Page 127 of On Thin Ice

But he was pissed. Pissed that Morgan was pissed, even though he and Finn had both expected it to go this way.

Did Morgan really think Finn was some stupid idiot incapable of mature decisions who only thought with his dick?

Morgan made a rough noise in his throat, and shit, he’d said that out loud, hadn’t he? Out loud and now Morgan might actually kick his ass.

Or at least Morgan mighttry.

“Dad,” Finn said, clearly trying to play peacemaker. Except then he added, “Jacob’s right.”

“Oh yes, well, of course you’d think that. Course you’d think this is a good idea. Thathe’sa good idea.”

“He’s not a bad one,” Finn said steadily.

“Wait.Wait.” Morgan suddenly grimaced. “He’s the guy, isn’t he? The guy who wouldn’t date you, that you convinced to date you. With the Burberry!”

Jacob turned to the cupboard and pulled out the biggest mug he owned. If the conversation was going down this particular rabbit hole, he needed coffee. A lot of fucking coffee.

“Yes,” Finn said bluntly, with apparently no concept of softening the news. “And remember how you told me to go get him? To not let him get away if I wanted him? Well, I didn’t. I got him.”

“But . . .but . . .but. . .” Morgan spluttered. “You didn’t tell me it was Jacob fucking Braun.”

“Yes, I did. I told you he was older than I was. I told you he was interested in charity work. I told you he was a good guy. Actually . . .” Finn paused, an unholy grin sneaking across his face. “I thinkyouactually told me he was a good guy.”

“I didn’t mean it.” Morgan looked like he wanted to sink through the floor.

Jacob pulled out a second mug and poured coffee for Finn.

“But you did. You told me that his hesitation meant he cared about me. That he wanted to do right by me.” Finn smiled at Jacob as he handed him the mug. “And you were right.”

“He is,” Jacob agreed.

“I can’t . . .youcan’t,” Morgan said, looking angry enough now that Jacob wanted to lean in and remind Finn that they didn’t need to make this any worse than it already was. Maybe he should be laying off the hard truths for the next little bit.

But Finn clearly didn’t want to. Finn wanted to go for the jugular.

“You can say that all day long,” Finn said calmly, sipping his coffee, “but it doesn’t mean anything. I already did, and I’m going to do it again. And I’m not going to stop. Not anytime soon.”

Morgan went red and then white.

Like father, like son, Jacob realized.

“I can’t be here anymore, listening to this fucking garbage,” Morgan ground out and stalked off, slamming the door behind him so hard the whole house shuddered.

“Well, that could’ve gone better,” Finn said, but he didn’t look upset. Not particularly, anyway.

He looked . . .resigned. Accepting. But also . . .free.

And it occurred to Jacob then that they were. The worst person to tell had just been told—or however he’d found out. And yes, Morgan was pissed, but it wasn’t like he was going to getmorepissed.

“Could’ve gone worse, too,” Jacob said. “I could have two black eyes right now.”

“He wouldn’t have hit you.” Finn sounded annoyingly sure of that particular fact.

“At least one of us believes that,” Jacob muttered morosely.

“I wonder how he found out,” Finn said, this time actually sounding interested. Probably because he wasn’t currently fending off a furious Morgan.

“You said your guys—Elliott and Mal and Ramsey—they wouldn’t tell anyone.” Jacob made sure to remove as much judgment from his voice as possible. He trusted Finn, and he knew Finn trusted his teammates, and the last thing Jacob wanted was for Finn to believe he was wrong.

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