Page 98 of My Pucked Up Enemy

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling. My tension eases for a moment, which only makes what I’m about to say harder.

“Did the team go out last night?” I ask.

He nods. “Some of the guys hit that steakhouse on Fifth. I bailed early.”

“Too many cameras?”

“Too many people I didn’t want to see.” He pauses, then adds, “Didn’t feel like celebrating without you.”

I blink, caught off guard.

He doesn’t look at me when he says it, and I pretend not to hear the meaning beneath it. But I feel it, sharp and clear, sitting so heavy in my chest that I have to take a deep breath just to lighten the weight that just intensified.

I stare down at my coffee. “Alex…”

I laugh softly, then take a breath. “I didn’t just come here to relive the glory.”

His smile fades. He nods once. “Figured.”

I set the mug down, trying to keep my hands from shaking. “I got a job offer.”

He’s silent.

“It’s from the league office,” I continue. “Senior Mental Performance Consultant. National platform. Full department under me. It’s… everything I ever I wanted in my career.”

He stares at the coffee table.

"Where is the job?"

"It's based in New York."

“So you’re leaving,” he says flatly.

“No,” I say quickly. “I mean, I don’t know yet. I haven’t said yes.”

He lifts his eyes to mine, and there’s something dark there. Something hurt.

“You kissed me like it meant something,” he says. “And now you’re here telling me it was goodbye.”

My heart lurches. “That’s not what it was.”

“Then what was it?”

I struggle to answer. “It was real. It’s all real. But this offer is what I worked for. It’s what I thought I was supposed to want.”

“You said you didn’t want to mix personal and professional. But now you’re walking straight into one and shutting the other out.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No?” His voice sharpens. “Because it feels like I’m the only one who thinks this—whatever this is—is worth fighting for.”

I stand, too keyed up to sit still. “You think this is easy for me? That I haven’t been ripping myself apart over it?”

“Then why are you running?”

“Because I don’t know if staying is choosing you or giving up on everything I worked for!”

He stands too now, closing the space between us in two steps.

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