Page 110 of The Triple Play

He turned, walking backward, wiping his mouth again. “Guess so. Maybe it knocked some sense into me.”

I blinked. “How am I supposed to believe you’re not going to do anything?”

He shrugged in exhaustion, his hands raising on either side. “I don’t know, man. Trust that I don’t have a death wish?” He laughed, but there wasn’t a hint of humor in it. “I’m just done. Done with her, done with you three, done with all of it. Good luck with your fucking circus.”

I stared at him as he wrenched open the door of his car and slid into it, hitting his steering wheel once in irritation, before revving the engine and peeling straight out of the parking lot.

All right. One problem solved.

Chapter40

Cole

There was nothing like watching her onstage. I’d seen her in every possible light, now — half asleep and naked in our bed, crying and heaving over the toilet, flushed and moaning under my hands. But this? This was Annie on a whole new level. This was her little show for us in the living room and hotel rooms dialed up by a thousand.

She stood under the haze of the soft amber lights on the stage of the small but packed venue, her guitar hanging around her front like it had grown from her fingertips and lived there. The crowd had started out loud, talking through her opening number, clinking glasses and chatter filling the space. But two songs deep into her set and the venue had gone quiet — you could hear hearts breaking if you listened hard enough.

Xavi leaned in from my right, his voice in my ear. “She’s fucking unreal.”

On my left, Colton tapped his phone like a man possessed, scrolling and scrolling. “You guys watching the Live comments?”

I glanced down at my phone, the stream a few seconds behind, the volume off. The venue’s social media streamed their shows with a good camera and decent audio, and there were a few thousand viewers watching now. Most of the comments were fire emojis and hearts and men begging for her contact details. Typical.

But one caught my eye. Blue-check name.Bigname.Connie Drayton — A&R, Siren Records.The comment read:Who is this? Need to speak to her ASAP. Tag her social!

Who…?

I tapped onto her page, my eyes going wide. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Xavi asked.

I turned my screen toward him, and Colton crowded around behind, trying to get a good look.

“No fucking way,” Xavi murmured.

“Check that’s legit, people can pay for blue checks now.” Colton hit my back like I didn’t already know that.

“Annie follows them, I don’t need to,” I said.

We all looked at each other, frozen in a moment where none of us knew what to think, eyes wide as Annie sang out in the background.

“She’s going to lose her fucking mind,” Colton grinned.

“She’s not even gonna believe us.” Xavi pulled out his phone, already going to Google, already looking up everything he could find on Connie Drayton. “Can you screenshot that comment?”

“Already did,” I chuckled, staring down at the phone like the comment might disappear if I blinked. “We’ll show her when she finishes her set. No waiting.”

The set wound down, but she didn’t fade, and neither did the crowd. It was as if every eye was on her, every ear turned toward her, every breath held. Her last song was something new — something we hadn’t even heard from her yet, but the melody was familiar enough that I wondered if it was the one I’d heard her humming in the shower this morning. The melody was almost haunting, and the lyrics stung in just the right way, the way she was so good at, the way that made you question how someone could think to pen that to page.

We were all entranced, but Xavi was staring at her like she’d hung the moon, like she was everything he’d ever wished for. And she was. She was everything all of us had ever wished for.

The crowd burst into wild applause as she thanked them, her eyes scanning the sea of bodies and finding us, her smile brightening further. She gave us a little wave, and I waved right back, caught off guard and nearly falling over as Colton’s arms swung around mine and Xavi’s shoulders.

“She’s about to get off, let’sgo, go, go,” he insisted, pushing us forward toward the door on the right.

We slipped through, shutting it behind us, the excitement buzzing in my brain and hands. Colton grabbed for my phone and pushed past the lone security guard who didn’t bother questioning, and we followed, taking the steps up to the side of the stage as she walked toward us, slipping her guitar strap over her body and carrying it at her side.

“Sweetheart, you’re not gonna believe this,” Colton said, beaming at her like no tomorrow as we caught up. He deposited my phone into her waiting hand and wrapped his arms around her from the side, tucking her into him, peppering the side of her head and face with kisses.

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