Page 135 of Breakaway Goals

It was true and Hayes couldn’t even deny it.

It was a back-to-back, up in Philly and then to New Jersey.

The Sentinels took the Flyers, four to one, and then went to a shootout against the Devils, ultimately losing because Jasper couldn’t quite sneak the puck past Markstrom’s kneepad.

By the time the team boarded the flight back to Florida, Hayes was tired, but it was more than physical exhaustion—though there was plenty of that, too.

It was unbelievable, sometimes, how he could be surrounded by so many people, people heliked, even, and still feel alone.

It was the C he wore on his jersey, but it was more than that, too. The specific pressure of his reputation and the expectations resting on his shoulders. Sometimes Hayes didn’t feel like he could take a breath.

But every time Morgan replied to a text or sent him a stupid picture—this last one of his blurry and out of focus bare feet up on his coffee table—Hayes could breathe a little easier.

“You good?” Jasper asked as he settled down in the seat next to Hayes.

“I should be asking you that,” Hayes said, pulling his earbuds out of his pocket.

Jasper shrugged. “It was a good shot. I’m not torn up about it.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Hayes reassured him. “It was a good game. Tough but we hung in there.”

“Yeah,” Jasper agreed, nodding. “You gonna sleep?”

“I think so,” Hayes said, slipping his earbuds in and pulling his phone out.

What he’d just said to Jasper was almost the exact same thing, word for word, that had been waiting on his phone after the game. Turned out Morgan was the sort of boyfriend who would, most of the time, give encouraging pep talks. But he wasalsothe sort of boyfriend who wouldn’t hesitate to call out anyone on Hayes’ team or even Hayes himself if he thought they could be playing better.

Just yesterday, he’d seen a whole string of texts from Morgan after the Flyers game, when they’d been down 1-0 for the first two periods. He’d certainly had a lot of opinions about the lack of offensive drive and Hayes hadn’t even been able to tell him that he’d been wrong.

In fact, that was exactly what he’d told the team during the second intermission. He’d led the way, right out of the gate, scoring in the first minute of the third period to tie it up, and the Sentinels hadn’t looked back after that.

But Morgan had called him out on it. Hadn’t let him slide.

Hayes hadn’t expectedthatwould feel good, but it actually did. Like Morgan was a good boyfriendandMorgan was still Morgan. It was becoming easier and easier to trust that the version he was seeing now was the version he might get forever, if he was lucky enough.

He sent Morgan a test balloon text.U still up?he asked.

I’m not that old, he got back almost immediately.

That was all the motivation that Hayes needed to send the picture he’d taken a few days back, in anticipation of this road trip. Early morning light streaming in from the windows,making him look tanner and younger, eyes half-lidded, hair messed up from sleep, chest flushed with arousal, hand wrapped around the base of his hard cock.

It was a damn good picture.

Feel like I should do a blood pressure check, just to be sure,he sent and then the picture.

Hayes squirmed in the seat in anticipation, ignoring how Jasper elbowed him half-heartedly.

He clicked over to his white noise, thumb hovering over his usual settings. Wanting to read Morgan’s reaction before he fell asleep.

Morgan never disappointed and he didn’t now.

No fair, angel.

Never promised to play fair.Hayes hesitated, then decided,fuck it, he wasn’t trying to play games here.You like it?

Like it? I fucking love it. You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Hayes couldn’t help the grin that overtook his face. He knew he looked good, but it felt better than he’d anticipated to have Morgan say it, especially like that.