He leaned closer and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I’ll have to hurry and eat this before Kenji roars and blows flames over the plate."
Kenji laughed. "Not this time, brother."
Epilogue
Slowly burning
Nyomi
I looked at the door. “Where’s Reo?”
Kenji took a bite of his food and spoke between chewing, “Roar duties.”
It was something about the way that Kenji said it, that seemed off.
Did he just lie?
I let it go.
“Well from now on let’s make sure that he sees me first, and then handles any Roar duties.” I frowned. “In fact, that’s his first Roar duty.”
Kenji nodded. “Yes, Tora.”
Some of the Claws snickered.
Kenji glanced their way.
They returned to eating.
Yoichi finally sat next to Kaoru as he poured sake.
The door opened again.
Reo finally stepped in and his gaze swept across the table—the candles, the five colors of food, the Claws and Fangs eating together, and me on Kenji's lap. "What's this? A party without the Roar?"
I smirked. "Never without the Roar. Come sit down. I was waiting foryou."
He walked toward us, and that's when I saw it. He movedtoocarefully as if every step caused him the highest level of pain. His jaw was tight and I was certain that he was gritting his teeth.
He’s definitely assessing how much weight to put on each side. He’s in an insane amount of pain.
A fresh bruise darkened his left temple, and his knuckles were wrapped in white tape that had already gone pink at the edges.
Oh Reo.
But it was his ribs that made my stomach clench.
The way he held his left arm slightly away from his body. The shallow breathing. Those ribs had already been bruised from Kenji a day ago. Whatever happened during their battle today had layered new damage on top of the old.
Fuck. I don’t want Reo going out again until he’s had time to heal.
I looked at Kenji as he ate.
Roar duties my ass.
That hadn't been about logistics. Kenji had given Reo time to strip off the Roar mask somewhere private. To sit alone with the pain for a few minutes and maybe even take some medicine before walking into a room full of people who needed him to look unbreakable.
You take care of them in ways they'll never know, don't you?
