31. Ryuji
RYUJI
T he next time we were in a standoff like that—it didn’t matter with who—I was going to kill someone. I was tired of this shit. Tired of being forced to walk away. Tired of Volpe leaving with his head attached to his shoulders.
Our enemies were right in front of us. Why couldn’t we just fucking kill them and be done with it? It had to be simpler than whatever shit we were getting ourselves wrapped up in day after day.
At least when our enemies were dead, I knew I could finally sleep . I could stop worrying about Leona getting hurt at all hours of the day. I could find some fucking peace.
But no .
Wynn had overreacted and shot Vokshi before we’d even had a chance to get information out of him.
I’m supposed to be the one who kills without a thought. Stealing my fucking thunder.
My hands clenched in my lap while I watched the light poles outside fly by, one after another.
We were still on the way back to the penthouse.
Obi drove, the passenger seat empty next to him.
I sat with Leona and Cas in the middle row, Leona sandwiched between us.
The two lover boys sat in the back, still not speaking with each other.
They just needed to fuck already. It was getting annoying.
We left the dead bodies behind. Ciel had edited us out of the camera feeds, leaving Volpe and his men behind. If the cops investigated, all they’d find was him. The murders would fall at their feet, not ours. Good fucking luck to him.
I was honestly surprised none of us got shot during that debacle. And I’m even more surprised that none of us shot any Italians.
I just wanted to fucking shoot someone. Was that too much to ask?
Leona hadn’t said a word, despite having multiple opportunities to kill Volpe and be done with it. Whatever bargain they’d made had concluded. So what was stopping her? And why did it make me so goddamn angry?
It was time for some answers.
She sat beside me, silently staring out the window on Cas’s side with a frown on her face. His hand rested on her thigh, pulling her tighter against him.
“Why won’t you kill him?” I demanded, breaking the silence that had blanketed the SUV for miles.
All of their eyes snapped to me at my outburst, but I was only looking at her. Always looking at her.
She glared at me, fists clenched together in her lap, trembling.
“Why?” I asked again. “You should have killed Volpe when you had the chance.”
She sucked in heavy breaths as tears formed, but she had no answer.
I leaned over into her seat, pressing close into her space. “You’ll kill everyone but him, won’t you?”
She shook her head, but we both knew the truth. “I’ll do what I have to do.”
“You’ll get yourself killed,” I hissed.
“I can handle myself. ”
I laughed, rubbing my hands over my face. My emotions were rioting inside my chest.
I was livid she wouldn’t kill Volpe. There was something wrong there, and it was going to blow up in her face.
I was exasperated that she was still hiding the truth from us. Vokshi had taunted her badly enough that she silenced him before he could continue, but I had no clue what he meant.
I was also so far fucking gone for her. Watching her kill those pieces of shit Albanians, and then remembering how easily, how confidently, she’d ended the Luccheses had my cock painfully hard.
I loved her need for bloody vengeance. She was a goddess of death, and she was absolutely perfect.
And I was so terrified that I’d lose her if we couldn’t wipe our enemies off the planet, starting and ending with that motherfucker who kept popping up in our lives.
Fuck this.
Fuck this tip-toeing.
All it did was make me want to lose my fucking mind.
“Come here,” I growled as I unbuckled her seatbelt and yanked her into my lap.
She protested, but then her legs straddled mine while her hands braced on my chest, and I pressed a finger against her lips.
“I know you can handle yourself. I just watched you pistol-whip that fucker, and stab another, and shoot even more, and it was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
But what happens if someone else gets the upper hand? ”
Her eyes burned. “You’re worried about me?”
I groaned, dragging my nose up her neck. “Of course, I am. That’s why you need to shoot him first .”
I wasn’t about this take prisoners shit, especially not if it was going to put her at risk. Whatever was going on between her and Volpe was dangerous.
“Perhaps Volpe could have more information that would prove beneficial to us,” Obi said from the driver’s seat .
Now that Vokshi was dead, how were we going to figure out how the Albanians were sneaking around beneath our noses? I sure as shit didn’t want to ask Max .
“Fuck him,” Cas ground out.
“You believe I can handle myself?” she asked me, ignoring them both.
My fingers trailed down her cheek. She could handle herself. I knew that. That’s not what terrified me.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful and so deadly as you. My goddess of death. Queen of the Shadows.”
She sucked in a breath. “Say it again.”
“Goddess of death,” I murmured in her ear while my hands palmed her waist and trailed upward. “Queen of the Shadows.”
Her eyes fluttered closed. My heart rate spiked in my chest as her fingertips dug into my shoulders. A grin split my face.
“You like hearing how powerful you are?” My palms flattened against her back, trailing down to cup her ass. “You’re getting wet to that, huh?”
You could hear a pin drop throughout the three rows of this SUV.
She nodded while biting her lip. It had been so long since I’d been between her legs. We’d all agreed to give her space, but I was struggling . My body called out for hers. The fear I felt at losing her waged war against my desire for her.
“You like knowing I’m so fucking hard for you? That your viciousness is everything my soul has ever needed?”
“But you’re mad at me,” she whispered.
“I’m mad that you keep hesitating and putting yourself at risk,” I said. “I don’t care about anything else. Only you. Only keeping you alive.”
“ Ryu ,” she breathed, grinding her pussy against my thigh.
I grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her, dragging my tongue across the seam of her mouth. All the tension in my body, the anger and the passion, was about to explode right out of my skin. Her hands tangled in my hair.
“I want to fuck you right here in the car.” I didn’t need to look outside the windows to know we still had a while to go until we got back home, but I needed her. “Can I, hanii ? While all the guys watch?”
She pulled back, eyes sparkling down at me. Some of her hair had come out of her braid, and I curled a finger around one of the loose waves while I waited for her answer. While we all waited.
She sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
“You’re okay with that?”
She’d been distant from all of us since she’d been back. I was going insane not being inside her, but I’d never fucking rush her or push her into something she didn’t want or wasn’t ready for. I’d wait for her forever.
“I need it, Ryu. Please. I need to feel powerful. I need to feel desirable.”
She’d been fraying at the seams since we brought her home, and whatever Vokshi had said to her had rattled her. It was obvious she was keeping something from us. Maybe she needed this as much as I did.
“I desire you every second of every fucking day,” I breathed. “I never stop thinking about how I want to drive my cock into your perfect little pussy.” I cupped the wetness pooling between her legs. “I dream about this cunt, and how much I need it to strangle my cock .”
Her entire chest flushed as I yanked up her shirt, pulled down her bra, and sucked on one of her tits. I could feel the rest of the guys watching. I could feel their gazes hot on us both. But we needed this. She needed this.
“Cas, help me pull off her pants,” I murmured. He watched with a hungry gaze as the two of us maneuvered her around. The last time we took her together was burned into my memory, but right now I needed her.
Obi watched from the rearview, eyes flicking from the road back to us. It was just like LA, when he watched with hunger pouring from every limb, except this time he wasn’t pretending he didn’t want to fuck her as badly as I did.
Wynn watched next to Ciel in the row behind us, but that little bastard needed a time out for starting the domino effect of things going to shit this evening.
My fingers ghosted over her inner thighs, causing the muscles to tighten. She pulled her shirt over her head and then unclasped her bra and dropped it to the floor all while my fingers danced closer and closer to her dripping entrance.
“You’re as soaked as I knew you’d be.” I smirked. Why had we waited so long? Ciel had told us she needed us. Why hadn’t I just asked her if she was ready?
She laughed softly. “Cocky.”
“Goddess of death,” I whispered as my fingers pushed inside her. She moaned, the sound positively obscene. “Queen of the Shadows.”
Her hips rolled as she chased her pleasure.
I locked eyes with Cas to the side of us, and I knew he was imagining the last time we’d taken her.
Heat tinted his cheeks pink and darkened his deep blue eyes.
My tongue dragged across my bottom lip while he stared at me.
We’d take her again together, I was fucking sure of that.
All of us watched her legs clamp around my fingers. We listened to the sound of her moans. Consciously or not, they all moved closer and closer, drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
Right here in this vehicle, we’d make sure she knew we’d want her forever. We’d make sure she was worshipped and reborn with our love.
When her orgasm pitched her moans high, I released a breath, enraptured and hypnotized .
“More?” I murmured.
“More,” she breathed.
I undid my pants in a blur. Her eyes went distant as I notched the head of my cock to her entrance. Her breathing increased, and her hands pushed on my chest.
I froze. “ Hanii , you with me?”
Her eyes searched mine, but she didn’t answer.