Page 15 of The Triple Play

I threw back the rest of my beer, swallowing it in one big gulp before leaning over the counter and tossing it straight into the trashcan. I followed Xav through the crowd, both of us ignoring the attempts from passersby to talk to us, and pushed through the swinging door, leaving the crowd and the music a little dampened behind us.

The hallway stretched in front of us, and a door at the end that readSTAFF ONLY,and two doors on the left forPUCKSandSTICKS.I snorted. “Your dad needs to change those, that’s awful.”

Xavi crossed his arms over his chest, a playful scowl turning his lips down. “It’s so self-explanatory,” he argued. “Sticks for the men's room, and… well, yeah, I guess I don’t see how pucks relate to women.”

I held up a single finger to my lips, shushing him effectively, and tried to train my ears to see if I could hear Annie or Elliot.

Either I reallywasold and was starting to go deaf, or they weren’t in the restrooms.

“Staff area?” I asked, raising a brow at Xav.

He nodded and led the way, pushing open the door and revealing… more doors.Fucking fantastic.There were three on either side — on the right, an open coat room, a door that readOFFICE, and a door that readGABRIEL MOREAU. On the left, there was the kitchen, a stock room, and an emergency exit.

The sounds of Smokey’s faded a little more in here but were replaced with the sounds of dishes haphazardly being thrown around in a sink and the idle chat of someone on the phone behind the door of Xavi’s father’s room.

“Where do we go?” I asked, peering around the corner into the coat room just to check.

But Xav was already moving, his knuckles rapping against his father’s door before turning the handle and pushing it open. Gabriel turned in his chair at the intrusion, his mostly grey brows knitting together before raising in surprise. “Hey, kid. Good game earlier! I’m on a call, though?—”

Xavi grinned at him. “Thanks, Dad, but did you hear a couple of people come through the hall?”

“Sorry, one second,” Gabriel said down the phone, bringing the old, corded thing down to his lap and covering the receiver with his palm. “I did, yeah, why? Should I be concerned? Oh, hey Cole.”

“Hey, Gabby,” I grunted, giving him a two-finger wave. “No need to be concerned, just trying to work out where they went.”

“I heard the exit open twice, just thought someone was doing a trash run. You could check there?” he offered, lifting on shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “Shitty penalty you got earlier, by the way. Did the ref just not see Parker trip you up?”

“Thankyou, I was saying the same thing! It was completely unfair.”

“Oh my god, shut up about the penalty,” Xav groaned, pushing his hand through his hair dramatically. “Come on. Thanks, Dad.”

“Uh… no problem, kid.”

Just as Xavi shut the door on his father, a loud, muffled word cut through the exit door.Go.

“Shit, that sounds like Colton,” I grunted, pushing past Xav and shoving into the bar handle on the door, throwing it open a little too aggressively and almost tumbling out in the alleyway. Xav jogged out right behind me.

There, not a foot from us both, stood Elliot, his hands clenched into fists and his body tense, his eyes trained on Cole. It took me more than a second to realize there was a second set of legs behind Cole’s.

Annie. So dwarfed by him that I could hardly tell she was even there at all.

“Can you not fucking hear me, Elliot?” Colton barked, his jacket tightening around his shoulders. His voice was sharp, cutting through the relative quiet like a gunshot. My muscles tensed instinctively, and beside me, Xavi stilled, his eyes going wide. We weren’t stupid. We knew Colton, knew how rarely there was ever an edge to his voice off the ice.

Something had happened here, and I wasn’t about to take anyone’s side but Colton’s.

Elliot didn’t move, but I could hear the quickness in his breath. As much as he didn’t want to show it, he was afraid — and that definitely wouldn’t improve once he realized who, exactly, had walked out that door.

I glanced at Xavi, nodding once tightly toward Colton, and we moved without a word in unison. We flanked him, stepping forward and taking up space on either side of Colton like it was second nature, Xavi stopping a little bit closer to Elliot than I was. I turned my head, looking down at where Annie stood behind Colton, her hand clutched onto the back of his jacket as if she could somehow stop him if he decided to lunge — but it was the look ofaweand surprise that she gave me that had something stupid in my chest tightening.

I forced myself to shift my gaze back to Elliot.

For a second, he didn’t move. He looked between the three of us, his mouth opening and closing like a goddamn fish, but didn’t say a word, just took in the scene in front of him.

Three hockey players.

Tall, muscular, and used to getting our hands dirty when shit got real.

Granted, that was on the ice, but the guy was a fan.

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