“So, I guess we’re cool,” she laughed.
Oriana pulled back. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Get back in the game. I know you pulled out for a reason. And this is going to turn into a bidding war.”
“Bidding war?” Stevie shook her head. “No.”
“No what?”
“No bidding war. I’ll give it to the company. They just have to make you the soloist.”
Oriana stepped away, shaking her head. “No, no. You don’t have . . . don’t . . . why are you . . . what’s happening?”
“I’m going to give your ballet company my music . . . for free . . . but I keep the rights and they have to make you the soloist. And if they don’t want to make you the soloist, I’ll go to some other ballet company and give it to them as long as they make you the soloist. This isn’t brain surgery.”
“Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because we’re friends.” Stevie thought a moment. “Right? I mean . . . I thought we were friends. There was hugging. Right?”
“No. We’re friends, but you don’t have to give away a lot of money just for me.”
“Dude, I can always make money. And as long as I keep the rights to my work . . .” Stevie shrugged, not really seeing the problem. “But you do know that all I can do is give it to you and the company. After that, what you do with it, is totally up to you. I can get you the shot at being a soloist but becoming a principal . . . In other words, don’t fuck it up.”
“There had to be a nicer way for you to say that,” Shen said.
“Do you need me to be nicer?” Stevie asked her friend.
“If you’re nicer, I’m going to assume you’re up to some—wait. Are you up to something? You want something from me,” Oriana accused. “What do you want from me? Why are you being so nice to me? Is this all a plot to destroy me?”
Stevie smirked at him. “See why I’m not nice?”
* * *
“Where have you been?” Kyle demanded, glaring down at Shen. “You should have been here hours ago!”
“Did you grow another inch?” Shen asked.
Kyle relaxed, smiled. “I think I did. Last night. Jackals have long legs.”
Kyle’s mother came up behind her son, his leather messenger bag in her hands. “Are you leaving, Kyle?”
“Well—”
“Oh, no. Do you have to go so soon?” She pushed the bag into his hands. “I will miss you, honey.” She shoved him toward the door. “Remember Mommy loves you!”
She looked at Shen. “Why are you still standing here?”
“I’m waiting for Stevie. She went to talk to Dr. Conridge.”
“Great,” the mother of eleven muttered. Then she ordered, “Give me your car keys.”
Shen handed them over and she chucked the keys to her son, hitting him in the face.
“Ow!”
“Why don’t you go wait in the car, sweetie. Shen will be right out.”
“He should actually wait in here for safe—”
“Shut. Up.” She waved at Kyle. “Love you!”
“Long night?” Shen asked once Kyle had gone.
“I love him. I love him more than I can say. But I’m not sure I’d cry if he moved back to Europe. Or farther. Farther than Europe.”
Stevie came down the stairs. “Hi, Maestro,” she said to Kyle’s mother.
“Hello, Stevie. Kyle’s already in the car,” she said, the smile on her face ridiculously forced.
Stevie put her hand on the She-jackal’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine with us, Jackie. I promise.”
“Thank you.” She let out a sigh and began to move away, but stopped. “Oh. Jess Ward wanted me to remind you about Thursday night?”
“Right. Yeah. Tell her we’ll be there.” But Stevie didn’t sound eager about whatever Thursday night held for her.
“Okay. Have a good day, you two.”
Shen held the door open for Stevie and, once he closed it behind them, he asked, “What was that about?”
“I had to make a deal with Jess Ward,” she said, walking down the steps. “It was the only way I wouldn’t have to pay for what I did to the living room.”
“I thought that’s what giving Johnny the violin was for.”
“No. I let Max believe that. I sent Johnny that violin because I felt horrible for what my father did. I let him keep it because of guilt, but more because of a true fear of prison. Whether I realized it at the time or not, I was definitely my father’s accomplice. And that rabid wild dog was not letting it go. By the time I got back to the States, the FBI was already interviewing my sisters and even my grandfather’s Pack.” She shook her head. “I did so much lying those weeks, I was positive I was going to federal prison forever. And that Jess Ward was going to be there to lock the door after me. But somehow, someway, Johnny must have calmed Ward down, because the Feds finally backed off.”
“Then what kind of deal are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. Something called Wild Dog Night. She was really vague . . . what are you laughing about?”
They’d reached the bottom of the brownstone steps and Shen was bent over at the waist, his laughter coming out so hard that it hurt his chest.
“What is so funny?” Stevie asked again.
“You didn’t say yes, did you?” he barely got out.
“I had to. The contractor was talking a six-figure restoration of the ballroom. I couldn’t afford that right now.”
“You said you’d go?”
“Yeah.”
“Just you?”
“I said I’d bring my sisters . . . what is so funny?”
Shen wiped the tears from his eyes, “You’ll find out. I don’t want to ruin it for you.”
“You’re being a very bad boyfriend right now. I just want you to know that.”
“Still worth it,” Shen admitted out loud after Stevie had already gotten in the car.
* * *
As they headed back to Queens, with Kyle in the backseat, Shen softly asked, “So what did Conridge say?”
“She didn’t seem to like the idea of me involving Max. Something about her husband losing skin. But he’s a wolf, so I don’t know if she just meant shedding.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Not sure yet, but I’ve got to come up with something. We need to find out what’s in Well’s lab. Maybe even his apartment.”
“Are you two having sex?” Kyle suddenly asked. He was stretched out lengthwise in the backseat, his upper back resting on his messenger bag, phone in his hand.
“What?” Shen snapped.
“Yes!” Stevie cheered.
Shen wanted to press the palms of his hands against his eyes, but he couldn’t take his gaze off the road.
“What are you doing?” Shen asked Stevie instead.
“What am I doing about what?”
“Why are you answering him?”
“What’s the point of lying? He’s not two.” Stevie looked over her shoulder. “How did you know?”
“Because you two are acting very . . . wife-and-husband-like. Similar to my parents. Clearly your relationship has changed.”
Stevie tapped Shen with the back of her hand. “We’re husband-and-wife-like!”
Now he was worried. “You do know that we’re not husband and wife . . . right?”
“Of course we’re not.” She reached for the radio, turned it on. “Yet.”
Shen turned the radio back off. “Okay. I need to make this clear to you.”
“Sure.”
“What we have is just casual. Just friendly—”
“Fucking,” Kyle tossed in from the backseat.
“Shut up or I’m going to make you stay with your family.” He refocused on Stevie. “We just have a casual relationship. Right?”
“No, actually. Very wrong. Our love is grand and never ending.”
“Never ending!” Kyle repeated.
“
We will be together until you die.”
“Until you die!” Kyle repeated.
“You know,” Shen told the air, “I really have no one to blame but myself.”
“But yourself!”
“Shut up!” Shen barked at the annoying jackal.
“It’s okay,” Stevie gently told him. “We’ll be great together.”
For a moment, Shen was soothed until he realized that Stevie was rubbing her head against his arm.
“Are you marking me with your scent again?”
“Is that a problem for you?” she asked.
“Well—”
Kyle’s jackal head was suddenly in the seats between them, looking back and forth for a moment before he said, “It could have been worse. She could have unleashed her anal glands.”
“Get thee back, Satan!” Shen barked.
“You know,” Kyle remarked, “if I believed in the concept of a power higher than me, I’d be insulted right now. Lucky for you . . . I don’t.”
He relaxed back into his seat, again lengthwise, with one arm behind his head. Shen came to a red light and hit his brakes, sending the boy rolling off the seat and into the foot well between the rows.
“Ooopsie!” Shen called out.
chapter EIGHTEEN
Stevie walked into the house behind Kyle, who threw his bag onto the couch and his arms into the air, calling out, “I’ve returned home!”
“You’re just visiting!” Charlie yelled from the kitchen. “Stevie?”
“Yeah?”
“I need to speak with you.”
Stevie dropped her head forward and girded her loins. “She’s going to be upset about earlier.”
“Not necessarily,” Shen replied. “Maybe she’s found a whole new way of handling you and Max now that she’s going to therapy too.”
Stevie smiled. He really was the sweetest of all the bears. She kissed his cheek. “You’re cute when you lie to me.”
“It’s a gift.”
Stevie left Shen in the living room with Kyle, and as she entered the dining room, she met Max coming down the stairs. They stopped and glowered at each other for a few seconds before ramming into each other and putting themselves into mutual headlocks.
“If I have to go out there . . .” Charlie threatened from the kitchen.
Not wanting Charlie to come out to get them, but not wanting to release each other, they made their way into the kitchen still in headlocks.
Charlie had just put something in the oven and turned around, glaring when she saw them.
“What is wrong with you two?” Charlie asked. “I really want to know. Is it a mental issue or just general stupidity?”
When they began to ram each other’s heads into the refrigerator, Charlie sighed out, “Yep. General stupidity.”
* * *
Shen walked into the kitchen to get a soda out of the fridge but ended up catching Stevie before she could be flung into the dining room. She was lucky, though, because Charlie had only tossed her aside. She had Max by the hair and was shoving her into a chair.
Charlie pointed at an empty chair and ordered, “Put her there.”
And Shen did what she ordered him to do because the look on Charlie’s face suggested he shouldn’t disagree with her at the moment.
He carried Stevie into the room and gently placed her in the chair across from Max, careful not to make any sudden moves. When he was done, he straightened up and looked at the sisters. When all they did was stare at him, Shen began to slowly back out of the room. Again, keeping his movements very nonthreatening.
He could get a soda from the store. Or he could just go thirsty. Whatever worked. As long as he got out of here with his life and sanity intact.
* * *
After Shen had left the room . . . and then the house—Stevie could hear the front door slam closed—Charlie asked, “Did you sleep with him last night?”
Stevie grinned. “I did. It was magnificent.”
“Awww. He’s so sweet.”
“And God knows,” Max sneered, “you needed to get laid—ow! What was that for?” she asked, rubbing the back of her head where Charlie had slapped it.
“Because we don’t have time for you two to keep bickering. I talked to Aunt Bernice last night.”
“Yeah, and?”
“They want us to come to the funeral.”
Max frowned. “Who died?”
“Great-Uncle Pete. Remember?”
“Sorta.”
“Why do we have to go?” Stevie wanted to know. She didn’t want to go to a funeral unless she had to. And she didn’t think she had to go to a funeral for a man she didn’t even know.
“That’s where it gets complicated.”
Stevie and Max exchanged glances before looking back at Charlie.
“What’s complicated?” Max asked. “It’s a funeral.”
“It’s complicated because it’s Uncle Will who wants us to attend.”
Stevie shrank down in her chair. “Oh, man, he’s gonna kill us all, isn’t he?”
“Not necessarily.”
Stevie sat up straight again. “What the fuck kind of response is that?”
Charlie rubbed her forehead with her thumb and admitted, “An honest one.”
* * *
Shen checked his pockets again for his cell phone. When he didn’t find it, he figured he’d left it inside. He looked back at the front door but muttered, “Eh. I can get it later.”
He started down the front steps but stopped when a blue SUV pulled into the spot behind his vehicle. He grinned when Livy Kowalski stepped out of the passenger side and her mate—and Shen’s business partner—got out of the driver’s.
“Livy!” Shen exclaimed, walking up to her and giving her a big hug. He pulled back, grinned. “Love the hair.”
It was their old joke but Shen loved it. Livy was a honey badger. Shen a panda. They both had evidence of both colors in their black and white hair. Unlike the MacKilligan sisters, they didn’t bother dying their hair one color.
“You doing okay?” Livy asked.
“I’m fine. What are you guys doing here?”
“Orders from my mother,” Livy complained. “The aunts have not been able to get in touch with Max. And her mother’s been trying to contact her.”
“Her mother? The one—”
“The one in a Belgian prison? Yeah.”
Livy and Max were cousins, their families related on their mothers’ side. The Yangs. A powerful honey badger clan from China known for their art thieving abilities. After Livy’s mother hooked up with a Kowalski, she became one of the matriarchs of the Yangs. But Max’s mother’s connection with Freddy MacKilligan had done nothing for her. It was why she was still in prison. No one had tried to break her out.
“Is everything all right?”
“Doubtful. But no one’s dead, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Shen had always loved Livy’s flat, uninterested tone. She could make, “You’ve won the lottery!” sound like the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
Vic Barinov now stood next to Shen, gazing at him in that weird grizzly-Siberian tiger way he had, and not saying anything until Shen finally asked, “What, Vic?”
“You’re engaged?”
“What? No!”
“I heard you were engaged.”
“Engaged to who?” Livy asked. “Oh, God . . . not Max. Tell me you’re not engaged to—”
“No! I’m not engaged to anyone.”
“But . . . ?”
“There is no but.”
“Shen,” Livy pushed. “What’s going on?”
“Fine. I slept with Stevie.”
“The little one?” Vic asked. “She’s so tiny. Wasn’t that just cruel?”
“No.”
“Really? Cause you’re kind of wide. Like a wall.”
“I am not like a—” Shen stopped, blew out a breath. “I can’t have this conversation anymore.”
“Because everybody
else thinks you’re too big for her too?”
“I’m not even addressing that bullshit. I mean, I’m not engaged to anyone. We’re just hanging out. That’s it.”
“Really?” Livy asked, pulling away from him, her lip curled a little. “Because her scent is all over you.”
“It’s nothing. She just rubbed her scent on me when we were in the car.”
“Aw, sweetie,” Livy said, patting his shoulder. “You don’t get it.”
“Don’t get what?”
“That tiny cat hybrid owns you now.”
“She’s right,” Vic agreed. “That’s what I mean every time I rub myself against Livy, but I don’t say it out loud because she’s a honey badger and I don’t want to get hit in the face.”
Livy nodded at Shen’s questioning look. “That’s exactly what I would do if he said it out loud.”
* * *
“Are we going to go?” Stevie asked.
“I’m going to go,” Max announced.
“And do what?” Charlie asked.
“Kill them all.”
“No.”
“You don’t think I’d do it?”
“I think you think you’re crazy enough to do it,” Stevie explained. “But you’re not.”
“I could be.”
“You’re not.”
“We’re not,” Charlie added. “People trying to actively kill us—strangers or family—we fight back. We always fight back and we lay waste. But we don’t kill family for no reason.”
“No, no,” Stevie was quick to cut in. “We don’t kill anyone for no reason.”
Her sisters stared at her for what Stevie considered way too long until Charlie blinked and said, “Right. Right. We don’t kill anyone for no reason. Exactly right.”
Stevie swung her finger between her sisters. “It bothers me I had to clarify that for you two. Just so you understand the look of disappointment on my face.”
Shen returned to the kitchen and as soon as he walked in, Charlie and Max let out an “Awwww.”
“No,” he said quickly. “No, no. We’re not going to do any of that, thank you very much.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Livy’s here.”
Stevie didn’t know she had reflexes that anyone would call “fast,” but she was up and over the table, taking her sister down to the ground before she could throw one of her blades across the room and into the only cousin on the Yang side of the family who would talk to her.
In a Badger Way Page 23