Page 24 of The Triple Play

“As a goddamn heart attack.”

The tension shifted almost immediately. It didn’t vanish, not at all, but it morphed into something different, something competitive and familiar. The way it always felt when there was a win on the line. It wasn’t necessarily unwelcome, but it was… odd.

I exhaled through my nose, crossing my arms as I leaned against the doorframe again, relaxing into the slight familiarity of this. “You’re sure you want that? Might not like how it ends, Cole.”

His gaze never broke from mine. “I don’t want a goddamn favor,” he said again, firmer this time, more decisive. “That was stupid of me. If she doesn’t want me, fine, but I’m not throwing myself out of whatever this is just because you make her laugh and I make her panic. And I’m not dragging you out with me.”

I turned over his words in my mind, working through them, picking them apart. He was beating himself up over this, but he was coming back around. And sure, his words had hurt, but they’d come from a position of feeling less-than himself. I wasn’t exactly the smartest guy around, but I was at least mature enough to understand what was happening here.

Shifting slightly, I glanced down the hallway toward the living room, catching sight of Xavi and Annie standing in the doorway, standing a little closer than I felt comfortable with, talking,mingling. The sight twisted my gut — not jealousy, not exactly, but there was a heat there that was uncomfortable. A possessiveness. And I couldn’t help but feel like maybe I should just bow out and not do whatever this friendly competition was, like I shouldn’t put myself through this, like maybe what Cole had said was right.She deserves more than you can give her.He wasn’t wrong. But I didn’twantto bow out.

“She’s not just talking to you and me, you know,” I said.

Cole took a step forward, following my gaze down the hall, his jaw ticking as he found them. “Xavi.”

“Yep.”

Another uncomfortable second of silence passed as we stood there, watching them, weighing up the options. This could easily go nuclear, or she could just as well not be interested in any of us.

But maybe she would be.

“I’ll talk to him,” Cole said quietly.

This had to be the stupidest idea any of us had ever come up with. But she was certainly more interesting than any flame at this party, maybe even more interesting than any other girl I’d had something with. So although the idea of walking away from Cole’s proposition and saving us all the irritation of someone winning or all of us losing was tempting, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I wanted to throw my hat in the ring.

Why not?

Chapter12

Cole

Xavi had disappeared into the hallway as I came back down it, mumbling something about needing to find Samson before Cecelia sunk her claws into him, too. Colton had peeled off toward the kitchen with a half-assed excuse that he was in search of the drink he’d abandoned. But I wasn’t stupid. I knew both of them were giving me space, or her space, or worse,usspace.

But I wasn’t going to take it for granted. I’d steeled myself back up, pushed down my embarrassment as much as I could, and was ready to talk to her again, even if it was uncomfortable. I’d screwed up, but I could at least try to fix it and get myself back in the game.

I leaned against the wall beside her, one hand in my pocket and the other curled around a sweating solo cup of water. No more alcohol for me. Not when it, apparently, set me off and made me ask incredibly stupid questions.

Annie looked up at me. She smiled. Not the overly happy, bright kind she’d flashed at Colton when he made her laugh, and not the sad, crooked one she’d given to Xavi when he cheered her up earlier. No, this one was smaller, warmer, the kind that hurt you right down the middle of your chest to look at.

“Hey,” I said softly, swallowing down my discomfort. “Are you doing okay?”

She hesitated, her gaze drifting back out toward the crowd. “I think so. I’m getting there. Maybe.”

We settled into an uncomfortable silence, the space filled only by the annoyingly heavy bass of whatever EDM beat was pulsing through the speakers. She didn’t mention what I’d said earlier — she didn’t need to. It was hanging there between us, heavy and unsaid, but I wasn’t going to press her. I’d already made shit awkward enough.

“I just…” She glanced at me, her mouth tightening as she tried to find the right words. “Thank you, for earlier. You didn’t have to step in, you didn’t have to say anything to him, you didn’t have to help me or distract me or try to make me feel better. But you did.”

I shrugged, raising the glass of water to my lips and chugging down half of it. “Of course I did,” I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “You needed it. You deserved it.”

She went quiet again, that sad little smile creeping back up, but there was a hint of something else in it this time.

I cleared my throat and pushed off the wall, feeling the words coming before I could think twice about them. “Want some air?”

Her gaze met mine, blinking once, twice, before she finally nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

The sliding glass door onto the balcony squeaked softly as I pulled it open, the cool but humid night air sticking to my skin like a cold sweat. She stepped through behind me, and I closed it, the bass from inside dulling and replaced by the distant hum of traffic and the rustling of the leaves on the live oaks below. I walked across the wooden deck and turned, leaning back onto the wooden railing. The stars above were faint from the city haze, but they were there, scattered and hanging through the dusting of clouds.

Annie stepped beside me, her drink abandoned somewhere, her small hands wrapping around the wood, eyes tracing the sky like she was searching for something. Anything.

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