Page 52 of Breakaway Goals

Hayes was in the middle of his first round of reps, breathing through the strain, when the gym door opened.

They’d gotten back from Carolina late last night after the quick one-game road trip, and he’d considered suggesting to Morgan that they grab a late lunch today, but he hadn’t decided yet if he wanted to put the ball back into his own court.

Besides, Morgan’s semi-begging texts were enjoyable, and Hayes hadn’t decided if he wanted to put him out of his misery yet.

But he hadn’t needed to do that, because here Morgan was, crashing his early morning gym time again.

“Are you going to be that kind of boyfriend?” Hayes asked mildly, glancing over at where Morgan was setting down his gym bag and a bottle of water.

It was presumptuous, maybe, to call Morgan his boyfriend. They’d been on one date. Possibly another today. They weren’t even currently sleeping together—again—by Morgan’s own choice.

But his hazel eyes darkened as he looked up, his gaze colliding with Hayes’.

“What kind of boyfriend?” Morgan’s voice was rough around the edges.

Hayes had known he would like it; that wasn’t particularly a surprise. It was how much Morgan liked it.

“Hmm, like the possessive, creepy, stalker-y kind,” Hayes said casually. Though he might be into it, honestly, if it was Morgan. He was into a lot of things, as long as they were related in some way to Morgan.

Morgan didn’t say anything right away, just headed right over to where Hayes was sitting up on the weight bench.

They were alone in here. But it was still a little bit of a risk for Morgan to lean in and brush his mouth over Hayes’ lips. It was a brief kiss, but that was all it took for Hayes to be panting and thinking about putting a hand on Morgan’s neck and pulling him right back.

There was the evidence right there that even the risk was sexy because it was Morgan.

“You want me to be?” Morgan asked, his mouth still close to Hayes’.

“A boyfriend or a stalker boyfriend?” Hayes questioned.

Morgan hummed, not answering right away. He pushed Hayes’ hair back with his fingers, his touch lingering. He didn’t have to say anything, because the desire was written all over his face.

“Whatever you want,” he finally said.

What Hayes wanted was for Morgan to press him down against this weight bench, screw who might walk in, and kiss him deep until he didn’t care who might see. Make him so desperate he’d throw all his fears and worries and logical rules right out the window.

It wouldn’t be very hard. Hayes already wanted to do it.

“What about what you want?”

Morgan laughed. “You know the other night, when I went with Danny and Jacob for a drink?”

This was not the answer Hayes had been anticipating, but he nodded anyway.

“Danny said I looked happy, and I realized, I didn’t really think about that before. I hadn’t thought about it in years. But when he said it, I knew he was right. I’m happy, and I’m happy doing this with you.”

Just when Hayes thought he’d re-aligned his expectations with the blunt truth of what Morgan was capable of, Morgan blew everything right out of the water.

He leaned into Morgan’s shoulder, into his touch. “I’m happy too,” he admitted softly.

“Where’s that leave your question?” Morgan wondered. He took a step away, and even though it was safer, definitely smarter, Hayes hated it.

Stupid , just invite him to lunch.

“I think just a regular kind of boyfriend,” Hayes said. “Maybe a boyfriend who’d go to lunch with me today? After I’m done with practice?”

“Sounds good,” Morgan said with a knowing grin.

Hayes returned to the weights. He was off schedule, and that was okay, but he didn’t want to throw it out completely.

Even after Morgan stripped out of his old, worn-out Bandits’ sweatshirt, the 20 on the chest nearly worn off, and was only in a pair of low slung black athletic shorts clinging to his thighs, he tried to focus on what he was supposed to be doing.

Morgan had looked really fucking good six years ago. So good that Hayes had pretty much lost his mind the first time he’d gotten him naked. But he looked even better now. Maybe because it was becoming clearer every single day that he had Morgan, no questions, no exceptions, no distractions.

He’d been unsure how this thing between them would look and feel and be .

It had made sense a week ago to pump the brakes.

It could still make sense, if they ran into more potholes, but so far everything had been fairly smooth sailing.

As concerned as Hayes had been before, hurt and afraid and needing him so much it was difficult not to reach for everything he wanted, it was impossible to doubt how all-in Morgan was.

They texted now. Hayes had even called him when he’d had a little downtime in Raleigh, after morning skate and before his pregame nap.

They’d talked after the game briefly, even though it was really late last night when they’d gotten back to Tampa.

Morgan had still been up though, dim light in his bedroom, moonlight streaming across his bare chest.

He’d nearly said fuck it and driven to Morgan’s house instead. Curled up against him in bed, instead of going back to his empty house. But it was so soon. Too soon, maybe.

Hayes finished his set and then went on to his stretches.

Felt Morgan’s gaze on him the whole time as he walked over to the treadmill.

“We should talk at lunch,” Morgan said unexpectedly as he started out with a gentle jog to warm up.

“I wasn’t expecting to spend the meal in silence,” Hayes teased, trying to tamp down the sudden spike of worry that there was something wrong and he’d missed it.

“About telling Finn,” Morgan said.

“Oh.” Hayes should have seen this coming.

He’d known it was, of course, but he’d pushed it aside, thinking they’d make sure they were on very solid ground first. No timetable on that.

But he had a feeling Morgan was going to tell him he didn’t feel comfortable lying to his son for longer than he absolutely had to.

Frankly, as Finn’s captain, he didn’t really feel all that comfortable lying about it, either.

So far it had just been lies of omission, not actual denials of what was happening right under Finn’s nose.

But Finn was not stupid; he was going to sense something was going on sooner rather than later.

“Yeah,” Morgan said. “Think about it. And we’ll talk about it.”

Hayes hummed in acknowledgment and met Morgan’s gaze across the room. “I gotta get to practice.”

Morgan gave him a single nod, and it was nice to not have to explain to Morgan that he couldn’t stick around, just to flirt and to talk.

That he knew Hayes had responsibilities and obligations that he couldn’t flout even if he wanted to.

Didn’t argue, or complain, just watched him leave the room with that unique combination of hunger and acceptance and obstinacy that Hayes recognized so well.

Alexander had never played team sports, even T-ball as a kid, and had had difficulty understanding all the things that he felt Hayes had to put above their relationship.

It was that, and the shards of Morgan still lingering in his heart, that had doomed them. Alexander hadn’t been capable of understanding, but Morgan had practically been born understanding.

It felt good to know that problem wouldn’t be following them. They had others, of course, but not that one.

Maybe he and Morgan hadn’t always been close, but they’d always spoken the same language. Had the same pressures bearing down on their shoulders. Understood the particular weight that first overalls faced.

It was why Hayes hoped, with a fervency that scared the shit out of him, that they could make this work.

Because while he had friends—he and Zach had been sharing secrets since they were teenagers—he’d never met anyone who got him the way that Morgan did, and he’d never imagined understanding anyone the way he could Morgan.

Just by looking at the expression on his face, the guarded shadows in his eyes.

Even if that meant possibly tempting fate and telling Finn barely a week after they’d gotten together.

Hayes didn’t avoid Finn during practice.

He couldn’t. And he didn’t even want to.

But he would admit that he felt less inclined to head immediately over in his rookie’s direction.

He’d spent a lifetime not letting secrets slip, so he didn’t think he’d let this one slip now, but there was still enough of a concern that there was a noticeable pause every time it would make sense for him to interact with Finn.

That alone made him want to agree with whatever Morgan suggested at lunch.

Still, he was a little taken aback when Morgan leaned in, just after they’d sat down at Hayes’ favorite sub shop, only a few blocks from his house, and said, “I want to tell Finn that we’re together.”

Hayes had absolutely known it was coming. Had even thought about it, as requested, and still, his first gut reaction was to ask Morgan, “Are you sure we’re really together?” Even though he had just gone out of his way to call Morgan his boyfriend not four hours ago.

Morgan clearly agreed, because he shot him a hot look. “I thought we established that already.”

“We did,” Hayes said. Why was he being so weird about this? He’d been way less freaked out about bringing Alexander around, even about telling the team that he had a boyfriend. “What if I hadn’t brought it up today?”

“Why you always gotta ask the hard questions?” Morgan asked wryly. But he didn’t give Hayes a chance to answer—no doubt because he already knew . “I would’ve wanted to talk about it, regardless, but it helped to know we were on the same page. That it wasn’t going to freak you out.”

“You don’t want to lie to Finn.” See , Hayes wanted to crow smugly, I can read you, too. I know you, too .

“No. And I’m gonna assume you don’t like it either.”

“Of course not,” Hayes said.