Page 40 of The Triple Play

I stared at him. Then Colton. “Bull. This isn’t the fucking locker room, that kind of shit isn’t a joke.”

Colton’s jaw ticked. “It’s not a joke this time, Xav.”

I pulled out of Cole’s hold, my patience gone, my ability to hold back from breakingsomethingthinning. “I said it before and I’ll say it again, I only share flames. And she’s not a flame,” I huffed, pushing past them both and heading straight for the hall in front of me, needing the reprieve of my room, needing to scream into a fucking pillow or tear one to shreds.

“I mentioned it to her, Xavi,” Colton called after me, and I stopped dead in my tracks, not turning, just… standing. “Offhand. She didn’t freak out. If anything… I don’t know, man, it felt like she’d already been considering it but felt embarrassed about it.”

I blinked, trying to make the words line up into something that made sense. But it didn’t make sense. How could it? “You’re saying what, exactly?” I rasped, turning over my shoulder to look back at them. “That we all date her?”

“She’s clearly into all of us and we’re all into her,” Cole offered, taking a step toward me, his bare feet slapping on the dark tiles. “Yeah, it’s not traditional, but that doesn’t have to mean shit. It would be different, but we couldtry. I’m willing to try.”

I clenched my teeth, trying to imagine it, and surprisingly, the idea in general didn’t make my stomach turn. But it was the chaos of it, the downsides, that roared uncontrollably. “What happens when it stops just beingdifferentand turns into a mess?” I asked, looking between them. “You think it’s not going to get complicated? We live together. We’ve played together for years. You think something like this wouldn’t eventually blow up? You think it won’t end up online?”

“We can cross that bridge if it comes to it, but it doesn’t have to blow up,” Colton sighed. “We’ll talk shit through when we need to. We’ll make rules. We’ll figure out what works best for us, what we’re all comfortable with. And more importantly, we won’t force this idea on her if she ends up not wanting it.”

“She’s not a game,” I bit out.

“Exactly,” Cole agreed. “Which is why we’re going to ask her. No pressure, no expectations to agree, just an offer.”

I exhaled hard, running a hand down my face to try to clear my thoughts. The whole idea made my skin prickle, made my chest feel tight as hell, but the thought of her beinggoneor watching her drift toward one of them and out of my orbit entirely…

That felt so much worse.

“This is insane,” I murmured. “You two know that, right?”

Colton gave a tired, one-shouldered shrug. “Probably. But crazy’s been working for us so far in our lives, hasn’t it?”

I pursed my lips, nodding mostly to myself, not quite sure if I was genuinely going to be okay with this. “Fine,” I rasped. “We ask her. And if she says no…”

“We can each think about what that would mean for us individually,” Cole said, his shoulders relaxing a little. “But Colton’s going to invite her over tomorrow night. We can talk to her together.”

I dragged my tongue along my top teeth, my jaw tense, my stomach twisting. But at least this gave me a reason to not walk away and throw my hands up, and a reason to not punch Colton until the tiles broke beneath his head. “Okay.”

Chapter18

Colton

Ileaned on the counter, still a little out of breath from my post-practice workout, sweat clinging to my skin as if it belonged there. Annie’s contact details stared up at me from my phone screen, one click away from calling her.

“Just do it,” Xavi said, his tone still laced with annoyance as he shoved the jug of milk beneath the steam wand on the espresso machine. The sound of tearing paper filled the space for a moment before it was just hissing, the milk swirling in the jug, and then he was shutting it off, somehow knowing exactly how to work that ridiculous contraption. Black instant coffee was fine enough.

“What if she says no to coming over?” I mulled over the scenario in my head, trying to work out a plan, but I was too tired to really think. I was desperate for a cold shower, needed it to stop my thoughts from being so muddied.

“Then we tell her the truth and say we all need to talk to her,” Cole said from the couch, his voice a little gruff as he stared down at his phone, watching back a clip Coach had taken from practice today. “Xav, that poke check you tried at the blue line?Waytoo early. You opened up the lane for that pass. You’ve got to read the play better, wait for the puck carrier to commit. You’re a wall when you play smart, but you can’t get too eager.”

“No, no, I know,” Xav bleated. “I’ve been thinking about it?—”

I groaned, cutting Xavi off. “Oh my god, can you two shut up for a minute so I can call her?”

Neither of them responded.

“Thank you,” I sighed exasperatedly.

I tapped on her name, bringing the phone up to my ear, my muscles still buzzing beneath my skin from the workout.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart,” I grinned, the familiar warmth in her voice when she answered going straight to both of my heads. “Quick question. No pressure, but like, maybe a smidgen. What are you doing tonight?”

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