He doesn't comment. Just hands me a set of train cards and murmurs, "Blue routes are still your favorite, right?"
"Always."
The game starts.
It's easier than I expected. The rules are clear. The objectives simple. Build routes, score points, don't overthink it.
I lean into Eli's side, and after a moment, I shift to sit fully in his lap. His arms come around my waist automatically, chin resting on my shoulder so he can see my cards.
"Sneaky," he murmurs when I claim a route that blocks Drake's path.
"Strategic."
His quiet laugh rumbles through his chest into my back.
I don't notice Marie's expression tightening until she moves.
She stands, walks to Ragon, and settles herself deliberately in his lap.
Not casual. Not natural. Planted.
Ragon's hands come up to steady her, one splaying across her stomach, and he doesn't tell her to move.
I feel Jasper's gaze flick between us. Assessing. Filing it away.
The game continues.
Marie gets louder. More animated. She laughs at Ragon's moves, praises his strategies, presses back against him like she's trying to meld into his body.
Ragon indulges her.
Eli's arms tighten around me just slightly.
When Eli's phone buzzes halfway through the second game, I already know what it means.
He pulls it out, reads the screen, and sighs. "Hospital."
"Emergency?"
"They're short-staffed. I need to cover a shift." He presses a kiss to my temple. "Sorry, love."
"It's fine." I start to extract myself from his lap.
"Drake," Eli says, catching his attention. "Trade me?"
Drake looks up from his cards, sees me, and grins. "Come here, trouble."
I move to him, settling into his lap with less grace than I had with Eli. Drake's arms come around me immediately, warmer and looser than Eli's controlled hold.
"There we go," he says, chin hooking over my shoulder. "Now I have a good luck charm."
"I'm not playing for you."
"You're sitting on me. Close enough."
I relax into him despite myself. Drake's scent—citrus and sunshine—is harder to stay tense around.
The game goes on for another hour. I let the familiar rhythm of it soak into me. It’s so much easier to exist here, in this room, with my pack and the afternoon light and the click of little colored trains on the board, than it is to think about anything else. I don’t even register, at first, that Jasper is answering questions.
