Ryder’s proud grin sends fireworks shooting off in my chest. He’s adorable when he finally wins at something. “Oh, was that your last play? Too bad.”
I swoon dramatically, grabbing his forearm and leaning myweight against him. “Ry, I never thought I’d say this, but you’re my hero.”
Mayte throws a chip at me. “Traitor.”
Ryder leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Alright, enough whining. It’s Lola’s turn. Let’s see what my wife can do with the mess I made.”
I straighten in my seat, looking down at the last of my tiles as I chew on my lip. I’ve got nothing good, that’s for sure. I place a tile, one I know won’t help me win a damn thing.
Mayte’s eyes glitter under the warm kitchen lighting. She slow claps. “Truly an inspiration.”
She sets her next tile down.
“Yeah, an inspiration forme.Both of you are, really,” Ryder says, winking at me and effectively soothing some of the sting from my impending loss. He slaps down his final tile and whisper-shouts, “Domino, baby!” He tosses his hands up and smacks his lips together, shooting a kiss across the table at Mayte, who’s fuming.
“What?!” she asks, infuriated.
“That’s right, ladies. I’m the new champion,” Ry says, slinging an arm over my shoulder and leaning in to whisper in my ear. “What’s my prize, darlin’?”
I swat at his chest, rolling my eyes.“Your pick, Ry. What are we playing next?”
He grabs a small black box from the top of the bookshelf, setting it on the table as Mayte finishes putting the game away.
“The voting game. I’m not sure there’s actually a winner with this because I’ve never played it, but I picked it up a while back and figure we can all learn together.”
He unwraps the clear plastic from the box and tosses it in the trash by the back door, lingering by Ezekiel where he’s leaning over the small bar, thick-framed glasses sliding down the straight bridge of his nose, a book in hand.
“Hey, Zeke. You wanna join?” Ryderasks. He peers up from the book, glancing over to us, but he quickly returns his gaze to Ryder, shaking his head before refocusing on the book.
“Okay, so it sounds like we have a stack of cards with questions that sit in the middle. We each have numbered cards. Lola is number one, Mayte is two, and I’ll be three. We pick a card from the center, read it aloud, and everyone turns in a card with the corresponding person's number. We’re voting for who is most likely to do whatever’s on the card. Does that make sense?”
Mayte’s shoulders shake with a chuckle. “Leave it to Ryder to pick a get-to-know-you game where no one wins.”
I can’t argue with that. It certainly is a very Ryder thing to do.
“Also true,” he says. “How about we also assign card numbers to people who aren’t playing so we can include them in the vote?”
“Hmm, sounds interesting, but why don’t we just invite other people to play?” Mayte asks, pushing out of her seat, not waiting for a reply. She saunters over to the table whereMami, Bee, and the biker guys are all seated, returning with them in tow a moment later.
“I don’t know anything about those guys. How am I supposed to guess?” I whisper to Ryder.
“Levi is the oldest of the group. He’s the leader and stand-in father, and Teddy’s the youngest, really easy going. Just go with your gut,” he tells me.
“Nice to see you again, Miss Lola,” Levi says, smiling warmly at me as he takes the seat across from me.
Everyone drags chairs over, and Ryder starts scribbling names on a sheet with the corresponding numbers so we don’t get lost.
1. Lola
2. Mayte
3. Ryder
4. Ezekiel
5. Bee
6. Bexaida
