Page 55 of Breaking the Ice

“Or we could just leave.” Zach didn’t want to talk to him. What would he even say?Hey, by the way, Monty is my best friend. Do you even know how much you fucked him over? How much you fucked him up?

Hayes would kill him.

Gavin looked shocked. “Just . . .leave?”

“Why not? You did your rounds. You made nice with Sidney. Even dissected the power play.”

“But Reynolds—”

“He’s distracting everyone.”

Gavin’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “Yeah, he really is.” He paused for a long second. Then immediately poured the rest of his beer down his throat. “Come on. There’s a back door here, somewhere, if I remember right.”

Less than thirty seconds later, they were pushing the door open, falling into the courtyard behind the restaurant, empty now, except for a small knot of smokers at the corner.

Next to him, Gavin tensed, like he was worried they’d recognize him too, but they didn’t even glance over as they passed by them, and then they were free.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Gavin murmured as they passed by the front of the restaurant. If Zach squinted, he thought he might see Morgan in there, signing everything anyone shoved in front of him.

No, it was so much better this way.

Not just because it was just the two of them.

“Oh, you weren’t going to stay that long, anyway,” Zach teased, nudging him.

“This is what you hated about the NHL,” Gavin said, changing the subject which said it all.

“Didn’t you?”

Gavin shrugged. “I didn’t love it. But I was used to it, I guess.”

“I just wanted to play hockey. Now I just want to coach hockey.” Zach didn’t need Gavin to tell him that there was no way to do that. That once you were good enough—at playing or coaching; didn’t matter which—the noise came with the territory. You couldn’t turn it off.

“Missed a lot of things about this. Didn’t miss any of that,” Gavin agreed.

Zach didn’t know where they were going. They were just wandering, aimlessly. It was like their late night phone calls, except they weren’t in two separate houses. Gavin was right here, with him. Close enough to touch, if he found the courage.

“Anytime you wanna sneak out, I’m happy to be your excuse,” Zach said, meaning it.

“Yeah, I might take you up on that,” Gavin said.

“Anytime.” Zach nudged him with his shoulder, but didn’t move away after. Enjoyed the way their arms brushed once, then twice.

They weren’t touchingthatmuch, but it still felt like explosions detonating just under his skin. Zach cravedmore, but he didn’t know if he should take it. If he evenwantedto just take it.

They turned down another street and then another and another. Walked through the campus.

It was a nice night out, warm but breezy, and they found themselves on the quad, lingering near one of the picnic tables by Hazel Hall. When Zach had been a student here, he’d spent hours in this exact spot, eating lunch and studying and goofing around in the long, endless afternoons.

But nothing could match this. The starlight picking out the handful of gray hairs at Gavin’s temples, the shadows turning his handsome face into Greek statuary.

Zach wanted so badly he burned with it, even as he told himself to be patient.

To let Gavin make the move if he wanted it, too.

But he didn’t. Not really. But he did sit down on the table, feet on the bench, elbows resting on his knees.

Zach joined him, deciding that it was okay to let his thigh brush Gavin’s.