Page 11 of On Thin Ice

“Fine,fine,” Jacob agreed. “We’ll do it your way. But only because I’m not doing this to bring even more attention to myself.”

“God forbid,” Sophie said, her tone dryandaffectionate.

“Told you he’d see reason,” Mark said.

“Heis still right here,” Jacob retorted. “Andheis willing only because he wants to actually help the kids.”

Sophie chuckled. “We’ll make it painless.”

“Relatively,” Mark added.

Approval received, Sophie and Mark let Jacob sit back and drink his wine as they argued over which way they were going to turn his life upside down.

Mark was right; he’d seen this as one of the major advantages of retiring. Of course he’d also had this ridiculous dream that he could justliveand stop hiding and that would be good enough.

He should’ve known better that Sophie—and Mark—would want it to be more than that.

“I don’t want to give an interview. I don’t want to go on TV. I definitely don’t want to do a series of TikToks,” Jacob interrupted after they’d gotten so far in the weeds he was actually physically uncomfortable, shifting in his seat.

“But social media—”

“Isn’t for me. Which is why I hired you to begin with,” Jacob finished for her.

Sophie made a face. “Okay. We’ll go back to the drawing board. Figure out some new, less invasive ideas, and send them over.”

He nodded. “And while you’re at it, send me the new resumes. I want to pick a director while you’re working on the coming out plan.”

Sophie didn’t look particularly pleased about this, but it was Mark who spoke up. “You sure that’s the best use of your time?”

“Use of time? All I have is time. You asked me to start reaching out to old friends and teammates about support and I did that. They’re ready to donate. But they can’t do it if there’s no actual foundation.” Frustration leaked into his voice and he didn’t hold back. “Weneedto get this going.”

“We will, we really will. I promise you that we will,” Sophie assured him, reaching out and gripping his hand.

“What about Morgan Reynolds?” Mark asked.

Jacob wasn’t proud of how he froze. Hoped that both of them would incorrectly attribute his deer-in-the-headlights expression to their years-long feud, not the fact that he’d just had a run-in with Finn.

“Oh, Mark, we keep talking about this,” Sophie complained, shooting the guy a long-suffering look.

“I know, but think of the publicity it’d generate—Jacob’s old enemy, supporting him now that they’re both retired. Plus, it’d be great PR for Morgan too, with his son being gay.”

Jacob hadknownthat was true. It had been right there in the back of his mind during their whole conversation, and afterwards, too. When he’d jerked off in the shower two days after their run-in, and he’d had to activelynotthink about what Finn might feel like under his hands and his tongue and wrapped around his dick.

Regardless, he’d been trying to pretend that it wasn’t a factor. That it didn’t matter to him one way or the other.

Liar.

What he needed to do was find a hookup, or even better, find a guy he actuallyliked, and with whatever new plan Sophie came up with, maybe now he wouldn’t scare him off with how deep in the fucking closet he was.

Regular sex might cure him of this sudden Finn affliction before it could get even more out of hand.

“You’re not contacting Morgan,” Jacob said firmly, “and I’mdefinitelynot contacting Morgan.”

“Oh come on, that’s waterlongpassed under the bridge,” Mark said.

Jacob might’ve agreed, but Morgan had gotten more pissed at him the longer they played against each other, not less. He supposed that when you were chasing legacy and statistics and records, anyone standing in your way was an enemy to be defeated.

But Jacob had never been willing to just go down.

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