Page 134 of Double Puck

"Now tell me about the report."

And just like that, my stomach drops back onto the concrete.

"Well… I think I'm reversing my recommendation."

His eyebrows lift.

"The original data was incomplete," I continue, because this part I can explain. "It didn't properly account for the hits you absorb or the space you create. It doesn't measure what happens to the energy of the line when you're not there, and after Vegas..." I shake my head. "When I watched Bailey try to fill your spot, Beck. He couldn't. The entire structure changed without you."

"Okay."

"That's all you're going to say?"

"Nope." His hands tighten around the wire. "But I'm also going to say something you're probably going to hate."

"Wonderful."

"Tomorrow, when you put that report on the table, I need you to forget what you just told me."

I stare at him like he's suddenly speaking another language. "What?"

"Not forever. I'm planning to be extremely annoying about that later." His expression softens. "But when you're writing about me? When you finally hand that report over… I need you to forget you're scared I'm going to leave."

"Beck, that's not why I'm changing it."

"Good. Then you've got nothing to worry about."

He says it so simply I want to reach through the fence and shake him.

"But you know what I don't want?" he continues. "I don't want you changing one number because you think it'll keep me here. Not one sentence. You're too smart, too clever for that."

"And if I look at everything again tonight and still think trading you is the right decision?"

His eyes fall, and there is that tiny flicker of hurt he can't hide quickly enough.

"Then recommend they trade me."

For a moment, I genuinely forget about the people surrounding us.

"Beck..."

"I'm serious." His fingers push farther through the fence until I instinctively reach for them. He catches my hand, threading our fingers together awkwardly through the wire. "You don't owe me a roster spot because you love me. And I sure as hell don't want you blowing up your career because you're scared I'll disappear if you tell the truth."

I squeeze his fingers.

"So do the work," he says. "Do it the way you would've done it before I came along and ruined your perfectly organized life with my excellent personality and unusually powerful sexual presence."

A laugh bursts out of me as his thumb brushes mine through the fence.

"Look at everything, Darce. Decide what you actually believe. Then walk into that meeting tomorrow and tell them."

"And if I'm wrong?"

His eyes hold mine.

"Then you're wrong." He grins. "But guess what? You can make the mistake. The earth keeps spinning, Spreadsheet."

My eyes burn.