Page 13 of The Triple Play

She nodded, her gaze still fixed elsewhere, and swiped the side of her thumb under her eye shakily.

I forced myself to breathe, to inhale and exhale in slow, measured breaths to level myself out, sucking my teeth for good measure. “I have no idea what kind of game he’s playing,” I said, “but he’s full of fuckin’ shit.”

Her gaze snapped back to mine, those blue eyes shining with tears, her jaw quivering. “What?”

I forced a small chuckle. “I mean,come on.” I leaned in slightly, careful to make sure she wasn’t upset more by it, just enough to make sure she kept her eyes on me. “You think I’d just hand my number out toanybartender who sings a few songs? Give me some credit here.”

A flicker of something rippled across her face — surprise, confusion, maybe even amusement, I couldn’t be sure. But then a small, huffed breath of air came out her nostrils, her lips twitching ever so slightly upward.Almosta laugh. “That’s such a lie,” she sniffled. “I’ve seen you giving out your number to anyone who so much as looks at you for long enough. And besides, you haven’t even heard me sing.”

I tilt my head back and forth. “Well, you see, the walls between the staff area and the men's bathroom arequitethin,” I chuckled, actually meaning it this time. “I may have heard you singing to yourself once or twice. Talent knows talent, sweetheart.”

Her cheeks flushed rosy pink again, a stark contrast to the pale olive tones of her skin. “You’re ridiculous,” she rasped, wiping her cheek again, that tiny, barely perceptible smile still lingering.

“Yeah, yeah, guilty as charged,” I grinned. I couldn’t help myself — I let my gaze linger on her, drifting down to her plump, pink lips before drifting back up to her eyes. “I think a part of you likes that, though.”

She blinked at me as if she wasn’t sure what exactly to say to that. I could see her struggling with it, could see the way her mouth parted slightly, the way her fingers flexed where they gripped her arms?—

“Annie.”

She went still as a goddamn statue at the unfamiliar voice, recognition flickering in her eyes. I turned my head, already knowing exactly who I was going to see, but still felt my anger burn hotter the moment my gaze landed all five-foot-eleven-inches of a man who clearly didn’t deserve her. He was scrawny in comparison, his shaved head and glasses giving me the impression of some art-school dropout hipster wannabe, and his button-up plaid shirt wasn’t exactly helping in that department.

His face was twisted in some kind of mix of exasperation and self-righteous frustration, likehewas the one who had somehow been wronged here, and although the current situation didn’t exactly look the best considering his irritation over me just giving her mynumber, it wasn’t like he’d done anything to help her when she was upset.

“You left,” he said, his voice tight as he stared at her. He took a single step forward, and I shifted instinctively, letting a little bit more of my body take up the space between them. “For fuck’s sake, Annie, can we just?—”

I turned a little more, not touching him, not getting in his face, just positioning myselfin the way, blocking his path.

His eyes flicked to me, blazing with impatience, before snapping back to her. “Come on. Let me take you home.”

In the corner of my eye, I couldseeher shrinking back, her breath hitching sharply.

Absolutely not. Not a chance in hell was I letting her go with him.

“She’s good here,” I said casually, tilting my head slightly and narrowing my eyes at him. “Why don’t you head home, man? I think she’s got some thinking to do without you in her space.”

Elliot huffed out an angry breath and pushed his glasses up his nose. “This isn’t any of your business.”

I scoffed, the sound bleeding into a short, humorless laugh. “It’s not? She ran into mecrying. Pretty sure that makes it my business.”

His upper lip twitched into a tight scowl. “You don’t even know her.”

“I know enough,” I snapped, my voice dropping slightly. “I know she’s standing out here crying because ofyou. I know you ran your mouth in there and made her feel like shit over something that arguably isnothing. Are you genuinely so fragile that you can’t even handle a man giving your girl his phone number? Do you truly feel like that’s some earth-shattering betrayal?”

“You don’t know shit,” Elliot snapped, his foot inching forward before thinking better of it. “That’s not what happened.”

“Oh? It’s not?” I glanced back at Annie briefly, making sure she was still there, and I stilled when I realized she’d taken a step toward me. For a brief, worried second, I wondered if she was inching towardhim, but then I felt the unmistakable sensation of the back of my jacket moving, her hand clenching around some of the loose fabric hesitantly.

That shouldn’t have had me excited. It really shouldn’t have been. But I found myself hoping and praying that my trousers were loose enough to hide the failing material of my boxers.

“Then whatdidhappen?”

Elliot pursed his lips, his shoulders tight as he leaned slightly to his right, looking past me to Annie. “Can we please just go?”

She didn’t move.

He ran a hand over his buzzed head, sighing loudly in anger. “How else are you getting home, An? You want to fucking walk?”

“That’swhat you’re worried about right now?” I scoffed. “Not the fact that she’s crying, or the fact that you apparently don’t know how to keep your goddamn mouth shut when a shitty thought runs through it. Come on, man?—”

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