King of Pride (Kings of Sin #2) by Ana Huang

“Yes?” I said brightly.

“What, exactly, did you bring us to?”

“A creative community! It’s like one of those paint and wine places, but better.” I gestured at the wall, where bright trails of paint snaked over a few of the canvases and dripped onto the tarp. “Have you ever watched The Princess Diaries? With Anne Hathaway? There’s this scene with Mia and her mom after she finds out she’s actually a princess…”

He stared at me.

“Never mind. The point is, this is very similar to what they did in the movie. Your goal is to puncture those balloons with a dart so the paint spills onto the canvas and creates an abstract piece of art. If you miss, you have to pick a slip of paper from that jar and answer the question truthfully or take a shot of Violet’s Special Moonshine. Violet is the owner of the studio,” I clarified. “Her moonshine is no joke. The last time someone took more than three shots, they ended up streaking across Bushwick and singing the national anthem at the top of their lungs. Got arrested for indecent exposure, but their boss’s daughter’s best friend bailed him out because they were having an affair—”

“Isabella,” Kai said again.

“Hmm?”

“Unnecessary detail.”

Fair enough. Not everyone found the sex lives of random New Yorkers as interesting as I did. Maybe because they were having sex and not confined to hearing about it through friends and strangers.

To his credit, Kai didn’t immediately turn and walk out the door at the prospect of throwing darts at balloons all night. Instead, he averted his gaze from the artist yogi, took off his coat, and draped it over a nearby chair.

An irritating wisp of relief curled through me. I shouldn’t care whether he stayed. I didn’t enjoy his company that much.

I placed my coat over his and retrieved two smocks from the hooks lining the wall on our right.

“How did you find out about this place?” Kai rolled up his sleeves and accepted the smock I handed him.

I darted a glance at his forearms. Tanned, muscled, corded with sexy veins and a light smattering of dark hair…

An electric shiver ghosted down my spine before I yanked my eyes away. New Isabella does not drool over random men’s forearms. No matter how hot they are.

Kai lifted a brow, and I remembered belatedly that he’d asked a question.

“My brother Felix told me about it.” I removed my heels and fastened the smock around me, all the while keeping my gaze planted on the canvases. It was safer that way. “He’s an artist, and he likes to come here when he’s feeling stuck. He says being surrounded by other creatives in a low-stakes environment helps jog ideas loose.” Felix’s method for getting unstuck had never worked for me, but I liked how fun the exercise was. Sometimes I paired up with another person for the questions part; other times, I was content with just throwing darts. “He lives in L.A., but he visits New York often and knows all the underground places.”

“An artist. A writer. Creative family.” Kai’s warmth brushed my side as he came up beside me. Even in an ugly black smock, he looked aristocratic, like a prince among commoners.

He plucked a dart from the nearby tray and handed it to me.

I took it gingerly. Our hands didn’t touch, but my palm tingled like they had. “That’s only me and Felix,” I said. “The rest of my brothers aren’t into the arts. Gabriel, the oldest, runs our family business. Romero is an engineer, and Miguel teaches poli sci at Berkeley.” A wry smile. “A lot of Asian families push their children into law, medicine, or engineering, but my parents were big on us doing what we wanted as long as it’s not illegal or unethical. Habulin mo ang iyong mga pangarap. Chase your dreams. Our family motto.”

I left out the part about us having to achieve said dreams by age thirty due to a certain written clause. It was my parents’ way of ensuring we didn’t jump from passion to passion because we couldn’t make up our minds. The way I had for the past oh, ten years.

If we didn’t settle into a career path by thirty, then…

I swallowed the lump of unease in my throat. It’ll be fine. I had time. If there was one thing that motivated me more than the prospect of money, fame, and success, it was the chance to prove my brother wrong.

“Are you?” Kai asked.

“What?”

“Chasing your dreams.”

Of course. The answer sat on the tip of my tongue, but something prevented me from saying it out loud.

My eyes met Kai’s for a single, knowing beat before I looked away. My heart rattled behind my ribcage, but I tried my best to ignore it. Instead, I focused on a balloon, aimed, and threw my dart as hard as I could. It glanced harmlessly off the wood.

I sighed. Typical. I’d been coming here for months, and I’d only hit my target twice.

“You pick.” I gestured at the jar of paper. “I’m too busy wallowing in my lack of hand-eye coordination.”

Miguel and Gabriel had gotten all the athletic genes in the family. It was so unfair.

Kai’s gaze sparked with amusement, but he didn’t argue. He plucked a slip from the jar and unfolded it. “What’s your biggest fear?”

It was a generic question with plenty of generic answers—clowns, losing more people I loved, being alone. All things that had kept me up late at night, especially after I watched It. But the answer that came out of my mouth had nothing to do with killer clowns or dying by myself on some stranded road.