Page 98 of Breakaway Goals

“Oh.” It made sense. Six games.

“You should come,” Finn said.

Hayes would definitely not want him to be there. Morgan knew that without him ever telling him. But Morgan wanted to go. Wanted to see Hayes’ house. Wanted to see Hayes not just on the ice.

Maybe he could even start to soften Hayes up. More receptive to Morgan’s groveling, anyway. Morgan tried to remember the speech he’d composed the last time he was going to do this, but couldn’t. Maybe that was better anyway. That time felt so dismal and brutal he tried not to think about it. He couldn’t say he’d ever hated himself, but he’d come damn close those weeks.

“I don’t know.” Morgan hesitated as they walked out towards the player parking lot.

Finn smacked him in the arm. “Seriously?”

“It’s for your team—”

“And the families of the team. All the WAGs are gonna be there.”

“Too bad Jacob won’t be then.” It usually filled him with some kind of amusement that Jacob Braun was now a WAG, but couldhe even make fun of Jacob for that now? When he wanted to be one, too?

Correction: he’d considered being one for awhile now. He was just contemplating actually doing something about it now.

Finn smacked him again. “That’s mean. And that term is ridiculously outdated.”

“They come up with another one yet?”

Finn shook his head. “But they should. Anyway, you should come.”

Morgan wasn’t stupid enough to ask if Hayes had invited him specifically.

Obviously, Hayes kept Morgan’s name out of his mouth unless he had a very good reason to say it.

“I—”

“Don’t say you don’t know. You’re coming,” Finn announced.

“I always wondered how you wore Jacob’s good intentions down. This is how you did it, isn’t it?” Morgan grumbled as Finn grabbed his keys from his hand.

Finn just laughed. “I thought you never wanted to know the details.”

“I don’t,” Morgan said, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Yeah, sort of. It’s not like you don’t know how to be persistent about something,” Finn said, shooting him a sideways look.

There was a certifiably insane part of Morgan that considered telling Finn at least part of the story on the way to Hayes’ house. But he hadn’t been sure he’d work up the nerve during an entire three course steak dinner. It was never going to happen on a short drive.

“True,” Morgan agreed. “It’s sort of a Reynolds trademark.” It was. Why had he forgotten that? He’d never let anyone tell him no, not when it came to something he wanted. Of course, those things had all been hockey related.

“Exactly,” Finn said, shooting him a grin. “Jacob didn’t stand a chance.”

It was an even shorter drive than he’d anticipated, and way less time than he’d needed, to work up the determination to not let Hayes just brush him off again. Less than ten minutes later, Finn was pulling the SUV down a side street lined with palm trees and gates. Discreet outdoor lighting, shining on impressive Spanish-inspired facades and spotless landscaping.

One gate was open. A few cars had already parked on the street. But there was one spot left on the big driveway. Finn pulled in and parked. Turned off the car.

Turned to Morgan, who was really trying not to panic.

Was showing up uninvited the best way to begin getting on Hayes’ good side? Morgan was suddenly unsure.

His fingers twitched, nearly reaching for his phone. He could ask Danny, but Danny would tell him to just go for it, probably with a hundred exclamation points.

“Come on,” Finn said, shooting him a look that said, very clearly,what the fuck is your problem?