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Shit. I meant to tell her the news last night but completely got sidetracked. “I’m so sorry, I meant to call you last night. Levi mentioned something about Ezra needing to go back to Boston,” I say, placing a palm on her shoulder.

Her mouth drops open and her blue eyes grow distant. “Wow. I didn’t expect him to skip town.”

“I can try to find out why, but—are you okay?” I ask.

She nods slowly. “Yeah.” She gives a sad laugh. “It’s not like we were dating. It was just a hookup. Or two…” She trails off, looking at her phone once more.

Her long fingers curl around it and with a decisive nod, she opens Ezra’s contact information, changes his name to a ghost emoji, and archives their text messages.

“You’ll find someone else in no time,” I say, giving her a side hug.

Her head drops to the top of mine and she sighs. “Yeah. Plus, I’m going to see my family this weekend. It’ll be a good opportunity to get him off my mind.”

“Atta girl.” I smile, kissing her cheek.

“Any Levi updates?” she asks, grinning at me.

I look around the room, making sure no one else heard. “Shh, keep it down, I don’t want anyone knowing I’m staying with him. Or that anything else might be going on.”

“So there is something going on?” she whispers, eyes huge with excitement.

“No,” I say, my mind going back to last night. To sitting together on the couch, and the hug later. God, the way his chest felt against my back when he helped position me for the swing…“No, definitely not,” I lie.

Rosie scrutinizes me, eyes narrowed on my face. She always knows when I’m lying. I expect her to call me out or press for more, but she drops the subject. “Okay then,” she says, heading out of the locker room.

I follow, worrying my lip. Maybe I should take Levi’s offer and move to the guest house. But then I’d see him less…and I don’t know if I want that.

In pure Ben fashion, he makes me jump through a million hoops to get my schedule adjusted. It takes me most of the morning to call and text other coworkers and beg them to switch shifts around with me.

I’m exhausted and peopled-out by the time my actual shift in the pro shop starts.

Xander is at the register, checking people in while I’m stuck re-stocking the shelves. Again.

“Well, did you figure the shifts out?” Ben asks, coming up behind me while I struggle to add the box of balls to a high shelf.

I huff and stand higher on my tiptoes, pushing the box into its slot with my fingertips. I exhale sharply and turn to see Ben smugly looking down at me. He could have offered to help if he were a better man.

“Most of them. I have two that I still need to figure out. Can you please see if there’s anything you can do?” I ask sweetly.

Ben scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest. His eyes narrow on me, gaze dropping to the little bit of cleavage I’m showing today. He licks his lips and leans in, arms crossed over his chest. “What would I get in return?”

His question lands like a blow and I wince, taking a step back into the shelf I was re-stocking. He’s so disgusting. Just the mere thought of doing anything sexual with him makes me want to gag.

I gaze around, hoping someone else heard his question and the underlying message. But it’s just the two of us and Xander at the register. It’s not like he’d be of any help. In fact, I’m certain he’s just as sleazy as his uncle.

Steeling myself, I square my shoulders and look him dead in the eye. “Why would you get anything in return for doing your job?”

Ben’s lips curl in a sneer. “I would be doing you a favor.”

“Scheduling conflicts come up all the time, it’s quite literally part of your job to address them. How about you find a way to cover my two shifts? In return, I won’t tell your manager about all the times you’ve abused your power and played favorites with Xander.”

The sneer stays on his face but he doesn’t say anything else. I’ve never threatened to go above his head and report him, mostly because I couldn’t afford to lose this job. But now, with this opportunity to be on Levi’s team, maybe I’ll finally have the courage and experience to apply to better positions. Fuck Ben.

“Careful with threats, Hazel,” he warns me, face red with anger. “They work both ways.”

I exhale a shaky breath as he walks away, but regardless of his words, I’m still proud of myself for standing up to him.

When I check my schedule online at the end of my shift, I see that Ben has found someone to cover those two shifts for me.