Page 49 of His Reckoning

“It’s the entrance!”

“Yes!” Kylie says. “We win that round!”

Lincoln throws the marker down. “That was sabotage.”

“You need to learn how to draw,” Eva says.

Roman leans back on the couch. “I stand by my turtle theory.”

Across the room, Kayla is laughing so hard that she’s wiping tears from her eyes. Her hair has fallen out of the ponytail now, and her cheeks are flushed. She looks … like she belongs here.

Which is strange because this group usually doesn’t do things like this.

We drink and talk. We argue about business or sports. Games like this would normally get shut down in thirty seconds. Yet somehow, the entire room is yelling over each other.

Jessie is arguing with Roman. Lincoln is demanding a rematch. Kylie is grabbing the marker for the next round. And Kayla is standing in the middle of the room, directing the entire thing like she runs the place.

I take a drink and watch it unfold.

Colton walks over beside me. “You’re smiling.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

Across the room, Kayla claps her hands. “Okay, next round!”

Lincoln groans. “This is torture.”

“You’re just bad at drawing,” Kayla says.

“I run companies.”

“You draw turtles,” Eva chimes in.

The room erupts into laughter again.

Colton leans closer. “You know what the problem is?”

“What?”

“You like her.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“It is tonight.”

I glance across the room again. Kayla is arguing with Walker now about the rules. Completely unbothered and in control of the chaos she created.

And for some reason … the night is better because of it. That realization settles somewhere in the back of my mind because the truth is simple. If anyone else in this room had suggested playing a game tonight, they would have been laughed out of the penthouse.

But somehow, Kayla made it the most entertaining part of the evening, and I’m not entirely sure how she did it.The game eventually dissolves into the kind of disarray that only happens when my friends stay too long and drink too much wine.

At some point, Roman seconds Lincoln demand of a rematch, but Walker refuses. Jessie declares the girls undefeated champions, and Melissa decides everyone should leave before the men start arguing about the rules again.

Within twenty minutes, the penthouse is quiet again. The elevator doors close behind the last of them. I walk back into the kitchen to see the aftermath of the evening spread across the counter.

There are empty glasses, half a cheese board, and markers from the game scattered near the island.