Page 129 of Breakaway Goals

“Yeah. And then I got day drunk about it. Though . . .” Morgan winced. “We probably couldn’t say that wasentirelyabout them.”

Hayes raised an eyebrow. “You got day drunk?”

“Not my proudest moment. Jacob had to come drag my ass out of the bar. We had . . .uh . . .a heart-to-heart. He figured out that you were a hockey player. I didn’ttellhim anything, not really, but you know how it is.”

“Yeah for sure.Goalies,” Hayes commiserated.

“Exactly. Anyway, he knows about some of it. Not all of it.”

“How has he not guessed it was me?” Hayes said incredulously. Because he was the clear and obvious choice. Maybe he wasn’t the only queer guy on the team now, but it wasn’t like Jasper was the kind of guy you’d spend six years pining after. Jacob had even been around in Toronto six years ago. Of course, he and Morgan had hated each other back then so they’d steered clear of each other, butstill. Looking back, they had not really been all that subtle about what they were doing.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Morgan frowned now, like it was just now occurring to him how obvious it was.

“Maybe he’s just been preoccupied by Finn,” Hayes said.

“Maybe.” Morgan didn’t sound convinced.

“So how did you want to do this?” Hayes asked.

Morgan made a face. “I don’twantto do it.” He paused, probably realizing how that sounded. “No, no, not like that. I’m not ashamed of you. I want people to know we’re together, it’s just—”

“Babe, I get it,” Hayes interrupted with a smile. “It’s gonna be weird. Does Finn know you like guys?”

“No,” Morgan said. “And that’s gonna be part of it. He might—he probablyshould—be pissed that I didn’t tell him. But I never met anyone else that I wanted. Never as much as I wanted you. And if I couldn’t have you . . .”

Privately, Hayes thought he probablyshouldhave told Finn. If he was Finn, he’d have wanted to know the way he and his dad were alike, but he wasn’t going to tell Morgan that. Especially not when he was baring his soul like that. Not when he was laying his heart so bare, and it was obvious how all of it belonged to Hayes.

“I get it.” Hayes reached out and squeezed his forearm. “It’s probably going to suck a little. But Finn loves you, and he wants you to be happy. That’s gonna eventually overrule everything else.”

“I hope so.” Morgan rarely looked apprehensive. But he clearly looked it now. “I guess we should just . . .do it. I’m having dinner with them tonight. Maybe you should come with us, and we’ll just . . .rip the band-aid off.”

“You want me to be there?” Hayes asked cautiously. He’d hoped so, but he hadn’t wanted to shove himself in, uninvited.

“Of course I want you to be there. You’re—” Morgan broke off. “You’re important. You’re the whole reason this is happening at all. And also, you can help keep Jacob off me.”

Hayes laughed. “Don’t want to be outnumbered, huh?”

“Thinking I’m never gonna be outnumbered again, angel,” Morgan said, and happiness spun through him, clear and true and perfect.

“I didn’t know you were so close to Hayes,” Finn said as he finished tossing the salad.

“Yeah,” Jacob said as he came in from the patio, holding a platter of grilled chicken. “I always thought you two sort of kept your distance. All thatchosen one, next onenonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense,” Finn said with faux-sternness to his boyfriend. “Dad was totally great. And Hayes? He’s got it, too.”

“Yeah,” Morgan said weakly.

It had been the first step in a long line of awkward steps to tell his son and his son’s boyfriend that they were having a fourth to dinner. Extra awkward to dodge the immediate reaction that he was finally not third-wheeling it. Technically they were right, but he couldn’t tell them that yet.

Then there were the pointed questions about why Hayes was coming to dinner. And the questions about how he even knew Hayes well enough to ask him.

On and on and on. Until Morgan wanted to scream,because I love him and we’re together now.

But he wasn’t going to do that, no matter how tempting it was.

The doorbell rang, and Morgan jumped up and said, “I’ll get it,” ignoring Finn and Jacob exchanging confused looks.

“Hey,” Morgan said after ushering Hayes inside. He was in a T-shirt and shorts, same as all of them. He’d texted Morgan an hour ago questions about what he should wear, and even though he’d tried to phrase it casually, Morgan could hear the panic underneath his words. They were both kind of freaking out about this. That shouldn’t have made it easier, but it did. Sort of.