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“You remember when I told you about Blaze?” When Jameson and Max both nodded, I said, “What none of us talk about is that he lost his best friend in his second to last deployment. He’d promised to protect his sister, Shamra. Which is…”
When the words choked me, Jameson sucked down a breath, the pieces obviously clicking together as his face fell. “How he died.” He scrubbed a palm over his face, aggrieved by the loss of a man he’d never met. I loved his big, broody, beautiful heart.
I nodded, my chest aching at the shadow of that funeral, the echo of those shots fired off in his honor. “Brothers, forever. He couldn’t let him down. She’s retired special ops now.”
“Pheeeeew,” Max released the sound on a long exhale, like a deflating mylar balloon, as his fingers continued scrolling. “You’re scary, Noelie-bear.”
“Hell hath no fury,” Jameson muttered, kicking an ankle up on his knee as he leaned back into the couch to evaluate me with a new scrutiny.
“But why the hell didn’t you use this before?” Axel demanded, his blatant irritation finally breaking his monk-like silence.
A fire lit against my eyes, and I cursed the damn sting as they fell to my feet. Just like that, my rage simmered, memories of beach days full of laughter, sparkling gowns fanned out as I spun on dance floors, and bouquets on the counter aching where they still lived like ghosts in my chest.
The pain must have fractured my mask, because Jameson sucked down a breath before saying, “You didn’t want to hurt him back. Didn’t want him to get locked up and have that live on your conscience?”
The stupidity of my reality cracked through my center. Nobody had ever seen through me so clearly. “Iwas the one that stayed.Iwas the one dumb enough to think he’d change. The idea of the old Eric still being somewhere in there and trapping him in a cell…I felt like a monster. I thought if I left, if I filled my time, it would all just go away.”
“Baby,” Jameson soothed, but I could hear the pity in his voice as he snatched my hand and pulled me to him. Iloathedbeing pitied. Even if it was him. Seeming to sense it, his voice leveled, “You could never, ever be a monster. These are his actions. You’re just deciding not to lie for him anymore. Let him live with his choices.”
I sniffled but nodded. “I know that you’re right. I know it, but…”
“Something still aches to admit the cause is lost,” Elora spoke up softly. “I get it.”
“Why is this different? What changed?” Broderick asked gruffly, that ever-evaluative laser focus on me. Jameson’s hand came to cup the back of my neck, thumb running a soothing line up and down the length of my spine.
When I didn’t immediately respond, Elora did it for me, settling her hand on my knee with a reassuring squeeze. Her words were matter-of-fact as she said, “He came after Jameson this time.”
Lips pursed, I nodded softly. Fuck with me—fine, I brought that on myself out of stubborn naivety, but fuck with my…my soul person? That was a very different game. One he was going to regret deciding to play.
The weight of our reality settled in Jameson’s eyes a beat before he asked, “So, why did you ask for Max?”
“Jorogumo,” I said simply, straightening and shifting towards Max as his eyes widened. The others all flicked their gazes between the two of us as a slow, amused smile cracked Max’s handsome face. He flicked his dark bangs off his forehead.
“Um…gesundheit?” Axel teased, finally straightening off the wall, but I kept my focus on Max, whose expression was flickering in rapid succession between shock and bewildered entertainment.
“You clever little thing,” Max muttered coyly, shaking his head as he dropped his eyes to the computer and began tapping in a rapid clacking of keys. “How’d you put it together?” There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in his tone. He knewexactlywhat I knew, and it seemed he was already putting in the groundwork.
“The coffee shop—the first day you and El played babysitter.”
“The day you dry-humped Jameson on the docks,” he clarified with a sly smile.
Rolling my eyes, I corrected, “The day IkissedJameson, yes.Yougot a call. I saw the screen.”
“Um…is anybody going to translate for me?” Jameson grumbled, not bothering to conceal his annoyance, hand sliding down to clamp onto my shoulder to emphasize the words.
“Jorogumo is a prominent piece of Japanese folklore,” Broderick explained. “Known as the binding bride, or sometimes spider woman—she’s described as a lethal shapeshifter.”
“Right,” I affirmed. “She’s known for luring men in with her beauty and then shifting into her true monster form.” When every face expectantly turned to me under furrowed brows, I sighed. “Look, I liked manga in high school, okay?”
“I’m not connecting the dots,” Axel admitted, looking frustrated.
“Max’s ‘mystery’ job?” I added air quotes for good measure, both irritated and amused that nobody had bothered to pay better attention. “The tech work, the conference calls—he’s an executive in a cyber defense company that lures criminals into their web before they destroy them, or they destroy themselves. It’s called Jorogumo Defense.”
If a breeze had blown through our living room, all four of them might have fallen out of their seats, judging by the minimal blood supply left to color their faces.
“And if he’s willing, he’s going to take this drive and do whatever the hell he would do with it if they had assigned him to take down Connely Corp. My contact added a file in there you can use if his dad tries to retaliate.”
Max’s grin was maniacal, and I absolutely freaking loved it. “Why throw fists when you can throw his entire future?”
