or five from now.

“Sick fucking play,” Morgan enthused. He was probably not being very subtle, but he had a feeling it was only a matter of time—probably not weeks, butdays—before Hayes sat him down and told him that Finn, and by extension, Jacob, needed to know about them.

Jacob looked over at him, a knowing glint in his eyes. “It sure was. Reminds me of someone—”

“Me,” Morgan crowed, “totally me. That was a classic Morgan Reynolds play.”

“And you wonder why people say you’re insufferable.”

“I think I even got that one by you a few times,” Morgan said, even though if he’d managed it once, he’d have been shocked.

“You really think that?” Jacob asked, leaning his elbows against the front wall of the suite.

“Well, maybe once,” Morgan blustered.

“I’d never fall for that,” Jacob said. “You see the way Monty angled the puck when he shot it? If the goalie was paying attention, he’d have seen that Monty was practically aiming for the pad. Not to score, but for Lars to get the rebound.”

“Still a great play,” Morgan grumbled.

“Finn and I should work on that this week,” Jacob mused. He turned to Morgan. “You meeting up with Danny after the game?”

Morgan nodded. Over the last few days, he’d gone back and forth on what he was going to say to his friend, but if he was being really honest with himself, there was no way he was going to hang out with Danny tonight andnottell him what was going on with Hayes.

“You mind me tagging along?” Jacob asked. “Finn and the team are flying out to Raleigh tonight, right after the game.”

Morgan knew that, because Hayes had told him, but he couldn’t tell Braun that.

He also really wanted to tell Braun hell no, and that he could fuck off. Eighteen months ago, he could’ve. But that had all changed after Finn and Jacob had gotten together. And since he and Morgan had buried the hatchet.

It was a perfectly normal request, but if Jacob came, then Morgan couldn’t tell Danny about what was going on with Hayes.

“Uh,” Morgan hesitated.

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Are you serious right now?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Morgan said, because he clearly didn’t have another choice. Maybe he could corner Danny when Jacob was at the bar or in the bathroom and tell him the truth.

Honestly, he wasn’t even against Jacob knowing about him and Hayes, but he couldn’t tell Jacob before Finn. Morgan would be the first to say he was an idiot, but he wasn’tthatmuch of an idiot.

“Awesome,” Jacob said, tapping Morgan’s hand with his fist. “I like Danny. He’s fun.”

“And here I thought you didn’t know the definition of that word,” Morgan grumbled.

Jacob shot him a look. “You really want to know about what I do for fun?”