Page 61 of The Triple Play

Xavi sat down on the floor on the other end of the coffee table, stretching out his legs beneath it and leaning back on his hands. “Don’t apologize. Just play.”

“Okay, okay,” I chuckled. “I wrote it last night so it’s not, like, completely finished?—”

“Sweetheart,” Colton smirked, his hand twitching like he wanted to reach out. “You’re stalling.”

I held up my hand. “You’re right, sorry.”

So I started to play.

I didn’t look at them as my fingers moved and my voice started to carry. It wasn’t nerves — performing wasn’tnewto me. I’d been performing to anyone who would listen since I was a kid, and god knew I’d sung to bars packed with tipsy strangers more times than I could count. But this wasn’t a crowd. This was three people who’d gotten under my skin faster than anyone had a right to, and even know I knew they already liked me, already wanted me more than they should, I still wanted them toseeme, the real me, not just the naked girl on the couch cracking jokes to hide her insecurities.

So I kept my eyes on the strings, let the rhythm flow into a slow climb, a minor lift, then a slow descent. I’d memorized the chords and lyrics while they were at practice, playing it over and over until my fingers had started to hurt. It was a song about the in-between, the hazy place between who you thought you were and who you might still be. It was honest in a way I hadn’t been with them up until now, and I didn’t know how closely they’d listen, how much they’d hear of it, but I’d made my peace with them hearing every bit.

I could feel the room shift as I kept going, and I let myself look.

Colton sank further into the cushions beside me, his cheek pressed into the cushion, his lashes low. He watched me, just listening, as if he’d done this a million times before and hadn’t grown tired of it.

Cole didn’t move. His spine stayed straight, one elbow braced on his knee, his head angled down slightly but his eyes trained on me, wide and unblinking, drinking me in like I’d sprouted wings and leaped off the balcony.

And Xavi…

My voice cracked when I looked at Xavi, but I didn’t pay the error any mind for once. He looked affected, his gaze trained out the window instead of on me, his jaw tight like he was holding his breath. His brows were furrowed, not in confusion but with something else, and I knew just from his reaction that he was hearing it a little more than the others. Like it resonated with him.

He was the first one to move when I slowly finished, the last note hanging in the air before cutting out into silence. He sat forward, slowly, carefully, pulling his legs back in until he was sitting cross-legged and leaning down on his forearms. His mouth was parted as if he wanted to say something but hadn’t quite figured out what yet.

I watched them all as the silence stretched. “You guys are really bad at clapping,” I teased.

Colton blew out a breath and sat forward, dropping his head into his hands. “Jesus. Okay. That wasn’t fair.”

Cole still stared directly at me. “You wrote thatlast night?”

I shrugged, a smile tugging at my lips from the awe in his voice. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, she says,” Cole muttered, finally blinking as he stood from the couch, directly quoting me. “I feel like I just watched a TED Talk that made me want to cry and rethink my entire life, and you’re just casually sayingyeah.”

My cheeks heated, but I took the compliment. I looked back at Xavi, studying him and his silence. His eyes slowly met mine, and his throat worked, his words still caught. “You’re not real,” he rasped.

“Do you want me to pinch you?” I offered, grinning at him softly as I laid my arm across the top of the guitar and rested my chin on it.

“I mean it. You just, you sit there likethat, and then you sound likethat, and youwritelikethat.” He shook his head. “Fucking unbelievable.”

I chuckled. “And here I thought I was about to be booed by all of you.”

Colton snorted beside me, his hand reaching out a little, the back of his fingers brushing against my knees. “Only thing I’m booing is that we’ve never made it to one of your performances at Smokey’s.”

I shrugged. “Not my fault Gabby only lets me perform right after a game.”

“You got more songs like that one?” Xavi asked, pushing himself up off the ground and brushing off his hands.

I smiled up at him. “So many more.”

“I want to hear every single one,” Xavi murmured, stepping around the coffee table and closing the distance between us, dodging Colton’s legs. He grasped the neck of my guitar and gently lifted it out of my hold, revealing my body entirely to them, and set the instrument down against the other arm of the couch. “But right now I want to kiss you.”

Xavi grasped my cheek before he leaned down to me, one hand bracing himself on the back of the sofa, and kissed me.

“No fair,” Colton pouted. “I wanted to kiss her.”

Cole thwacked him on the thigh. “This was your idea, remember? Have some patience.”

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