Page 54 of Breakaway Goals
They weren’t cuddling exactly but close enough.
Close enough that Hayes wasn’t even sure what else he’d call it.
“That shouldn’t be true,” Morgan said softly, “but it is.”
For the first time, Hayes let himself really seriously think about what this might have been if they didn’t play on opposite sides of the country.
But they did, there was no reason to believe that might change anytime soon and, as a result, there was only so far it could go, unless they were considering long-distance a viable possibility.
“Yeah,” Hayes agreed. Wondered, also for the first time, if heshouldsay something. They’d both seemed happy enough to keep it just sex, a fun hookup, at first, but now things were deepening. Changing.
Maybe it was like Danny said—the first overall thing, rearing its head. Or maybe it was something else.
“You should stay,” Hayes continued before he could stop himself. “If you want to.”
“I want to,” Morgan said.
And that something else reared up again, insistent and undeniable, at least until Hayes pushed it away.
Something elsewas a problem for a different day, for a Hayes who’d already been through the next game, the championship game.
Not a Hayes who just wanted to fall asleep to Morgan’s steady breathing.
Chapter 8
DannycameuptoHayes after morning skate and leaned over him. “Hey,” he said, “how are you doin’, kid?”
Hayes shot him a look. “First off, we’re the same age and second off, what did you do now?”
“Who said I did anything?” Danny asked, with exaggerated innocence.
Hayes rolled his eyes. “You’re a terrible liar. And not subtle, either.”
“Okay,” Danny said, “fair. I wanted to know what you thought of some of these quotes going around about you.”
“What quotes?” Once they were confirmed to be in the championship game, Hayes had inevitably had to do media yesterday. Some of the other guys had too. But he hadn’t ended up paired with Morgan again, which he wasn’t sure he was relieved or disappointed about.
“You haven’t heard, then,” Danny said with smug satisfaction and then pulled his phone out of his sweatpants. “Let me tell you what our illustrious captain is saying about you these days.”
“Danny,” Hayes warned him.
“No, no, it’s good. And you should hear this.”
“I specifically go out of my waynotto read the press shit. Especially when it’s about me,” Hayes said. Even though if he knew Morgan was saying good stuff about him, he might’ve been very tempted.
Butno. Because thesomething elsewas already taking up a part of him, growing with very single moment he spent in Morgan’s presence, and he was worried that Zach might’ve been right after all when he wondered if this whole thing was going to fuck Hayes up, in the end.
“You’re gonna want to hear this,” Danny said. He put a hand on his hip and affected what he probably thought was a Morgan-like tone. Hayes didn’t tell him it was a terrible impression, but he could have. “Monty’s a vital part of this team. Maybe the most important piece we have.Blah blahsomething else about the goal you scored against Canada and then someone asked if that could really be true if Morgan’s the first line center and he said, and I fucking quote, Monty,I’m only here to make him look as good as he really is.He fucking said that. About you. To the media.Unprompted.”
“Danny,” Hayes said weakly, “I don’t understand the point of this.”
“Do you really not get it or are you in some serious denial?”
Serious denial. Digging my way in deeper every single day.
Hayes just shrugged. “It’s . . .it’s an honor to play with him too.”
“The way Morgan’s talking, it’s more than just an honor to play withyou. And you know, you have to know, he didn’t like talking about you before this. Kinda went out of his way to avoid talking about you.”
