twenty-eight saves. Of course, he also managed to get a dig in for the one shot Luke had missed. The goalie took it in stride—right up until he grabbed a piece of shrimp and sent it flying in Tristan's direction.
"What the hell, Matthews? Don't you know how to take a compliment?" Tristan plucked the piece of shrimp from where it had landed on his suit jacket and popped it into his mouth. For a second, I thought he was going to grab his own ammunition and start a food fight. Sean must have thought the same thing because he grabbed Tristan's arm and pulled him back into his chair.
"Now isn't the place, Holland. Can't you at least pretend you have some decorum?"
"Ooo. Decorum. Listen to the fancy words coming from Mister Worthington." Tristan drew Sean's name out with just the right touch of nasal inflection, making us all laugh. We weren't really close, not yet at least, but Sean seemed like a good guy for the most part. Out of all of us, he looked least like a hockey player, with his neatly styled blonde hair and crisp way of talking. I didn't know much about his background—meaning I didn't know anything about his background—but I had a feeling he'd be pretty damn comfortable in Addy's world of old money. No idea why I thought that, it was just the impression I had.
Sean glanced at his watch—an expensive gold piece I was pretty sure was real—then shot a glare of impatience at Tristan. "Knock it off already."
"Why, when it's so easy to get a rise out of you?" Tristan threw back his head and laughed, the sound loud and short. Then he faced Sean with a grin. "Not."
"Mature, Holland. Real mature. How old did you say you were? Twelve?"
"Funny. And original, too. Chalk one up for Mister Worthington."
"At least I have enough sense not to mess with my teammate's sister." Sean threw the words out almost casually, the teasing no different from anything the rest of us had given Tristan over the last couple of months. Tristan's reaction was completely different, though. He stilled, like he'd been rendered immobile, and his brown eyes grew darker as he stared at Sean. Not just stared like he'd been blindsided by the comment, but stared like he was some predator ready to pounce.
I exchanged a quick glance with Nathan, my silent What the hell? question obvious. Nathan shook his head and pushed to his feet at the same time Luke did, the two of them ready to grab Tristan and stop him from doing something stupid if it came down to that.
Tristan shot them each a dangerous look then threw his napkin on the table and pushed to his feet. "Whatever. I'm out of here."
"Tris—"
"Forget it, man. I'm done for the night." He pulled some bills from his wallet, tossed them to the table, then spun around and took off.
Silence settled over us, thick and awkward. We all turned to Sean but he just sat there and shrugged. "Don't ask me. I have no idea."
I turned toward Morgan, not surprised to see the confusion on her face. I debated telling her the story—minus the colorful details—but she shook her head and pushed away from the table.
"I need to use the restroom."
"Oh. Okay." I twisted in my seat, looking for signs that would indicate where it was, but Addy beat me to it.
"I'll go with you."
"Might as well make it a threesome." Jacqui stood and followed them. I watched them disappear into the restaurant side then turned back to Nathan.
"Why do women do that?"
"Probably for the same reason men do."
"No, not that. I mean, go in groups. Is there some secret rule saying that women have to all go at the same time?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"You never asked Addy?"
"Come on, man. No way. There are just some things that don't come up in conversation. That's one of them."
"It's so they can chat and compare notes."
Everyone turned and stared at Luke. He shifted in the chair, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden attention he was getting.
"How would you know?"
Luke raised his bottle to his mouth and took a long swallow then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't know. I just do."
"I doubt that's what they're doing."
"They could be."
"Or they could just be going together for safety reasons or something."
Luke glanced around the large room. "Safety? Here? I don't think so."
"Maybe it's just in their DNA. You know, like they're