Page 88 of Power Play
We lie there for a while in the kind of silence that doesn’t feel empty. Just full of unsaid things we already know.
I kiss her forehead. “You, me, this... I’m all in.”
She looks up, eyes softer than I’ve ever seen them. “Yeah. I know. Me too.”
And I believe her. I believe every word.
Even if I have no idea how I got this lucky.
And I’m going to try my damn hardest not to mess it up.
Sophie breaks the moment in a way only she can. “Shit! I forgot Mia invited us over for games night at theirs.” She’s diving off the sofa and heading to the bedroom before I can blink. “Murphy! We need to leave. Like, ten minutes ago.”
To save time, I jump in the shower with her. Only that makes us even more late.
Dylan opens the door shirtless, with a beer already in hand. “Welcome to the Thunderdome,” he announces, stepping aside to let us in.
Mia appears behind him, rolling her eyes. “It’s Monopoly, not mortal combat.”
Jacko’s already parked at the kitchen island, carefully placing cupcakes onto a stand like it’s aBake Offfinale. He’s in a hoodie that says‘I Bake Because I Punch People Legally’. Fitting.
“Jacko,” I greet, nodding. “You spoil us.”
“Vanilla sponge, raspberry jam, lemon buttercream. Try not to shag them before the first round starts.”
Ollie pokes his head out from the living room. “Did someone say shagging?”
“Back in your box, Ol,” I call, dropping onto the sofa. “You still owe me from the last game night. You mortgaged half of your portfolio to buy Mayfair. Even I don’t know how that happened.”
Sophie slips off her coat and plops beside me, stealing the remote like she owns the place. “Is this the part where you all pretend to be cutthroat capitalists for three hours and Jacko inevitably bankrupts everyone through baked bribery?”
“He’s got a system,” Dylan mutters, setting down more beers.
“He’s got adeath wish,” Ollie groans. “He traded me cupcakes for Park Lane and then crushed me.”
Jacko looks smug. “Capitalism, baby.”
We settle into the living room. Dylan and Mia curled into one end of the massive L-shaped sofa, Ollie cross-legged on the floor with the game board between us, and Sophie practically in my lap despite insisting she needed “space to crush you all financially.”
The game begins in the usual chaos. Ollie rolling doubles three times in a row and declaring himself “the chosen one,” Mia reading every rule out loud just to annoy Dylan, Jacko offering illegal cupcake deals to get out of jail.
“Right,” I say, grinning as I land on Free Parking. “That’s mine. I’m rich, bitches.”
“Free Parking isn’t supposed to give you money!” Mia objects.
“House rules,” Dylan says. “Let the man have his pile of cash. It’ll be gone in ten minutes anyway.”
Sophie leans in and whispers, “He loses on purpose to distract from his emotional instability.”
I raise a brow. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Jacko passes me a cupcake. “For when you bankrupt yourself emotionally too.”
It’s easy, this rhythm. Laughter, jokes, teasing that’s edged with affection. A proper little found-family setup.
But somewhere between Ollie accidentally tipping over the Chance pile and Jacko reenacting a property bidding war using voices fromBake Off, my phone buzzes.
I check it without thinking and freeze.
