Page 122 of Breakaway Goals
“I—”
“I know,” Hayes said. “But bend your rules for me, baby.”
Like Morgan was ever going to be able to resistthat. He leaned in and kissed Hayes again.
When they finally broke apart a second time, the leash on his self-control was tenuous and he already knew he was going to be tasting Hayes on his tongue for the rest of the night—and he wasn’t even bent out of shape about it.
“Well,” Hayes said breathlessly. “Goodnight.”
“I’ll call you,” Morgan promised.
“I know,” Hayes said and slipped through the door before they could throw the whole goddamn rulebook out the window.
Chapter 19
Hayeswasn’tallthatsurprised that during warmups against the Bandits, Matt Daniels skated over, just crossing the blue line to nudge up right next to him.
“Hey, Monty,” Danny said. “How’s it hanging?”
“Danny,” Hayes said, nodding at his ex-teammate. “Going pretty good. Better than you, at any rate.”
Danny grimaced. “Better not let Mo hear you say that. I know he’s wearing a Sentinels jersey these days, but he’ll always be a Bandit at heart.”
“Oh he knows,” Hayes said lightly, smiling probably a hair too brightly to be playing it cool, but it was unclear if he was supposed to. He’d heard, through the rumor mill and from Danny himself, twice a year, that he and Morgan had stayed in contact. It was highly possible that Danny knew everything that had gone down in the last week.
But he and Morgan hadn’t discussed who exactly they were telling. Obviously the top of the list had to be Finn—and not just because he was Morgan’s son, but because Hayes was hiscaptain, and he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize this team.
“He told you?” Danny looked astonished, which for such a chaos gremlin was saying something.
Okay, so Danny didn’t know. That was interesting, though not very surprising, because Morgan had told him that he was going out with Danny tonight after the game to “catch up.” Maybe he was waiting to tell Danny until then.
“We do speak,” Hayes teased, unable to help himself. And he was rewarded when Danny’s jaw literally dropped open.
“Seriously?”
Hayes just shrugged, gaze back to his side of the ice, scanning the group as they finished their warmups. “Heisaround a lot.”
“Yeah, but I thought you two were in the middle of the world’s coldest war,” Danny spluttered.
Hayes shot him an amused look. “Couldn’t stay ice-cold forever,” he said, skating off before Danny could demand to know exactly what that meant.
Finn was in goal tonight, and that meant that Morgan was up in his usual suite, Jacob next to him. Hayes couldn’t see him, but he knew they were there. Knew Morgan was there, his gaze prickling on his shoulder blades as he took the first faceoff.
The Bandits were not very good this year, but they always fought hard, regardless, and Hayes had no intention of resting back. They had a win streak on the line, and that mattered the most, of course, but there was also his own personal stats, which Barty kept telling him would change the Sentinels’ minds about the contract.
Lars, his right wing, had gotten the puck, and they pushed into the Bandits’ side of the ice, Lars passing the puck to Hayes, who took it behind the goal. Danny’s hit was mis-timed though, and he took off, unscathed, looking for a shooting lane.
He passed it back to Curtis, one of their starting defensemen, and skated up closer to the net, brain alert as it scrolled through what he knew about the Bandits’ goalie. He was good low, but shit high. Middling on the rebound.
Lars knew it too, because he slid over, closer to the other side, obviously getting ready to slide the puck behind the goalie’s backside if he got a chance at the rebound.
A second later, the play materialized.
Curtis passed back to Hayes, who took the shot, knowing it was probably going to bounce off his kneepad, and sure enough, it did.
The puck hit Lars’ tape and then it was in the net.
Hayes hit Lars’ side, patting him on the helmet with a glove as they celebrated the goal.
