Page 84 of Breakaway Goals

“He doesn’t have to physically be around to make an impact. I know that. And I bet you know it too.”

Hayes shifted uncomfortably in the chair. This was not the easygoing conversation full of teasing bullshit he’d expected to exchange with Finn Reynolds. They’d kept it pretty light before this, and Hayes realized that had been all him. Finn had been letting him set the tone, and now he was turning the tables on Hayes.

God, he really kind of hated everyone with the last name of Reynolds. It was like they had a perpetual boner to overcomplicate everything.

“That’s notnottrue,” Hayes allowed.

“I should’ve asked you if it was okay if he hung around,” Finn said, full of sincerity. “I just . . .I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Hayes said and meantthat, one hundred percent. Finn was a rookie; he had a lot more burdens on his plate than just trying to deal with all Hayes’ weird fucking history with Morgan.

“We just . . .we haven’t always been close,” Finn confessed. “He can be kind of shitty.”Understatement of the fucking century, Hayes thought.

“But he’s been better? If he’s still shitty—”

“No,” Finn interrupted, “he’s a lot better these days.”

Hayes was glad Finn didn’t let him finish that sentence because if he did, Hayes would probably make a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.Couldhe tell Morgan to get out of Tampa? If it helped his rookie, then yes, he would. But he really didn’t want to. It would mean getting too close again, and Hayes was operating under a very strictNo Morganpolicy.

“Uh, retirement agrees with him, then?” Hayes told himself he didn’t want to know. That he was just making the kind of casual conversation he’d intended to have with Finn, but he didn’t even believe it himself.

Finn barked out a laugh. “No, not even remotely. But he and Jacob keep themselves occupied. Mostly by fucking around with each other.”

“It’s kind of bizarre they’re friends now,” Hayes said.

Finn laughed again. “I know, right? I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it every day. But it’s good for them. I think my dad needed someone who understood what it was like, you know, to be him.”

He had someone, kid, and he ditched me, at the first available opportunity.

“Of course,” Finn continued, “not that he’d ever actually admit that. He still whines about Jacob all the time. We just don’t believe him anymore.”

At one point, right before camp had started, Hayes had wondered if Morgan had told his son about the fling. But it was clear, from the moment Finn showed up, that he hadn’t. That he was in the dark, like everyone else.

It was better that way. Easier, for certain.

But there was still an annoying and perverse part of Hayes that wanted Finn to know. To understand when he said shit like that, for him toreallyknow what he was saying.

“Yeah,” Hayes said. He should get up. Make a smooth, easy exit. Not keep talking about Morgan with Finn. No matter how tempting it was.Especiallybecause it was so tempting.

Like getting a little glimpse of who Morgan had been these last six years. What Morgan was like now, three years after retirement.

“But really,” Finn said, all earnestness, “it’s okay that he’s around?”

Finn had so much natural confidence, an easy way of conducting himself, so used to being the center of attention his whole life because of his last name, that sometimes it was easy to forget that he was also a rookie.

“It’s cool, as long as it’s cool with you,” Hayes said, meeting his earnestness.

“Don’t worry.” Finn grinned at him. “The moment he pisses me off or fucks up, I’ll be the first person to tell him to get out.”

Part of Hayes was screaming,what about me? What about me? What about fucking me?But he ignored it. It wasn’t that hard, because he’d been ignoring that voice for six years now.

“Good,” Hayes said and even managed to dredge up a conspiratorial smile.

Chapter 13

“You’rebeingweird,evenfor you,” Jacob claimed as they sat next to each other at the bar down the street from their rental houses.

It was honestly kind of a shithole dive, but it was quiet and neither of them had ever been bothered by the regulars there, who probably wouldn’t know a hockey player—even a famous hockey player—if he smacked them on the side of the head with a stick.