Page 101 of The Triple Play

“My dadwarnedme. He warned me that if I didn’t cut it off, he’d make things worse for me. He doesn’t even care that I’m?—”

She cut herself off, her throat working, her breathing too fast.

“I don’t want to ruin your careers,” she said through gasps. “He took away my trust fund, and clearly, that wasn’t enough for him. Nothing is ever enough for him. I can’t pay for shit and now he’s got Elliot trying to ruinyourability to support yourselves. I can’t… I can’t?—”

Annie’s fingers were ice in mine, freezing like she’d just pulled them out of an ice bath.

Xavi squeezed her tightly, pulling her back a little into his lap, like he was trying to calm her down by sheer will alone. “We’ll figure it out,” he said, his voice steady for once in the face of something this stressful. The kid was learning. “But first thing — we need to get you a lawyer to get your trust back under your control. Someone good. Someone who isn’t afraid to take on your dad.”

Xav met my gaze over Annie’s shoulder, a silent request for me to figure that out. I was already ten steps ahead of him.

Her lips parted like she was about to argue, but Colton spoke first. “You shouldn’t have to keep looking over your shoulder for the guy who’s supposed to be your father,” he said softly. “And if Elliot actually tries anything, we’ll figure it out. But we need to take precautions now while we figure it out. So unless you’re itching to vomit in the Peach Arena bathrooms today, one of us will stay home with you.”

I nodded. “And I know a guy who played with one of our old teammates. His brother’s in family law, really good. He’s taken on billionaires and won. I’ll contact him, see what we can do about your trust.”

Annie’s lower lip wobbled. “I can’t pay for a lawyer right now without it.”

“I’ll cover it,” I said, squeezing her hand. It wasn’t even a thought.

She blinked at me like I was speaking another language. Like we hadn’t already been paying for her with the home studio, food, her copay for her doctor’s appointment. “But I can’t ask you to?—”

“You’re not asking,” I cut in, soft but firm. “You’re not asking for a damn thing. I’m—We’redoing this, all of this, because we want to. Because we love you.”

I didn’t miss the way Xavi’s gaze flicked to me briefly at that last bit, his body stilling.

“If you’re that worried about it, darling, pay me back once it’s in your control. But please don’t stop me or Colton or Xav from helping you.”

Colton cupped her cheek, turning her to face him. “Seriously, don’t. If you stress yourself out so badly you end up in the hospital over this, we’re all going to lose our minds.”

She gave a breathy little laugh, the sound cracked, her body still trembling.

“You’re safe with us,” Xav said quietly, pressing a kiss to her neck. “No matter what happens, we’ve got you. You don’t need to worry about money. You don’t need to fight your dad by yourself. We’re here.”

I could see her fighting it internally, fighting the instinct to apologize, to tell us she didn’t want to be a burden, as if carrying our baby and keeping this insane situation from going nuclear somehow madeherthe problem. It made my chest ache.

I pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “But wedoneed to be smart,” I added. “Coach already gave us a warning yesterday. If this turns into a full-blown scandal, we could be traded. All of us.”

“And then we wouldn’t all be together anymore,” Xavi murmured, squeezing her a little tighter.

That hit a nerve for her. Sheflinched.

“But that just means that we need to figure this out as quickly and well-thought-out as possible,” Colton said. “We need a plan.”

Annie swallowed hard. She didn’t speak, but she nodded, and that needed to be enough.

We could figure out a plan. We’d figure it out for us, but mostly for her. We’d give her a fortress. We’d wrap fucking steel around her if we needed to.

Chapter37

Xavi

The smell of bacon cooking in the pan mixed with something sweeter — her. Always her.

She stood at the stove, barefoot in one of my black t-shirts and nothing else, the fabric hanging loose around her frame. Her hair fell around her shoulders and face in waves that she hadn’t bothered to try to tame, the morning light bouncing off it and reflecting the deep reds and browns. She’d caught me staring twice already, but I didn’t care. I’d let her catch me a million times.

Her fingers trembled a little when she reached for the spatula, and my chest tightened.

“You okay?” I asked softly, hitting the brew button on the espresso machine. I wasn’t far, a couple of feet at most, close enough to grab her if I needed to.

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