Page 63 of Need You to Choose Me

Then blink again.

“A kid. As in…?”

“A child,” he says slowly. “A daughter. She’s four. Spitting image of her mother, thank God.”

I think the last bit is meant to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t land. “Are we talking about the same Bodhi Hoffman? Like, you’re friend? The right wing for the Rangers?”

He hums in confirmation.

Bodhi Hoffman is adad?

Oh my God. “How do you guys keep getting away with this stuff without the media making it into a circus? Last week, I saw a news article about of the Canadian players walking out of the hospital and the headline was that he was having major surgery that was going to force him to retire. Then I sawanotherheadline that said he was having an affair with a doctor there. Do you really want to know what the truth was? He was having his annual physical. That was it. The media is known to make upthe most ridiculous stuff. And, yet, two people I know personally have never been outed. How is that?”

His answer is simple. “Money.”

Money. Of course. “You paid them off.”

“I didn’t necessarily need to, but Hoffman wanted his privacy. And privacy for his daughter and her mother.”

Is it wrong that I’m suddenly mad because he was willing to protect his daughter and baby mama from the media but not me? I know he doesn’t owe me anything, but I thought we were friends. I can understand wanting to leave your child out of the spotlight, but I didn’t even know he’d gotten anybody pregnant. One picture with me, and the world explodes because Bodhi touched a fat woman. It makes my eye twitch.

“Why are you telling me this? It’s obvious he didn’t want me to know.”

Sebastian doesn’t answer right away. But when he does, my cheeks prickle with heat. “I’m telling you because we both know he wasn’t asking for the coach. Like I said before, Olive. Bodhi is a good guy. But…”

Once again, he’s warning me away from someone. “But you don’t want us to get involved.”

This time, he doesn’t hesitate. “That’s not it. Hoffman is one of the best people I know. I know I’m protective of you, but it’s for a reason. He would be the type of person Icouldtrust with you.”

Confusion weighs on my shoulders. “Then what are you saying?”

His next words do something to my heart that I don’t like. They crush it. “I don’t want him to get hurt. And, I love you, sis, but I think you’d be one of the few people capable of doing that. And his head needs to be in a good place. Not just for the team. But for his little girl.”

My brother doesn’t want me to break his best friend’s heart.

He thinksI’mthe problem.

Hurt spreads throughout my chest.

I swallow. “Duly noted. I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Olive—”

I cut the call and stare at the screen.

The rest of my shift goes by painfully slow, and those words echo in my head more than I want to admit by the time I help Judy close.

Sitting in my car after we lock up, I glance at my phone for a few minutes before dialing it.

“Hello?” Alex sounds tired when he answers.

“I woke you up,” I realize apologetically. I look at the clock and wince at the time.

“It’s all right. You okay?”

“I just…” I pause, biting down on my bottom lip as I look into the dark night dimly lit by streetlights. “I don’t want to be the problem, Alex. I don’t want to feel the way I do. Confused. Conflicted. Unsure. I don’t want to be the issue that you use as an excuse.”

Unlike me, Alex doesn’t hesitate. His tone is much more alert, awake. “I gave you a reason to feel that way, Olive. That doesn’t make you the problem. It makes you smart. I’m just going to have to prove to you that I won’t hurt you again.”

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