Page 61 of Fall Before Her Throne

CASPIAN

“God, he’s like a tumor,” Ryuji complained from the middle seat of the SUV. He glared at Max in the back row, sitting next to me. “Can’t leave him behind. Can’t stand him with us.”

We were on our way to steal Greco’s guns. Ciel had stayed at home to work on rebuilding his systems, leaving behind one of the very necessary, level-headed voices from our group. Who knew how this shit was going to go?

Max’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing to Ryu’s barb.

I let out a breath to loosen the tension already tightening my shoulders. Max was either spiraling into a pit of despair, or he was finally growing thicker skin so he didn’t react to Ryuji’s taunts. Not that long ago, I was in the same spot that he was—at least as far as Ryuji was concerned.

Even though I had found my peace with him, I wasn’t certain they ever would.

“Can’t even kiss her right,” Ryuji added snidely. The entire car tensed while Ryuji threw his hands up with a scoff—a mixture of disbelief and accusation. “Could have had it all. Fucked it all up.”

Beside me, Max’s hand clenched where it rested on his knee.

“Why is everyone so interested in my business?” Max shot back with a glare. “None of you give a fuck about me, so just leave me alone.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but then closed it. Did I give a fuck about him?

Unfortunately, yes. The more I heard the truth, the more I did. He was my best friend, and the urge to defend him was as natural as breathing.

“We don’t keep secrets in this family,” Ryu sassed. “We see and hear everything. If you’re in our house, messing with our woman, it is definitely our business.”

If I had my guess, Ryu had been watching that video on repeat. He’d been fucking twitchy all day.

Leona sat on Ryu’s other side. Her hand moved shortly before Ryu’s whiny “Ow!” filled the car.

“We’re about to pick a fucking huge fight right now,” she scolded. “Stop goading.”

“You’re defending him?”

“No. I’m saying if you get shot and killed because you’re too worried about fucking with Max, I will find a way to bring you back to life just so I can murder you again myself.”

He pouted for a second before he muttered, “Fine.”

She rolled her eyes, casting a glance over her shoulder at me with a knowing smile and a wink. “It’s like I’m having déjà vu or something.”

I grinned, then caught a whiff of Obi’s smile in the rearview mirror. We were used to this from Ryuji, but Max wasn’t yet. He was more bark than bite.

“Ryuji has one setting,” I said in partial explanation to Max. “It’s⁠—”

“Asshole.”

“Dickwad.”

“Douchebag.”

“Prick.”

I snorted. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“I am a complex and multi-layered person,” Ryu said with narrowed eyes at Leona. “How dare you reduce me to such bland insults? You all could do much better than that, you know.”

“Fuckwad?” she asked. “Limp dick? A horse’s ass? Hmm, I don’t love those either. I’ll try to get more creative.”

“We’re here,” Obi said, cutting Ryuji off before he could respond.

Obi pulled down a shadowed road, the streetlights dead. He pulled the SUV into a side street and parked in the dark.