Page 19 of The Triple Play

Iliked her.

I’d spent most of my life using hockey and friendship and the occasional short-lived relationship to fill a void in my heart that Iknewcame from being abandoned by my birth parents — I’d done enough work in therapy to unpack that. But I still couldn’t help but feel like this would be a problem, like I’d get pushed to the wayside again, like I wouldn’t have a place. There was a worry, there, too, that this would be what eventually split Cole, Colton, and me up, my family outside of my family, and not the eventual possibility of us getting moved to different teams.

But she was in my arms.

She was inmyarms.

Chapter9

Annie

“You know, if you’d rather drown your sorrows in booze, I heard Roman's hosting an after-party tonight,” Colton said. “Family’s out of town.” Cole’s head spun on a dime toward Colton, his scowl coming back out fully.

With my cheek pressed into Xavi’s chest, I watched him, watched the way his irritated expression slowly faded into a sly smirk. Warmth practically cocooned me from the hoodie around my upper body and Xavi’s frame against my front, and for a second, I let myself truly think about what I wanted out of tonight.

I could go home alone, let them drop me off at my apartment, and cry in my shower, or I could do what sounded like the most fun idea — hanging out with these three random men who seemed to want to make me feel better.

The vision of these three men, naked, hands on my body, flashed across the screen behind my eyes.

I'm a good girl.

Cole opened his mouth, the lines on his forehead more pronounced as he stared Colton down. “We’re not?—”

“That sounds fun,” I blurted. Cole practically froze, his forehead smoothing out. “If you guys want to, I mean. I’m not, like, trying to be a… what do you guys call them? You have a nickname for the puck bunnies don’t you?”

“Flames,” Xavi chuckled, his chest vibrating against my cheek. “You’re not being a flame by accepting an invitation to a party.”

“There’s nothingwrongwith being a flame,” Colton said, rolling his eyes. “But I think we know damn well that if you were one, you would’ve been doing most of the flirting the last few times we saw you. And I’m pretty sure that’s not how it went down.”

“You don’t know that. You two were drunk out of your minds last time I saw you,” I shot back, teasing him. “You wouldn’t have even remembered if I’d flirted with you.”

His brows raised, genuine surprise rolling off him. “Wait, did you flirt with me?”

“She’s teasing you, you idiot,” Xavi laughed.

Colton’s lower lip jutted out dramatically, and I couldn’t help but feel at least alittlebad for teasing him.

“Can you handle a party, Cole?” Xavi asked, his hand tightening around my shoulder. I didn’t know what it was with him, whether it was the ease of talking to Xavi or the casual playfulness he exuded, but I found myself wanting to sink into him further.

“I… I’m sorry, I assumed everyone wanted to go. You can just drop me off at home,” I offered, lifting my head off Xavi’s chest the moment I noticed a flicker of something that was either irritation or impatience flickering across Cole’s face.

“Nope, we’re going,” Cole said, his mouth falling into a flat line as he stepped back, opening up the trash door. Light spilled out onto the alleyway in an instant, and I almost squinted from the harshness of it. “Where’s your bag, Annie?”

I blinked at him. Confusion settled in — did he not want to go? And if he didn’t, why wasn’t he just saying that? He didn’t seem like the kind of person tohideif something was getting on his nerves.

“Uh, I can leave my performance bag, I’ll just pick it up tomorrow,” I swallowed, slowly settling my head back on Xavi’s chest. “My purse is in the staff room. Last door on the left after Gabriel’s office. Thank you.”

He nodded once and stepped inside, disappearing and taking the light of the hallway with him.

————

This wasn’t a house party. This place was amansion.

I stared out the front window of Cole’s Cadillac, the bass so loud from the thumping music in the building in front of us that it shook the floorboards of the SUV. Xavi unbuckled himself beside me in the backseat, his head tipping toward the door.

“Come on, then, party girl,” he said, pulling the handle and kicking the door open.

Cole glared at him in the rearview mirror. “Xav,pleasedon’t use your foot. I’ve asked you a million times?—”

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