“Now where you going, my lad?” she asked before grabbing his left foot. His right was barely hanging on by its tendon so she didn’t bother with that one. “No use trying to get away when we still have to get better acquainted.”
“No!” he begged. “Please! No!”
“Don’t start with all that yellin’,” she told him as she dragged him back toward the car. She could hear his fingers digging into the asphalt, trying to stop her from taking him. “Not that I mind yellin’, ya see. I just think you should wait.”
She pulled him alongside the car and dropped his leg, put her foot on his back, and gazed down at him. “You know, at least until you really have something to scream about.”
chapter EIGHTEEN
Max woke up on top of Zé with the morning sun blasting through the living room windows.
They’d fallen asleep like that a few hours before after bingeing late-night reality TV repeats involving people in love with criminals just getting out of prison. Considering her mother’s unannounced return, it seemed apropos.
After going through the back screen door—which woke everyone in the house up—sex had seemed awkward at best. Not that Max wasn’t still down for it. Oh, she was. But having her teammates and her sisters so close that even full-humans with no enhanced senses could have heard them was something even she couldn’t do. Not for their first time. And after that kiss Max was definitely sure there would be a first time and quite a few more. She didn’t believe in never-ending love between males and females—they just weren’t built for that unless they were canines—but she did believe things could last for a while if the two people clicked.
And she felt that she clicked with Zé. She really enjoyed the way he just sort of hung out. Watching, learning, but not diving in. Not getting into her business. Trying to “fix” things, as many men enjoyed doing. Maybe it was the cat in him that she liked so much, which was shocking since, ya know, she had actively attempted to kill that cat roaming around their property.
Max rubbed her eyes and quickly realized that she hadn’t woken up simply because she was ready to greet the new day. Nope! It was because she’d known she wasn’t alone with her cat.
Three females stood on the other side of the coffee table.
Stevie waved at her and mouthed, Sorry.
Next to her was Charlie; her lips pursed, her eyes mid-roll.
And next to both her sisters was their Aunt Bernice. The unofficial leader of the American MacKilligans, mostly because no one else wanted the job except Freddy, but that would be a goddamn disaster.
“Mind untangling yourself from the house cat and getting your ass outside so we can talk?” her aunt ordered, as was her way.
True, Max could launch herself across that table and tear out her aunt’s throat with little to no effort, but it entertained her more to grin widely and cheer, “Auntie Bernice! I’m so glad to—”
“Shut up! And move your ass!”
See? Much more entertaining.
* * *
Zé knew as soon as Max was awake. He felt her lashes blink against the skin of his neck. Felt her breath quicken when she realized they weren’t alone.
He’d never been so attuned to anyone before. The closest was his teammates when they were on a job, but that was about life and death. About surviving when the firefight started.
This, though . . .
He hadn’t wanted her to go but he’d scented someone new in the room and that’s when he discovered that he not only knew what Max’s sisters smelled like, but if one stood behind him, he knew exactly which one it was.
Smirking a little, he sat up and dropped his legs to the floor. He studied his hands and, with just a thought, he changed his hands to claws.
Texts began pouring into his phone at that moment. All from Kamatsu. She wanted to meet him at a Starbucks in Manhattan at noon. He knew he had to go, even though he had no idea what he was going to tell her. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that if he tried to put her off . . . she’d keep digging. It was in her nature. She never backed off anything.
Yeah, it was better if they met and talked. Otherwise, she wouldn’t stop.
Deciding he needed a shower and to change his clothes first, Zé quickly texted Kamatsu back, agreeing to her demand. Just as he hit Send, he heard screeching tires and car doors being slammed. He didn’t think much about it, assuming it was some local teens acting like idiots. But then someone banged on the front door.
Zé stood and moved through the living room until he reached the doorway into the day room. He was about to walk to the front door, where someone was still banging, when the door was torn off its hinges and the thick wood came slamming into the room.
And all Zé could think was, Charlie is definitely not going to want to pay for that.
* * *
They went out the back door into the yard. Kyle was already up and setting off on a jog, with Dutch along to keep the kid out of trouble. Although Shen had been officially hired to protect Kyle, they all kind of kept an eye on him. None of them really minded. The kid was obnoxiously cute, with ego enough to fill Penn Station, but there was still something about him that stopped at least Max and Charlie from killing him.
“So,” Bernice began as soon as they were alone, “which one of you geniuses told your Uncle Will your father was back in town? ”
Stevie raised her hand and Charlie blinked, eyes wide. “You did?”
When Stevie nodded, Charlie and Max began to politely applaud.
“Stop that!” their aunt barked at them. “Your idiot father—”
“Or your idiot brother,” Max muttered.
“—actually requested a sit-down with your Uncle Will to ‘discuss’ all this.”
Max and her sisters stared at their aunt, their minds attempting to grasp what she’d just told them. When they finally understood, Stevie merely shook her head and sadly sighed out, “Oh, Dad.” But Max and Charlie just started laughing and didn’t stop.
Their father had to be the dumbest motherfucker! Will would do nothing but kill him.
Charlie was the first to get herself under control. “What exactly does he think that ‘discussion’”—she asked, using air quotes, like her aunt—“is going to accomplish?”
“He says he’s got the money,” Bernice replied.
“I thought the twins had the money,” Max said.
“They did, but then he took it back. Now he has it.”
“How is that possible?” Charlie wanted to know. “The man can barely tie his shoes, much less use a computer to transfer money anywhere.”
“Obviously he’s working with someone else; we just don’t know who.”
“I’ve been trying to find that out.” Max pointed to Charlie. “Irene Conridge set me up with some full-human hacker she knows. They’ve been working on it for a bit now.”
Stevie suddenly snarled. “Conridge? Why that bitch?”
Max raised a finger to her sister. “You need to get over whatever issue you have with Conridge.”
“Contact Conridge,” Charlie told Max. “Find out if the hacker knows anything yet.”
“Why are we getting in the middle of this?”