Page 152 of On Thin Ice

“Spit it out, Reynolds.”

“Should I have not come?”

“To this game? I don’t think Finn would’ve ever forgiven you for missing it.” Jacob knew what Morgan had actually meant,but it was fun to misunderstand him, just to watch him splutter in annoyance.

“No,no. I mean . . .should I have not come down here? Rented the house?”

“Oh, well, no the house rental thing was a good idea. You’d havereallycramped our style if you’d insisted on moving in,” Jacob said seriously.

Morgan made a face. “I was never going to do that.”

“Thank God for that.” Jacob paused. “But seriously, I think it’s good you’re here. Finn respects you a lot, and you give him a good perspective, and well . . .this is a big time in his life. You’ve been there, too. You get it.”

“So do you,” Morgan said quietly. Jacob understood then that this was another way of Morgan saying, without actually admitting it out loud, in actual words, that he approved of Jacob and Finn’s relationship.

Jacob wished he could go back in time and tell his past self,look at what you’re going to have, if you’re brave and face down your fear. A man you love more than anything on earth and even his annoying, meddling father, who it turns out could actually be your best friend.

“Yeah, I’m his boyfriend. But you’re his father.” Jacob cleared his throat. “It’s okay you’re here. I promise. If it hadn’t been, you’d have known.”

Finn would’ve made it clear. He did that these days, setting boundaries in that clear-eyed, blunt way he’d adopted. Boundaries shouldn’t have turned Jacob on. But then pretty much everything about Finn turned him on.

“Good,” Morgan said, turned back to the ice. “Oh, look, it’s . . .uh . . .it’s starting.”

They’d gotten to their seats way early, because neither of them wanted to miss the special tradition of a rookie warming up on the ice for the first time, solo—of Finn doing it for the first time.

“Did you bring—” Jacob didn’t even get the words out before Morgan slapped something into his hand.

Jacob looked down and smiled.

It was a pack of tissues.

The ice spread out before him, perfect and glossy.

Untouched.It’s all for you, now.

Finn’s heart beat unsteadily and he gripped his stick harder.

“You ready?”

He glanced over and there, deep back in the tunnel, was Hayes, waiting for him to make his debut rookie lap before he let the rest of the team onto the ice to warm up.

“Yeah,” Finn said. “I feel good.”

“Youaregood,” Hayes said.

As he’d expected, he liked Hayes Montgomery, who wore the C for the Sentinels, a lot. He’d been as welcoming as any captain of a team would be, but there’d been an extra addition of comfort on top of that, because with Hayes out and in charge of the locker room, there’d never be a reason for Finn to worry a teammate would start shit.

“Thanks,” Finn said. He was still trying to adjust to the thinking that his NHL debut, something he’d worked so long and hard for, was actuallyhappening, like right fucking now, and that was overwhelming enough. Not to mention that Hayes Montgomery thought he wasgood.

“There’s no reason to be nervous, okay? You’ve got this. The ice runs in your veins.”

It did.

Cold and solid, it ran true for Morgan and it would for Finn, too.

For so long, he’d worried that he wouldn’t be enough. That he’d let his dad down. That he’d never live up to the potential of his last name.

But in the last year he’d begun to discover that it actually was insanely fucking cool that they both had gotten this chance. Morgan had made the most of his, and Finn was going to do the same.

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