“As someone who lo—cares about you, deeply,” she said, her brows pinching together. “I’m fucking scared.”
Lo?Was she gonna say love? I wanted to push her, but we both weren’t in the right headspace for confessions. Not now.
“Sloane,” I said, half-laughing. “Honey, I’m gonna be okay.”
“I know but it seems so risky. I don’t want you hurt. I’m not sure I can survive it.” She gulped again. “We need to talk about us.”
Alarm bells went off inside my head, every worst-case scenario in live-action.She thinks I’m weak. She’s over me. This isn’t real.
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped when her bottom lip trembled. I felt like an asshole. This wasn’t about me. It was about her. “What is it, Sloane?”
“I’m scared,” she said, her voice steadier this time. “Not because of your heart. But… because I don’t know if I can keep doing this.”
My chest pulled tight.Keep calm. “What do you mean?”
She stared at me across the booth, her eyes red but focused. “Lying to everyone. Sneaking around. I have my dream job right now, and Ivy figured us out, but what if Mac does? Or William? Or Booth?” She gulped, shook her head, and sighed with so much sadness I swore the sound landed in my soul. “I could get fired or blacklisted for the rest of my career.”
“That won’t happen, Sloane.” I’d fight every step of the way. She wouldn’t lose her job or get put on some no-hire list. There was no way.
“You don’t know that. You are a player. The league is meant to protect you not me.” She ran a shaky hand over her throat, a blush covering her face. “I think… I need to resign.”
“No.”
She flinched.
“No,” I repeated, louder this time. “You’re not quitting because of me.”
“It’s not just because of you,” she said, a small smile on her lips. “I want this… you and me, to have a real chance. I want you to meet my brother. I want to go on dates with you. I’ve never felt like this with anyone, ever.”
“I want that too, but you’re not quitting.”
“I don’t want to,” she whispered. “But it’s the right thing to do. I’m too biased, too involved. It goes against my professional associations code. I think it’d be best for all of us.”
I clenched my jaw, then released it. “They need you, Doc. There has to be some example of people working together on the same team. Jesus, we’re not the first.”
“Sure, but the downfall of this won’t touch you. Just… me.”
The thought of her leaving gutted me. This was her dream. This was her place in the world, and she was meant to be here. God, for half a second, I thought about quitting. If I walked away, then no surgery, no football, and we could be together. Although even walking away didn’t change the diagnosis. I wasstill labeled with a problem that needed treatment. But then I’d only have her. Not a team wanting me to succeed. I'd be more of a burden to her, and that would be irrational. I couldn’t become deadweight. I wanted her to rely on me, see me as someone who’d take care of her, be there for her, and I couldn’t be without football.
I leaned forward, hands flat on the table. “Then let’s stop pretending. Let’s stop hiding.”
She blinked, eyes wide, filled with a hope that wasn’t there. “What are you saying?”
“Let’s get through the season. Just the season. After that, I’ll walk away if I have to. You don’t have to make the call right now. Not today.”
“You’d leave the team for me? Oliver, no.”
“If it came to that?” I nodded, hard. “Yeah, I fucking would, Sloane. But we don’t have to make that call, not yet. I’ve got games left in me. I want the playoffs. I want to finish what I started this season.”
Her expression crumpled for half a second before she looked down again. “I’ve written my resignation email three times,” she said. “But I haven’t sent it.”
“And you’re not going to.”
She looked up at me again, really stared. “Oliver…”
“This will work out. I have a feeling.” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles, one at a time. “We finish the season, then I go through the surgery if it’s the last option, and that gives us time to figure out what to do.”
She didn’t need to know I was going to do research and find a way for us to be together on the team. I already had a plan forming. I’d call my agent first thing. “Does that sound good? Can you promise me not to send that email?”
