Page 106 of The Triple Play

Xavi set his shake down on the bench beside him, blinking as he stared off into the middle distance. “We could take her with us to games without sneaking her around.”

“We could,” I agreed. “She could fly with us.”

“If we did it fast, she could get on the Fire’s insurance before the baby comes,” Cole said, his knee bouncing. “Her insurance is shit. You know they tried to claim her pregnancy was a pre-existing condition?”

“Christ,” I muttered.

Cole held up his hands. “Look, I’m good with it. I’ve already been thinking about it. But I’ve already been married, I had that privilege, so you two can decide between you who you want to do the legal part.”

Xavi stared at me, his mouth pressing into a thin line. “You want to do it, don’t you?”

I took a deep breath, not really wanting to fight about who should marry her when I was lying to myself and saying it was for convenience’s sake. But I wasn’t going to drag Cole in for even thirds if he wanted it to be between me and Xav.

“Yeah,” I swallowed. “I do. I’ve thought about it more than I probably should have, if I’m honest. I’ve wanted to since we got her back. I want to be the one standing up and saying she’s ours. But officially, on paper, if ithasto be one of us, then yeah, man. I want it to be me.”

Xavi sucked his teeth, his head bowing a little bit.

“It wouldn’t mean anything would change. We could fuck off somewhere private and have a four-person ceremony. It would still be the three of us and her andourkid.” I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, hating having to shift into Serious Colton. “It wouldn’t be me taking her for myself, and I think I’ve already said that I’m perfectly content never doing a paternity test. We could all wear rings, all be symbolically married. We just can’t be on paper.”

“You’re not really giving much of an argument for you, specifically, other than you wanting to,” Xavi grunted. “I’m not worried about you taking her for yourself. I think she’d fight you if you tried.”

Cole snorted. “He’s got a point.”

“Look, we’re all crazy about her,” Xav sighed. “But I won’t lie and say I don’t want to be the one married to her legally. Plus, I’m older. The team will take it more seriously.”

“By two years. Neither of us is consideredsettledif that’s what you mean, it’s not like we’re squeaky clean from flames. If we were trying to make it believable, we’d have Cole do it.” I gestured in Cole’s general direction. “But it’s between you and me.”

Xavi dragged his tongue over his teeth as he looked at me. “Rock, paper, scissors.”

Cole barked out a laugh. “Seriously?”

“Fuck it, sure.” I pushed off the wall and walked over to Xav, dropping down beside him on the bench with one leg on either side. I put one hand out flat, palm up, and my other in a fist on top of it.

Xavi stared at my hands, his eyes wide, before swinging his leg over and facing me, assuming the same position.

Cole got up and took the two steps it took to be our referee.

“Rock.”

“Paper.”

“Scissors.”

“Shoot.”

I stared down at our positioned hands, my heart thumping wildly in my chest as I stared at what he’d played. Neither of us had gone for paper — we’d at least learned from that. But Xav had clearly been hoping I hadn’t.

He threw scissors.

And I had rock.

Cole let out a low whistle and patted me on the head like a child. “Colton wins.”

Xavi’s eyes were glued on our hands, his body unmoving. For a fleeting second, I worried he was about to punch me, but then his lips twitched at the corner and he let out the smallest breath of a chuckle.

“You know,” he said softly, his voice low, his hands lowering, “I really thought losing would bother me more than it did. But I actually feel okay about this.”

I didn’t think about it. I just moved.

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