Page 19 of Breaking the Ice

Maybe he shouldn’t have been, but Zach was wishing he’d gotten his new phone number or something, because now he couldn’t even check in to make sure he was okay.

Of course, checking in to make sure he was okay would also mean acknowledging what hadalmosthappened, and now that Zach was thinking about it, he wasn’t sure he could’ve.

“Now you’re freaking out,” Hayes said bluntly.

“Well, what if heisn’tokay with it? What if he doesn’t have anyone to talk to?” And okay, Hayes was at least partly right; he was panicking about this, now.

“He’s a grown ass man. He got through his wife dying. I think he can get through a little sexuality crisis.”

“Is it little though?”

Hayes laughed and made a big deal out of trailing his gaze up and down Zach’s body. “Maybe not so little.”

Zach elbowed him in the side. “Don’t be an ass.”

“It’s my turn,” Hayes said calmly.

“I did leave my card there.” When he’d pulled it out of his pocket, he’d thought it was a mistake to do it. But Gavin had barely been able to look at him and if Zach was being very honest, he’d barely been able to look back. The crush he’d believed long-dead had come roaring back with such ferocity it made him a bumbling nineteen-year-old again.

But he’d tucked it half under his breakfast plate.

Maybe when Gavin found it, he’d throw it away.

Or maybe he’d keep it.

“Oh yeah?” Hayes waggled his eyebrows.

“It was stupid—really, really stupid. But I thought . . .well, anyway, if he wants to talk to me about it, he’d be able to.”

“You think he’s gonna text you—sorry,call you, ’cause he’s old—and be like,please Zach, pretty please talk me through my sexuality crisis?”

“Now that you say it, it sounds very stupid,” Zach grumbled.

“You’re worried. It’s cute.”

“No, it’s stupid,” Zach argued. “I’m . . .well . . .you know.”

“Yeah, if anyone knows whatthat’slike, it’s me,” Hayes said.

“I just hope he has someone to talk to,” Zach said.

“Man, you aregone.”

Ugh, he wanted to tell Hayes he was wrong, that it was just the remnants of an old childish crush, that he’d be over it so fast—that there wasn’t even anything to get over—but Zach wasn’t sure.

Because it had lingered for the last four years, in the back of his mind, and that was before he’d ever believed, even for a second, that Gavin might be attracted to him.

And now? As much as Zach might try to deny it, somethinghadhappened last night.

He just needed to remind himself that nothing else was ever going to happen again. That was the first and last time.

“Come on,” Hayes said, patting him on the arm. “Let’s get out. Shower. Grab some food.”

Zach knew what Hayes was trying to do—this was why he’d come here, anyway. He’d known Hayes would be honest and then do a good job of distracting him.

He just needed to let himself be distracted.

Chapter 4