Page 42 of The Triple Play

She’d dressed casual — at least, she definitelythoughtshe had. Tight high-waisted jeans hugged the soft curve of her hips like they’d been tailored specifically to make any man ache, and the black, loose crop top dipped down just low enough to tease, the long sleeves of it rolled up to her elbows. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, her standard lazy wave like she’d just shaken it out and walked into the night air. And god help me, the way her eyes had lit up when I’d opened the door, when she’d seenme, had made my heart do a stupid flip. But her expression now was more one of puzzlement, clearly trying to add two plus two more, confused at why she’d been invited over for a presumed solo hang out with me when Xavi and Cole were obviously in the house.

“You okay?” I asked, giving her my warmest, but fakest, grin.

“Uh… yeah.” She took an uncertain step over the threshold. “I just, um, I thought it was just going to be us.”

“Itisus,” I said, taking a step back to let her in and nudging the door open a little more. “Just with two extras who don’t know how to keep their noses out of anything and everything. You didn’t notice the cars in the drive?”

She swallowed as I shut the door behind her, her eyes drinking in the small entryway with two halls leading off on either side. “Uh, Idid, but I also know you guys aren’t exactly poor and can afford more than one car,” she chuckled, her teeth raking over her bottom lip.

My Fire hoodie felt a little too tight at the sight of her like this, a little nervous, a little confused, but still pushing through to make herself comfortable enough to be here at all. “Yeah, yeah, I guess.” I cupped the small of her back, pushing her gently to the right hall. “And to be clear, I didn’t mean to ambush you. Promise.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “Mhm, sure.”

The guys stood in the kitchen as we stepped through, Cole’s white shirt damp from something, and Xavi holding a dustpan full of glass. “What even…?”

“Xav bumped into me, dropped his glass, it’s fine,” Cole explained, peeling the damp fabric away from his chest. “Hey, Annie.”

“Hey.” She raised a single hand, her cheeks already a little red, and fuck, my mind went right back to how red in the face she’d gone when I’d licked up?—

“Got you an everything-but-anchovies pizza,” Xavi said, his voice a little tight, a little reserved. He set the dustpan to the side and scrubbed his face. “There’s ranch and hot sauce on the counter. Want a drink?”

Annie tilted her head, her smile crooked from nerves but still sharp. “Only if the glass doesn’t come pre-shattered.”

I snorted as Xavi’s cheeks heated, and even Cole’s lips twitched into a grin as he pulled his shirt up over his head. My eyes narrowed into a glare aimed in his direction.

“Just gonna go change,” Cole huffed, slipping around the counter and heading off down the hallway. “Make yourself at home, Annie.”

She didn’t respond right away, just looked down the hall, her eyes tracking Cole’s bare upper body like a hawk. I pushed on her lower back lightly, urging her toward the island where the pizza boxes sat open and Xavi was loading up a plate. “Come on, sweetheart. If you keep staring, you’ll start drooling.”

She had no idea what was coming this evening, no idea the insanity we were going to thrust on her, and if anything, that mademenervous as I watched her. To distract myself, I grabbed her a plate, put a couple of slices of everything-but-anchovies pizza on it for her, and pushed it across the island.

“Rum and coke again, or maybe a Stella?” I offered, yanking open the fridge.

“Stella’s great. But no offense, Colton, I no longer trust you to give me drinks.” She smirked at me before picking up a slice from her plate, dipping it in ranch and taking a bite.

Xavi reached across me in an instant, plucking a Stella from the shelf and popping off the top before passing the bottle to her silently.

“Thank you!”

I grabbed one for myself and two for the guys, passing them to Xav for opening, silence falling over us like a thick curtain save for the sounds of glass bottles clinking and Cole’s heavy footsteps as he walked back into the room, a crisp black t-shirt taking the place of his abandoned white one. Annie ate quietly, almost picking at her food, tearing off little chunks of the crust and dipping it in ranch while her eyes tracked each one of us.

We tried, genuinely, to keep it casual. We shot the shit about the game a few nights ago, Cole bitching about a bad ref call, me making fun of Xavi’s failed deke that nearly got him flattened. Xavi flipped me off with what wasalmosta grin, but his heart wasn’t in it right now and that was clear — not when the conversation was hanging over us. Annie chuckled to herself about it, but it was tight, not quite comfortable, and I hated that she wasn’t easing into this.

It was absolutely our fault. We should have had the conversation before food, but I’d wanted to make sure she’d at least eaten considering how little she’d had when I went over yesterday.

When the silence hit again, none of us knew quite where to go from there. One of us needed to pluck up the courage to bring up the topic, but I knew damn well it wouldn’t be Xavi, not with how twitchy he was being over the whole thing. Cole could have, but I could see how nervous he was about it, could tell by the way he was rubbing his shoulders and wrists like they were about to give out, by the way he was eyeing Annie as if he was afraid she’d bolt out the door at any second.

Which left me to do it. It was my idea anyway, it was only fair.

I cleared my throat and turned to her, opening my mouth, but she was already pushing her plate away and lowering her beer from her lips. “So, is this some kind of intervention or something?” she asked.

I barked out a laugh, and Cole cracked a grin beside me, the tension bleeding just a little from the air. Even Xavi’s mouth twitched, his jaw unclenching slightly for the first time all night.

“Nah. Unless the intervention is about how criminally good you look in those damn jeans,” I teased, tipping my bottle toward her with a wink before knocking back a sip. “But no, sweetheart, not an intervention. No one’s here to tell you what to do.”

Her cheeks warmed a little as she snorted, but the smile she wore didn’t quite reach her eyes. I saw it, the flicker of wariness behind the blue, like she was trying to laugh with us but was already braced for impact. She pulled one foot up onto the barstool, her knee against her chest, and wrapped her arm around it like she could shield herself from whatever this was with it.

I exhaled slowly through my nose, feeling the weight of Cole and Xavi’s stare on me, and leaned forward onto my elbows on the cool marble counter between us. “But we do need to talk to you,” I said, my voice a little lower, a little more solemn. “About a couple of things.”

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