Page 64 of Need You to Choose Me

“How are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Grovel?”

At least he’s honest.

“I’ll let you get back to sleep.”

“I’m glad you called,” he tells me. “And I mean it. I’m going to do whatever it takes for you to believe me. Because you’re not the problem. You’re…everything good.”

I take a deep breath at those words suck into my chest. “Goodnight, Alex.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Olive

Skylar gives mean impressed once-over through the phone screen as she bounces Bentley on her hip. “You look great. Love the boobs in that top.”

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, studying the way my chest looks in the black shirt with a V-neck that is deeper than it was on the mannequin. “Do you think it’s too much?”

It’s hard to figure out if something looks too sexual on me or if my boobs just make it seem that way. The struggle.

“No way,” my best friend promises. “Plus, you can’t tell me there aren’t going to be people there showing way more. That top will make you look like a nun in comparison.”

Snorting, I flatten my palm along the front. “I doubt that, but I appreciate you for trying.”

Skylar shrugs. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tagalong. Danny is visiting his grandma in the hospital. She fell trying to sneak back into the house after playing poker.”

From the stories I’ve heard about Grandma Meadow, that’s not surprising at all. “Hopefully she’s okay. Tell him I said hi.”

“She will be.” She sighs, pressing a chaste kiss to her son’s head. “You seem nervous. Areyouokay?”

I have no reason not to be. I usually like these things. There’s free food and drinks and entertainment. Plus, I get to see Sebastian which doesn’t happen as often as I’d like now that he’s a fancy pants professional hockey player. And with him adding ‘father’ to that list, I’m sure it’ll be even less I get to spend time with him.

But I don’t want to go alone. And I was half tempted to ask Alex if he wanted to come, but I knew that wouldn’t go over well. Not with Sebastian or his team. I mean, bringing an enemy to a Rangers team event? Probably not the best idea.

“Seb and I haven’t spoken since he invited me to this,” I admit. It’s been a long week of wondering if I should even show up. The only thing he’s sent me since our conversation was the details of the event, including the hotel room he booked me at the venue since his place was being renovated. He didn’t ask if I was coming, he assumed I was. And if he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of what had been said, neither was I.

Mostly.

It still hurt, but I could keep that to myself.

“Are you fighting?”

Her question pulls me out of my head. “Not really. He told me something that was surprising about a friend and then basically told me to stay away from him.”

“Fromhimor his friend?”

“His friend,” I elaborate. “Apparently, I’m too much for what said friend is going through. It made me feel…” What? Offended? Insulted? Guilty? Bad? All of those things. But more than that, it made me feel like something was wrong with me. “It doesn’t matter. I know he didn’t mean it in a bad way. He’s just looking out for his buddy. But it still sucked.”

Skylar is quiet for a second. “But what about you? He should be looking out for you too.”

Yeah, well… “Whatever. It’s making me a little uneasy about tonight, is all. I’ve met most of the team and I’ve been around a majority of the WAGS and staff. But part of me wished I’d stayed home with some lame excuse.”

“You can always make something up.”

“He knows I’m here already,” I mumble, sighing in defeat. I regret not turning off my location sharing with him. “I’ve gotto suck it up and put my big girl panties on. It’ll be fun. They always have good food at these events. And drinks. Maybe I’ll even indulge on some wine since I don’t have to get an Uber.”

Skylar laughs. “Well, have fun. If you need me to get you out of there I can make a call. Call me tomorrow with all the details if you stay.”

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