Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

59 | Family Comes First

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"MAX," A VOICE CALLS out, instantly snapping Max back to his senses. He looks to his right and sees Marcus looking at him with a concerned expression on his face.

     "Are you okay? I've been calling your name but you weren't responding," Marcus explains, making Max sigh and massage his temple in frustration.

     "Nothing, I'm just a little tired," Max answers before looking out of the car window.

     Marcus instantly knew that Max was lying just by the way he answered him. Max is usually hard to read, and you don't really know what he's thinking at times, but when it comes to something like this, he becomes transparent. When there's something bothering him, it shows in his face. But even though Marcus wanted to know what's on his mind, he decides that its best to just let him be.

     "Well, I heard from Ari that you drank at the Mask last night. I'm glad you were able to unwind even for a while," Marcus says instead.

     "Yeah," Max answers with a bored tone.

     Marcus takes a deep breath. He closes the book that he's holding and awkwardly scratches the back of his head before putting on a brotherly smile. "Brotherhoods rarely visit that place since we don't think mixing with the white uniforms is a good idea, but maybe we can go there together. We can invite Hans, Krist, and Brave too if you want," Marcus continues, hoping Max would say something with more emotions.

     "Okay," he answers next with his consistently bored tone.

     Marcus sighs and the smile on his face finally disappears. "Alright, what's going on? It's a beautiful Sunday morning and we're heading to our grandmother's house but you look like you won the lottery and then lost your lottery ticket."

     Max doesn't look back at his brother. He thinks about whether or not he'd share this concern with him, but when he realized that nothing will happen if he keeps it in alone, he finally looks back at Marcus and says, "You know there are times that when you're at this age and you forget some things about your childhood. It's like you remember bits and pieces of it, but you don't remember everything."

     "What are you implying?" Marcus asks.

     "Were I friends with someone when I was young? Did I have a friend, or did I talk to someone before? Because I feel like I did, but I fucking don't remember a thing," Max finally reveals, and the look on Marcus's face as soon as Max said those words made Max believe that his big brother knew something that he didn't.

     "I did, didn't I?"

     Marcus takes another deep breath and tries to avoid looking at Max's eyes. He then glances at the rearview mirror and sees Étienne looking back at him, practically telling him to be careful about what he's going to tell him.

     "Max...of course, you had friends," Marcus answers. "You always attended parties when you were a kid with your parents, so it's only natural that you'd meet other kids there too."

     "Do you know who they were? Did I mention about them when I was younger?" Max persistently asks.

     "I honestly can't answer you that. When we were kids I barely hung out with you, and madam Luna never allowed me to come to those parties," Marcus answers next, hoping Max would just let this go.

      So when Max got ready to say something else, Marcus immediately grabs him by the shoulder and adds, "What got you thinking about this all of a sudden? Did you suddenly remember something? Did someone tell you anything strange?"