Maya turned to Jake. He embraced her, offering his comfort.
Tigris hadn’t left yet. The PDA annoyed her. “I know love makes people crazy, but you are ridiculously stupid. She let you come here, knowing you could die. She didn’t give you one iota of warning. She wasn’t keeping our secret; she was keeping hers.”
Jake stepped back; the force of her words moved him.
“Jake, no,” Maya whined.
Tigris flipped her braids backwards. “She didn’t want the attention you and Dylan and Sonny brought, because her family was selling our information. I guess you didn’t pay enough for her honesty.”
Jake removed his arm from Maya’s shoulder. It was too much truth.
“No. It’s not like that, Jake.”
Now, talking to Sonny, Tigris said, “If you think these vampires didn’t know they were vampires, you’re a...well, we know what you are. They come to the Café every day. You don’t think they know what’s in the batter? They know the problem has been about blood...in their blood, for four generations. They know enough to know the fix is in ours. They just don’t like to admit it. And, they knew how to use ignorant, arrogant assholes they couldn’t care less about.”
Now that she was done, she went to get the car.
In the wake of her departure, the moment went awkward. No one offered a denial. Sonny tried to shrug off the sense of betrayal. Jake cut Maya an accusatory glare.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Jake,” she said. “You have to believe me.”
“I feel like you never wanted to love me.”
“I did. I do. But I want my family free. Can’t you understand that?”
“Free as in dead.” Toni walked off. She got to her family’s car just as Tigris backed the Bentley out.
Tigris lowered the window. “That wasn’t fair to you.”
“I tried, Tigris. I did.”
“You did. When you get home, go to the Bakery. I’ll call Oprah.”
“Thank you.”
SIDNEY SPECULATED. “If JB has Nile, we’ll be okay. We have to be sure we keep her.” He called his brother and cursed when he got voicemail. He left a message. “Whatever you do, hold on to Nile. They poisoned us.”
“They?” Jake commented loud enough to be understood.
Sidney ignored him and walked away. Diana went with him.
Jake stopped Maya from following. “Are we going to talk?”
Maya made a quick calculation. If Uncle JB didn’t have Nile, she would eventually hook up with Dylan. “What do you want me to tell you, Jake?” Maya snapped. “Nile is our only chance. Otherwise, we die.”
“I want you to tell me the truth,” Jake said, “all if it.”
Sonny straddled his Yamaha and settled in to hear it.
“Can we talk later, in private?”
Jake let his impatience reign. “We don’t need privacy. We need answers.”
Not seeing another option, Maya gave in. “Fine. Whatever,” she huffed. “The Limetech Corporation contracted my family for five million dollars per person. Per person... There is a bank account in my name that has been collecting interest since I was in high school. Not only that, but we’re guaranteed a full, irrevocable cure, plus full credit for saving everybody. But, we can’t collect until the Bishops cooperate.”
“So, this has all been a farce because of money?”
“No, it’s not a farce. This is my life. I was a liaison. I didn’t get a choice. I had to go to school out of state. I had to report whatever my parents found out. People have depended on me since I was seventeen. We’re dying. Everything I’ve done was to make it stop. That’s not a farce, Jacob. That’s a fact.”
“Money,” Sonny said.
“And healing, and freedom.” She wouldn’t be cowed. “It was terrible that my grandma had to die. Nobody wanted to hurt Grandpa Will. They won’t harm Nile or Mackey. They just need answers. The Bishops have those answers, and it’s not right.”
“What about us, Maya? What’s right about this?”
“This wasn’t my plan, Jake. I asked you to come alone. You, by yourself, would have been perfect. They may have released me. But, instead, you made me stand out and look suspicious.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this sooner?”
“Tell you what? I didn’t lie to you.”
While Jake mentally ran through the list of lies and half-truths he heard from her this week, Maya took his silence for agreement. She turned to Sonny. “You gave me poison and let me feed it to my parents and sister. You did that to us.”
“I gave...” Sonny wasn’t above accepting responsibility, but her diverting was ridiculous. “I didn’t even know it was bad. You took it. You drank it. You tried to make Jake drink it.”
She switched directions. “Dylan knew what was going on. But he let us drink it, anyway. Your brother killed us.”
Jake was at a loss for words. Maya was all over the place, blaming everyone around her while holding herself accountable for nothing. He didn’t know what happened to the woman he wanted to marry, but the person in front of him had no credibility.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Just inside the Super Eight’s side entrance they were almost bowled over by Mackey racing down the hall with Eddie chasing him. Reacting before assessing, Jordon caught Mackey and Ernest charged Eddie, tackling and slamming him to the floor. Pryor pushed forward. Dylan slammed him against the wall and he lost his incentive.
Eddie had the wind knocked out of him. Before he could recover, Ernest’s meaty fist connected with his face hard enough to break his glasses and knock him senseless.
“They took my blood,” Mackey tried to talk before he caught his breath. “I took it back!” He huffed and held up a small case. Inside were a half dozen tubes of blood. “Prince is nuts and they want Nile to fix him, but Uncle JB can’t hold him.”
Jordan took the case and said to Ernest, “Get him to the car. Tell Tigris to pull up to the front.”
Hearing his brother’s predicament prompted Pryor to move. They all felt the urgency. Ernest took Mackey to safety while Jordan and Dylan followed Pryor.
Noises came from around the corner, two doors down. The door was ajar. Pryor flung it wide and tore through. A step behind, Dylan and Jordan stood shoulder to shoulder and surveyed the scene. Prince stumbled about in dizzy circles, falling over himself. His unfocused eyes rolled back. He gagged, heaved, and threw up.
Sweat poured from JB. He tried to hold Prince still, but the younger man was mad like a bull.
Pryor jumped in to assist.
Nile crouched on the bed. She’d been bruised but otherwise appeared unharmed. “I can help you, Prince. You know I can. You have to calm down. Breathe.”
Prince and JB crashed into the table.
When she saw Dylan and Jordan, she yelled, “Get Mackey! He just got out!”
“Got him.” Jordan set the case down and reached for her.
She breathed relief but was slow to move. “Prince is in trouble.”
“You think?” Dylan tried to move her along. “Somebody will investigate that noise and call the police.”