Page 44 of Breakaway Goals

“No,” he continued, firmer this time. “No, I’ve been around for Finn, sure, and I’ve been watching him, but you know who I watch every single goddamn game?

You . Every time Finn mentions your name, it’s like something inside me lights up.

I’ve been paying attention. I know how much time you spend.

You’re a great captain of a great hockey team.

I’m not asking to take from that. I just .

. .I just want you. However much of you that you’re willing to give me. ”

It kind of killed Morgan how shocked Hayes increasingly looked.

With every word he said, his mouth dropped open a little bit more.

Like he couldn’t even believe what he was hearing.

And yes, absolutely, Morgan knew he was an asshole.

That he’d been an asshole to Hayes, for sure, but it really fucking sucked that Hayes didn’t know just how much Morgan cared.

He was going to make sure, no matter how this turned out, that Hayes never had a reason to doubt, again.

“You . . .” Hayes wet his lips. Morgan really, really wanted to lean in. Chase that tongue. Taste him again. Take him to bed, again . Once had not been enough. A million times would not be enough.

They’d barely gotten to take the edge off their mutual hunger six years ago, and ever since, Morgan had never found anyone who’d ignited his own, not like Hayes had.

“Me what?” Morgan murmured, leaning in another inch closer.

He knew what it had looked like, when he’d shown up after that first game.

The last thing he wanted was for Hayes to think he was doing or saying any of this to get laid.

He’d meant it then, and he meant it now.

Hayes was the least convenient choice in the world.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t want him, desperately.

“I didn’t know you could talk like this. Say this stuff. You’re going to . . .” He laughed, sort of self-consciously. “You’re fucking me up, Mo.”

“In a good kind of way, I hope?”

He laughed again, but easier this time. “Yeah. It is good. But it’s scary. I don’t know. I don’t . . .I’ve spent a long time believing this was never going to happen. That you didn’t feel the same way I did.”

“And that’s my fault.” Morgan didn’t have to ask. He knew .

“Yes, but no. Maybe I should’ve listened to you, after the game. Instead I just kicked you out.”

“You were brave. You were smart. You made the right choice.” It killed him to admit that, but it was true.

Hayes shot him a hard look. “Seriously?”

“You did what I couldn’t. Which was take a stand. I wanted you too badly to do the non-crazy thing.”

Hayes tilted his head closer. A mischievous look on his face. Morgan wanted to eat it up. “Can we do the crazy thing now?” he asked.

“ Yes ,” Morgan said and kissed him.

This time, he wasn’t going to let them get carried away without giving Hayes the thing he wanted.

The thing he’d asked for. Morgan slid his hands up Hayes’ thighs and then settled his legs around Morgan’s waist. Then picked him up, Hayes giggling adorably into his mouth, and carted him right back into the house.

“Wait, your back, your knees ,” Hayes laughed as Morgan carried him into the bedroom.

“Angel, I’m forty-one, not a hundred and one, and you’re really not that heavy.” He set Hayes on the edge of the bed, and it was impossible to resist leaning in and kissing him, gentle and soft.

They’d shared so many passionate kisses.

And those were amazing. But somewhere in year two or three, he’d started thinking about it, not just when his dick was hard or when he was horny.

What it might be like, when his bed felt particularly lonely, how it would feel if he could turn over and Hayes would be there, a tender look in his green eyes.

Morgan would just press his mouth carefully against Hayes’.

Not to start something. Not so he’d eventually get his dick wet.

Just because he wanted to. Just because he could.

“I like this,” Hayes said, curling his fingers around Morgan’s shoulders more insistently, pulling him in closer between his legs. “I like you .”

“You might be the only one.” At one point, that thought would have filled Morgan with a nihilistic apathy, like it didn’t even matter if he was universally hated, as long as he was still Morgan Reynolds.

It mattered now, only for one person. Okay, two maybe.

Three if Jacob was in a good mood. Four if Danny texted him back—and Danny always texted him back.

The point was: Morgan’s circle of people who tolerated his shit, who he actually liked back, was extremely small.

But Hayes had always been at the top.

“Jacob likes you now. And you like Jacob now,” Hayes teased, bare foot hooking around Morgan’s calf, even that simple touch electrifying.

“Can we not talk about him now, not when we’re about to . . .” Morgan trailed off as Hayes used his considerable leg strength to pull him in even tighter, until he could feel Hayes’ hard cock against his stomach.

“When we’re about to what?” Hayes pretending innocence should not be sexy. But it was unbelievably sexy. Kind of like every other part of Hayes.

It was insane how at one point, so long ago it was nearly impossible to remember, he hadn’t liked Hayes. Had barely ever let Hayes cross his mind. When he’d actively had to work not to resent him.

Those days were long gone.

“When I’m about to finally fuck you again, angel.” Morgan leaned down, let his lips brush against Hayes’ ear, then his neck, drifting down towards his collarbone. Felt his shiver. “You want that?”

“Wanted that before,” Hayes murmured. “Lube’s in the drawer by the bed. There’s condoms, too, but . . .”

“But?” Morgan prompted, hearing the rough gravel in his own voice. They’d used condoms before. It hadn’t even occurred to him to think they didn’t have to.

But that had been a fling. Maybe neither of them knew exactly what shape this took now, but it was definitely not a fling.

“But I haven’t with anyone, not in a long time, and I’m on PrEP and I’ve been tested too, recently. Start of the season.” Hayes gazed up at him. “What about you?”

He’d had sex exactly twice since Hayes.

Once, about a year after Toronto, when he’d picked up a woman at a bar on a road trip. It had been mechanical and awful, and he’d thrown up in the bathroom sink after she’d left.

Then, the second time had been a few months after Hayes had come out—before he’d released the blunt press release that he and Alexander had broken up—and he’d picked up a guy that time.

Let him suck his dick. Had given him a hand in return.

Had stared at himself in the mirror after, hating his face, hating the crawling feeling of not right, not right, not right all over his skin.

But he couldn’t tell Hayes any of that right now.

“I . . .there hasn’t been anyone.” That much was true. “And I was tested a year ago.”

Hayes had been kissing down his neck, then, but his head popped up.

“In a year ?” he asked incredulously.

“It’s not that surprising,” Morgan argued.

The look on Hayes’ face said that the opposite was true. And okay, before Hayes, he’d never struggled to find sex when he wanted it.

“Um, yeah, it is,” Hayes said.

“We’re not talking about this right now,” Morgan said firmly and wrapped his hand around Hayes’ thigh and squeezed. “Does that mean you want me to leave the condoms in the drawer?”

Hayes nodded, gazing up at him like he was finally really seeing and believing what Morgan had said before.

Good.

He gave Hayes another long, leisurely, deep kiss, feeling his chest begin to rise and fall faster and his cock twitch against his stomach, smearing precome all over his skin.

Made sure he was nice and distracted first, before he went off to grab the lube.

Hayes had scooted up on the bed, moonlight falling over his skin, when Morgan returned.

“God, I want you,” Hayes sighed as Morgan opened the lube, trying to ignore how his fingers were shaking.

It was lust, pure and simple. It was also nerves.

It had been six years, and there had been times, more times than he liked to admit, when he’d imagined doing this again.

How good he’d make it. So perfect that Hayes would never leave him again.

But now he knew Hayes loved him too. Could see it in his eyes, in every curve of his gorgeous face, as he leaned over, kissing him as Hayes’ legs opened for him.

He’d have to trust this would be enough. That he’d eventually say all the right things, in the right order. That Hayes would believe him, would trust him again.

That they could fully mend this thing between them that they’d broken, before.

“Want you too, angel. So gorgeous just like this,” Morgan murmured into his mouth as he slid a finger inside him.

Hayes groaned. Head falling back. Spine bowed. Neck exposed. Morgan felt lightheaded with it. Maybe other men had seen Hayes like this before, but he would be the last. The most important.

The only one Hayes loved.

He nudged another finger alongside the first, taking his time not only because it felt good even to do this to Hayes. To feel his heat and his tightness around his fingers. But because Hayes had said it without saying it—it had been awhile for him, and Morgan wasn’t going to rush him.

“Please, please ,” Hayes begged, when he finally gave him a third. Slowly pushing in and out, wanting to absorb every moment of this. Never forget it.

“You gotta be patient, angel,” Morgan warned. His cock was throbbing, insisting that it didn’t want to be patient either. But he could do it, still. He could be anything Hayes needed.

“I’m done being patient,” Hayes complained, hot green eyes meeting Morgan’s. “ Come on .”

And okay, maybe they had waited long enough. Hissing as he wrapped his lube-covered fingers around his dick, getting himself nice and slick so that all Hayes was going to feel was melting pleasure, Morgan positioned himself.