Page 347 of Power Play

I lifted my wet face from his coat. “Are you seriously whistling?”

“You were making it weird.”

“You’re carrying a hysterical woman through the snow.”

“Exactly. Whistling establishes whimsy.”

Despite everything, a broken sound escaped me. It might have been a laugh.

Briggs glanced down. “Better.”

The front door opened before we reached the porch. Cade came outside without a coat and walked toward my car. Easton and Rider followed him, none asking Briggs why he carried me.

Cade opened the trunk and removed my suitcase. Easton collected the garment bag and smaller duffel from the back seat. Rider closed and locked the car doors before carrying my purse by its strap without looking at me.

His refusal hurt.

Rider had always been quieter than the others, but his silence had never felt like judgment. He kept his eyes on the porch while following us inside.

Bliss and Aura waited in the living room. Both women rushed forward as soon as Briggs lowered me onto the couch.

Bliss dropped beside me and wrapped both arms around my shoulders. Aura knelt in front of me, pulling off my wet gloves and enclosing my frozen hands between hers.

“What happened?” Bliss asked. “What did he say?”

I couldn’t answer. Ryan’s voice remained lodged too deeply inside my chest.

Briggs looked toward Cade. “I’m heading to the arena.”

Cade’s attention moved over the bruises covering his face. “Practice?”

“Yeah.”

Something passed between them that I didn’t understand, but Cade nodded. “Let him know we’ve got this. We’ll see him later.”

Aura looked up sharply. “Later?”

Briggs ignored the question. He retrieved his coat from the railing and started toward the door.

“Briggs.”

He stopped.

I didn’t know what I was asking him to give me. Forgiveness, information, or one more promise that he could stand beside Ryan and me without hating himself for choosing incorrectly.

“Is he okay?”

Briggs looked over his shoulder. “No.”

It was the same answer Cade had given me the night before. Neither of them would make Ryan’s pain easier for me to survive.

“Will you tell him I’m sorry?”

“No.”

I recoiled.

“You already told him,” Briggs said. “He knows you are.”