More silence, heavy but not hostile. In his head he could still see the way her fingers had curled when Sophie mentioned the hospital. The way she’d steadied her breathing like she was bracing for impact. Nate kept his gaze on her, his own expression softening back into the one he’d come to associate with the Holly-shaped part of his heart.
“What’s the amount the insurance won’t cover?”
Her head snapped up, and she finally looked at him.“Nate.”
He wasn’t about to be swayed by the fact she’d just fucking ruined him with one look, though.
“The difference,” he clarified. “What insurance won’t cover.”
“I’ve got the money,” he continued. Practical, like he was talking about a contract negotiation instead of her mother’s life. “It’d barely touch my bottom line. Please let me carry the weight of this one thing, Holly.”
The words felt strange in his mouth. Not because of the money, because of what it meant to offer it. He didn’t move any closer to her, or try to convince her this was the way forward. Instead he retreated back to the world of hockey where everything came down to offering to absorb the hit.
For a second, something dangerously close to relief flickered across her face. “That’s not how this works,” she said softly.
He frowned lightly. “How what works?”
“Us.”
Us.She said it like there stillwasan ‘us’. As though she hadn’t quite closed the door on him, yet wasn’t sure how to open it back up again either.
“If I let you fix this,” she went on, her voice steadier than her breathing, “then I don’t know where the line is anymore. Between you wanting me… and you feeling responsible for me.”
“You think I’m buying equity?” he asked, trying to understand.
“I think,” she said, and this time it cost her, “that I’ve already confused love and survival once. I’m not doing that again.”
Well, fuck. He couldn’t argue with that, even though he wanted to.
“I’m not trying to save you, Martinez,” he told her, letting her hear his heart. “I just hate watching you bleed out when I’ve got a spare bandage.”
Her eyes flickered across his face, and for one gut-wrenching second he thought she might actually fold into him and let him help her figure it all out. Instead, she inhaled.
“I know.”
Two words. Barely above a whisper. And that was worse, because she believed him and she still wouldn’t let him help.
Holly blinked, her eyes suddenly glassy before she looked away. “It means more to me than you think it does, but I can’t accept your money, Nate. Even if you don’t need it.”
Then she inhaled, small but decisive. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer. She grabbed her bag and left the studio like she was escaping something that might swallow her whole if she lingered another second.
Nate stayed where he was, staring blankly at the place where she’d been standing. He’d broken a man’s jaw once for mouthing off during a playoff game. Didn’t even remember deciding to do it, just felt the surge.
This was anything but simple.
He could bench-press three hundred pounds and drive a six-foot winger into the boards hard enough to rattle teeth, but he couldn’t write a check she’d accept. Couldn’t force her to lean on him without breaking the very thing he was trying to protect.
His money was useless.
His fists were useless.
Nate had absolutely no power over this whatsoever, and it left him feeling completely adrift in a world where he’d always known exactly what his role was. Now the thing standing between him and peace wasn’t a rival player or a board vote. It was the pain in that look Holly had given him, right before she’d walked out that door.
As much as he hated it, he’d have to wait for her to come to him if she wanted his help. He had to give her that grace. She more than deserved it. In the meantime, he’d stay. Be her back-up, where he could. Hold space for her when she needed it.
Nate exhaled slowly, staring at his reflection in the studio mirror. He’d been fighting the wrong battle, trying to prove to the League he was still worth their time. Now it was time to go back to the beginning, to the first fracture of his shattered career. If he wanted to actuallybethe man Holly didn’t have to brace for, he had to prove he was trying to change for the better.
