Page 66 of Breakaway Goals

It was important to remember that. Maybe if he did, if he reminded himself over and over again of their roles, not who they really were, underneath, but of the parts they played in the NHL, he could get through this game.

“Okay,” Morgan said.

“Is that anokay, you’re an idiot and I’m going to see him anyway, fuck common sense,or anokay, yes, you’re so right, Danny, thank you for always being a beacon of reason?”

Morgan scoffed under his breath. “Neither, actually. I’m never gonna think you’re a beacon of reason.”

“That’s fair. But still, don’t go see him, Mo. Don’t do it. Don’t dohim,either.”

“That right there is why you’re not a beacon of reason,” Morgan retorted. But he knew no matter what he said, Danny had a point. If he went to see Hayes, even if he told himself he was only going to apologize, no matter how pissed Hayes was, they would probably end up doing something Morgan would only pretend to regret.

Something that would make this whole mess even messier.

“I mean it,” Danny semi-threatened. “I’m gonna be watching. Put your game face on, Mo.”

“Got it,” Morgan said, and hoped to God that he actually could.

"If you ask me one more time if I’m okay, I’m going to break your nose,” Hayes said to Zach under his breath during warmups.

“You’re not looking over there.”

“No shit,” Hayes huffed out. “I’m not going to. Ican’t.”

“You’re not going to be able to pretend he doesn’t exist the whole game. The faceoffs—”

“I’m going to pretend that it’s seven weeks ago, and I barely even know the guy,” Hayes said between clenched teeth.

It was the only way he thought he could get through this.

He’d woken up this morning in New York sick to his stomach. Yearning to see Morgan so badly he’d have traded everything for just one glimpse and also dreading that first look so epically it was a wonder he’d even managed to make it out of bed.

“That’s smart. So smart,” Zach said.

The problem is that Zach didn’t sound convinced. Like he wasn’t sure Hayes could actually pull it off, and maybe he couldn’t.

“I’m trying to be reasonable about this,” Hayes said, even though his heart was screaming out for the least reasonable course of action. “I’m expecting you’re gonna be reasonable about this, too.”

They’d touched on this subject a handful of times in the last week, Zach shrugging him off every single time.

But Hayes was not going to stand by and let Zach go after Morgan like he was his knight in shining armor and Hayes was a ruined maiden.

Hayes had gone into the hookup with his eyes wide open. Sure, the whole thing had gone sideways, but he’d known,he’d known, that it was probably not going to be some big epic love story.

He hadn’t meant to fall in love; it had just happened. Almost by accident. That wasn’t anyone’s fault. Morgan didn’t deserve to have his ass kicked on the ice just because Hayes hadn’t been able to keep his feelings under control.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Zach muttered, flicking a puck over to Hayes, who shot it back.

“I want a promise that you’re not gonna do something stupid, just because you feel like you should.”

“He hurt you,” Zach said, jaw jutting out.

“Yeah, he did.” Somehow it hurt even more to admit that was true. “But he never promised me anything—”

“Heghostedyou, Monty.”

Hayes pressed his lips together. “Yeah. He did. That was not his finest moment, for sure. But it was kind of inevitable he was going to freak out, wasn’t it? I can’t blame him for something that’s absolutely in line with his personality.”

“You sure fucking can,” Zach argued.