Page 348 of Power Play

He opened the door and stepped into the cold.

Cade followed him onto the porch. They clasped hands before Briggs pulled him into a brief embrace. Easton and Rider did the same. The four men spoke too quietly for me to hear, but every nod and hand against a shoulder carried the same promise.

They were closing ranks around Ryan.

Briggs climbed into his SUV and drove away. When Rider returned inside, he walked directly to the pool table, removed the triangle, scattered the balls with one hand, and began racking them without looking at me.

Easton placed my bags near the stairs. “I’ll take those to the other cabin in a minute.”

“Thank you.”

He didn’t answer.

Bliss moved closer and pushed wet hair away from my face. “Tell us what happened outside.”

“He ignored me.”

Aura’s fingers tightened around mine.

“I kept trying to talk, and he looked through me. He spoke to Briggs like I wasn’t standing three feet away.” My breathing turned uneven as I remembered the impenetrable black of his sunglasses. “I told him I stood up to my parents after he left. I said I chose him, and he didn’t answer until I asked him to trust that I never meant to hurt him.”

Cade closed the front door.

“What did he say?” Bliss whispered.

The words shredded my throat on the way out. “He said begging someone to trust you feels like shit.”

Aura’s eyes closed. Bliss pressed her lips together as tears gathered beneath her lashes.

“He’s right,” I whispered.

“Nobody said he wasn’t,” Aura answered.

“He should be here.” I looked around the lodge for the first time, taking in the vaulted ceiling, stone fireplace, and windows overlooking a lake covered in gray winter light. “This is his trip. He paid for all of it, and I made him leave.”

“It was a surprise,” Bliss said softly. “None of us knew.”

I looked at her.

“Ryan chose everything,” she continued. “The second cabin for Vivi. The huge kitchen because he knew we would all end up cooking together. Every room and every ridiculous game Briggs started screaming about the second he saw it.”

My eyes burned.

“He built it around you,” Aura said.

The truth split through the last intact place inside me. I folded forward, but movement near the hallway drew my attention before the sob could escape.

Cade had started collecting his bags. Easton retrieved his from the pile beside the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Aura asked.

“We’re staying at Ryan’s apartment tonight,” Easton said.

Bliss stood. “All of you?”

Rider struck the cue ball and sent it into the triangle. The crack traveled through the room.

“All of us,” he said.