Page 94 of Fall Before Her Throne

I shifted, trying to pull out of his grip, but Obi held tight. His chest rumbled in displeasure.

“Don’t you dare move,” Ryuji said, sitting opposite us on the couch. Shadows hung beneath his eyes, and somehow he’d gotten a hold of a bottle of scotch. It was half empty already.

“What if I have to pee?” I asked Obi. “Do you want me to pee on your lap?”

He sighed dramatically and eased the tension in his arms. I felt like a tiny animal, and Obi was the overenthusiastic kid who was unintentionally squeezing me to death.

I slipped out of his lap, lightly tugging my hand from Cas’s. His dark hair hung in front of his eyes, but he looked at me exasperated. I cupped Obi’s cheek and kissed him firmly. Then, I did the same to Cas and all my men.

They clung to me desperately.

“Guys,” I soothed. “This night was terrible. I missed you all so much. But I’m okay, I promise. Can someone please say something?”

Ciel cleared his throat and spoke first. My shy hacker. “What happened with the FBI?”

I swallowed. We hadn’t talked about the reason for my arrest…or the deal they offered me. Samuel had separated from us before we’d headed home, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t filled in Obi either.

“Can I change first? I’m covered in blood and I want out of these clothes. And then we can talk about it?”

Ciel shook his head. “I’m sorry, baby girl. Talk to us first. Wynn or Cas or Ryuji can go grab you some clothes, and we’ll help you change, but you’re not leaving our sight for a while.”

The corner of my mouth pulled into a small smile. Of course not. These possessive men were crazy, but the reality was I didn’t want to be away from them either.

“Okay,” I said. Wynn got to his feet, kissed me gently, and then left—presumably to get me something to change into. I walked to my hacker and held my arms out in front of me. “Help me change.”

Ciel stood and slowly drew my shirt over my head, but I winced when the fabric rubbed over the bandages on my arm. With tender fingers, he helped me unbutton my jeans and step out of them. If it wasn’t for the fire, I might have shivered in only my bra and underwear, and my arms wrapped around my middle in some weird, self-conscious motion. I obviously felt fine around my men, but Max wasn’t even looking at me. He had barely looked at me since he shouted my name before the shooting.

I released a breath of relief and then felt my heart warm as Ciel pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “What happened when you got arrested?”

I let him pull me back to the couch, and I sat next to him. “Well, they shoved me in the back of an undercover cop car and then took me to the FBI building. Then they handcuffed me to a table and made me wait for a while before someone came in.”

“Those fuckers,” Ryuji growled before taking a drink. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

I shook my head. “Nah. They were annoying, but not scary. I think they were more afraid of me than I was of them.”

That earned me his crooked smile, and I instantly felt miles better. I hated seeing my sarcastic asshole depressed and worried about me.

“Who interviewed you?” Cas brushed some hair out of his face and leaned forward.

“The same agents that tracked us down at Ryuji’s club,” I replied. “Their names are Farrah Badawi and Jack Greer. Badawi seems straight and narrow, but understanding. Greer is a dick. He’s out to get us for sure.”

Ciel and Obi exchanged a look.

“Look into them,” Obi ordered. “I want to know their weaknesses.”

“Got it,” Ciel said.

Badawi seemed reasonable. She felt like she would make a deal, even if it wasn’t necessarily the one they wanted. Greer, on the other hand, would rather see us all burn than give us something to use against him. I doubted Ciel would find anything useful as blackmail or weaknesses.

“What else?” Obi asked. “Did they say anything about the RICO case?”

I nodded. “They arrested me on racketeering charges. And a couple of other things.”

A whole laundry list of things. Things that we had absolutely done.

Obi stared at the ground, and I could just see the gears turning in his head. We needed to talk about what to do now that we knew Greco had manipulated a federal agency against us, but we all needed to cool off first.