Page 306 of Power Play

The words cut through me, and my fingernails dug into the couch cushion.

Easton stepped forward. “I’ll come.”

Briggs shook his head immediately. “No.”

“Why the fuck not?”

Briggs looked at him, and something silent passed between them. It was too serious for the men I knew, stripped of hockey, jokes, and every easy layer they used to keep their deepest wounds private.

“You know why I’m going.”

Easton’s expression shifted first, followed by Cade’s.

Neither argued.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

Briggs looked at me. “I ain’t telling you shit.”

I recoiled.

“Briggs,” Bliss said quietly.

“No.” He adjusted the strap on his shoulder. “Ryan gave her more of himself than he gives anybody, and she used the worst thing that ever happened to him to prove he was right about trusting people. She doesn’t get the rest of him from me. She can have El Cuchillo.”

“I didn’t know.”

“That’s the point, Charm. You didn’t know because you were too busy making sure he could fit into your life without anybody finding out he was there.”

“That isn’t fair.”

“Neither was asking him to love you in secret.”

The words ripped through me.

Briggs started toward the door before stopping beside the couch. He looked down at me, and for a moment, the anger in his face eased enough for me to recognize him.

“I love you,” he said. “I’m disappointed as fuck in you, and I don’t know if you can fix this. I can’t be your friend tonight because I’m his first, always.”

My mouth trembled.

He tipped his head, the smallest trace of his usual warmth entering his voice. “I’ll try again tomorrow, all right?”

A sob caught in my throat as Briggs turned before I could answer. He crossed the room and held one hand toward Cade. Cade clasped it and pulled him into the half embrace the guys used when anything more would require acknowledging they had feelings.

“Call me when you get there,” Cade said.

“I won’t.”

“Briggs.”

“I’ll send a tasteful selfie.”

“Call me.”

“Fine.”

Easton caught Briggs’s hand next and pulled him in, slapping his back once. “Don’t let him do anything stupid.”