Page 145 of Need You to Choose Me

I relish in his admission. In his proclamation. In the possibilities of what this could mean. But does that mean I trust that he won’t change his mind tomorrow? Can I truly believe that he’s not simply saying this because his emotions are haywire from the game?

There are so many questions and not enough answers for me to even process what he’s asking of me. “You’re not the only onewho’s scared of losing somebody, Alex. I can’t have you checking out when things are tough.”

“I won’t.”

“You need to promise.”

He presses my hands into his face. “I promise. I swear to you, Olive, I’ll do everything I can to prove how much I love you. You’ll probably be sick of me over it.”

Somehow, I doubt that.

“I love you,” I whisper, sniffling back tears that want to leak out. “I love you, Alex. I’ve loved you for a long time. And I swear to God, if you ever break my heart I’m going to hire people to take you out so you never skate again.”

“How very Tonya Harding of you,” he muses.

I roll my eyes. “I mean it.”

His forehead leans against mine. “I have no doubt, baby. And I have a feeling there’s more than one man on the Rangers who would probably back you up in that promise.”

He’s not wrong. “So we’re doing this?”

“Baby, we’ve never stopped.”

A lump forms in my throat. “Say it again.”

He chuckles, his lips brushing mine. “Are you getting greedy?”

I kiss him back. “I don’t take these things lightly. I need to make sure I heard you right.”

I feel him smile against my mouth. “I love you, Olive Henderson. Even though your brother hates me. Even though you’re probably going to cheer for the Rangers and the Giants. I love you despite how hard I tried not to. With you, it’s impossible not to feel this way.”

Yeah, I definitely like the sound of that.

“Holidays are going to be interesting,” I remark, thinking of what Sebastian will say to him. Especially if one of their teams advances past the other.

His lips quirk up higher at the corners. “But I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After all, we’re allies. We’re a team.”

My heart swells.

Because I love the sound of that.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Alex

I’ve been tothe training complex in New York before, but this is the first time I’ve been stuffed into a space outside the locker room. The empty office smells…nice. Floral, I think. Probably from the plug in on the wall. It’s better than the body odor and sweat mixture I usually get in the locker room. There are minimal decorations and nothing on the desk, which tells me this is a spare room that they put people to meet in for privacy.

One they won’t care about getting messed up in case said meeting goes wrong. Which today’s…well, you never know.

When the door opens a few minutes later, I know who it is before even turning to look. “I thought they were pranking me when they said you were here,” Sebastian grumbles, closing the door behind him and leaning against it.

Realizing he’s not going to sit down, I stand up and face him. He hasn’t changed at all since the first time I ever met him. He had the same kind of raw determination set in stone in his eyes that I did on the ice, and it’s still present today. Not that I would ever admit it to him, but I looked up to him when I started playing for Lindon. I thought he could be an ally. That was before I understood the gravity of getting to the top.

Henderson and Olive don’t share many characteristics other than a few basic ones. Their eyes aren’t the same color, but their hair is. He’s not much taller than her. Their skin tone isn’t all that different either, but I know he tans easier because he always came back to college looking darker than he left in thespring. Olive was always the same shade above porcelain, which I always thought was hot. She didn’t.

“You going to keep staring at me, Pretty Boy, or talk?” Henderson taunts.

It snaps me out of it and reminds me why I’m here. He’s right. It’s not to look at him. “You need to talk to your sister and stop being an asshole about this situation. Your opinion means a lot to Olive and shutting her out is a coward move.”

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