Page 21 of The Triple Play

“Oh?” I chuckled, leaning back against the counter beside Colton. “And what exactly have they been saying?”

“Nothing but good things, don’t worry,” he grinned, raising his hands in surrender.

“Hey,” Colton said, cutting through the thoughts spiraling in my head. I looked up at him, still holding my cup against my lips. “Come on, sweetheart. You look like you’re about to start a bar fight, and while that’d be hot as hell, I’ve got a much better idea.”

I shot him a glare, desperately trying to tamp down the rising fire spreading through my veins. “Oh yeah? What’s what?”

He chuckled lightly and took another step toward me, crowding me just slightly. “Dance with me,” he grinned, his eyes going dark as he looked down at me.

“Dance?” I laughed, taking another sip of my drink. “Colton, this is a house party. There’s not a dance floor in sight.”

He waved a hand dismissively toward the crowd on the other side of the kitchen doorway. “There’s a living room. Is that not good enough for you?”

“I’m not drunk enough for that.”

He rolled his eyes, two of his fingers coming up on the underside of my cup and lifting it to my lips. “That’s an easy fix, Annie.”

I rolled my eyes and took another sip, bigger this time, enough to make my skin buzz. I couldn’t deny how the single, dumb little action made me feel — like he was encouraging me in a way he thought would help. He was trying, and that was more than could be said about most other people I’d met, even if he was a little crazy about it. “You just want to show off, don’t you?”

He pressed a hand to his chest, throwing his shoulder back as if he’d been shot, as if I’d wounded him. “Me? Never.” He righted himself before leaning in a little more, lowering his upper body to bring his head in line with my own. I watched him over the rim of the solo cup, my eyes narrowed on him, my breathing a little unsteady with him this close. “I think you just need a distraction, sweetheart, and I happen to be a fuckin’ excellent one.”

I hesitated for just a second, his words swirling in my head like a challenge I couldn’t ignore. Maybe I did need the distraction.Maybe.“You’re so intense.”

He chuckled lightly, his head tipping a little forward, his long, loose strands falling forward over his face. His hand went flat, palm up in front of me — an offering. “I’ve been told.”

“Fine,” I muttered reluctantly, slapping my hand onto his. His fingers closed around it instantly, and I swallowed, my pulse fluttering at the contact. “But only because I’m positive you’ll throw a tantrum if I don’t dance with you.”

His smirk widened, turning into an all-out grin as he tugged me toward him gently enough to not spill my drink. “I’ll make it worth your while. Promise.”

I let him lead me toward the music, his fingers warm around mine, and all I could think was—if just holding his hand felt like this, I had no idea how I was going to survive dancing with his body pressed against mine.

Chapter10

Xavi

As I walked back through the halls, shoving past flames and players and staff and friends, I realized I had no idea where any of them had gone. Cole and Colton would have been easy to spot if we were anywhere else, but in a place like this where half of the men played hockey, every build was stocky, tall, and muscular.

My eyes scanned the crowd as I shifted from room to room, knocking back more of my drink, shaking off a flame’s lingering perfume that seemed to be following me with every step. I was feeling better, more confident, more interested in finding Annie and talking her ear off or doing more if she’d let me — but then I spotted her in the living room, moving to the beat of the music, laughing and fuckingbeamingas Colton spun her in a tight, lazy circle, his grip on her waist just a little too… easy.

I almost,almostwanted to turn around and find a flame to flirt with, becausefuck,I hated the way seeing that made me feel. I hated it more than I’d hated anything in a hell of a long time.

Clutching my solo cup, I leaned against the wall, trying to keep my breathing even as I watched them. She’d been in my arms less than an hour ago, and now she was here, spinning, laughing,touchingColton. I didn’t know what to think, not when I knew for damn sure that both Cole and him had their eyes on her. It was another punch in the gut, another swift, irritating blow that there just wasn’t space for me here. Another reminder that the three of us could easily be torn apart.

I didn’t want a girl to be the reason we split. I didn’t want us to split at all.

Colton’s head tipped back, a loud, booming laugh coming from him at something Annie said that I couldn’t quite hear over the music, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she thought he was attractive. Colton wasn’t a bad-looking guy by any means, and he certainly had his fair share of flames that he cycled through and women that threw themselves at him for more than just the claim to fame of sleeping with an NHL player.

I told myself it was nothing. Colton flirted with anything that had legs, and Annie… She was just having fun, shaking off her douchebag boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, whatever she’d decided. This was what people did at parties. They danced, they drank, they let loose, they flirted. It wasn’t my business. I desperately needed it to not be my business. It didn’tmatter.

Except it did. It fucking did.

I lifted the solo cup to my lips, downing a few chugs of beer, watching as the little bubbles rolled around on the surface for something to look at beside them. But I barely tasted it, barely cared. I glanced over the rim, and Colton was talking to her, murmuring something low enough that she had to lean in, her fingers curling and tightening on his shoulder, his shirt shifting beneath her touch, his mouth at her ear. Whatever he said made her laugh, andgod, the sound reverberated through me like a punch to the gut.

A flame had just been wrapped around me, her fingers in my hair, her breath on my ear, and I hadn’t felt a thing. But watching Colton twirl Annie around again, his hand catching hers, their fingers interlacing for just a second too long to bear, I felteverything.

It wasn’t lost on me that Colton would be better for her than me. Cole would be, too.

Colton may have been a player, but he was a player who cared, someone who slept around because it was fun but never would if he was in a relationship, the kind of player who wasn’t really a player at all and just happily accepted and sought out attention wherever it came from. But he was good in relationships. He’d had plenty of them, stayed friends with his exes, and women only had positive things to say about him.

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