Page 38 of The Triple Play

“Look, she called me,” Colton swallowed, raking a hand through his untied hair, his eyes flicking toward the window like he needed to check if the world had stopped turning. “She needed a distraction. Elliot’s been blowing her up nonstop, and she just needed a break. I picked us up some lunch and it just… happened.”

“You do realize she isn’t a fucking flame, right?” I snapped before I thought twice, properly hearing his words.Elliot’s been blowing her up nonstop.I wanted more information on that, but I’d already picked an argument.

“Do I look like an idiot, man?” Colton shot back, his brows furrowing. “I know that. Ilikeher, have I not made that clear? Do you think what you said to me at that afterparty wasn’t playing on repeat in my head the whole goddamn time?”

He stood, facing me now, crossing his arms like he was scolding a child.

“This wasn’t a hookup. At least, it didn’tfeellike one.” His words cut a little harder than I think he thought they would — they weren’t meant maliciously, but the sentiment was the same. If it didn’t feel like a hookup, then I had to wager a guess that she’d made up her mind. “Listen. I think… I think she might be open to what I’d suggested to you guys before. Not just one of us. All of us.”

All of us.Well, that beat down the assumption I’d made. “What the hell are you saying?”

“I’m saying she hasn’t made a decision yet. I’m saying she’d definitely thought about it before I even brought it up to her.”

A surge of shock hit me hard enough to make me take a step back. “What?”

“We’ve shared before,” he said, his voice a little lower, like he was trying to calm a startled rabbit.

“Yeah, Colton, flames. We’ve sharedflames. One night stands that didn’t mean shit,” I bit back. “What you’re suggesting?—”

“I know. I know.” He swallowed, his throat working as he stretched his neck. “This isn’t a flame who wants the full team experience. This is Annie. And it wouldn’t be casual.”

I blinked at him. Part of me was relieved at least that he understood that, but the other part of me, the confused part that was still burning for a woman I barely knew, didn’t know how to process this.

“We’d have to be smart,” he continued, taking a step toward me. “And careful. Real with each other and with her. Is that something you could handle?”

I took a deep breath, the emotions swirling in my gut, trying to place each one. Was that something I could handle? Was I capable of that after Jenny?

There wasn’t a single part of me that was sure I could. But I knew damn well that I didn’t want to lose here, didn’t want to walk away if there was still a part of her that wanted me.

“I could try,” I offered.

Silence bloomed between us as he nodded slowly. It was heavy and dense, hanging in the air like smoke.

“Xavi, though.”

Colton gave a one-shouldered shrug, but I could tell he was still a little tense. “I know what he said. But he’s in it already even if he doesn’t want to be. We can talk to him.”

I let out a slow breath. The ache in my chest was turning, morphing from the hint of jealousy that he’d slept with her to something closer to fear. Fear of this backfiring, fear of this being too much for me to handle, fear of falling harder for her and then not being enough. But I nodded, just once. “We need to see if she genuinely wants that.”

“I invited her to the next away game,” he offered. “We could talk to her then. All of us.”

I shook my head. Although the prospect of taking her with us to the next away game was tempting, I wanted to sort this out sooner, wanted answers as quickly as I could get them. She didn’t have to make a decision, but if that’s where her head was at, then I wanted to steel myself up for it. And we needed to know how Xavi felt. “No, that’s not for another week and a half. We can talk to Xavi when he gets home and go from there.”

Chapter17

Xavi

The front door creaked shut behind me, the weight of the night pressing down between my shoulders. I kicked off my boots, exhausted from practice and checking in with Dad at Smokey’s. It was supposed to clear my head.

It hadn’t. I still couldn’t get her out of my head.

The quiet of the house didn’t help. It was different tonight, odd, too still to be normal. No music, no hockey game or replays murmuring from the TV, no off-key singing from Colton in the shower. I raked a hand through my hair, already gritting my teeth. Their cars were in the driveway — they were definitely here. The question was why it was silent as hell.

“Xav.”

The sound cut through the silence so hard it nearly made me jump. I could easily tell it was Cole, and I followed the sound of it hesitantly, dropping my keys onto the console table by the door and slipping through to the kitchen.

I paused.

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