She turned the SUV off and took out the keys. “You’re right. You need to drive.” She handed him the keys.
Zé held them up. “You could have just kept them in the ignition.”
“It’s a symbolic gesture!”
chapter SEVENTEEN
The Bugatti pulled to a stop in front of the SUV and Max leaned forward to get a closer look. She couldn’t believe that her mother would steal a goddamn Bugatti! Why not steal a yacht? Or a private jet? If someone is going to lose their mind about their car being stolen, it’s the guy willing to drop a few million on it!
“Who the hell is that?” Zé asked, but Max was already getting out of the SUV. She was too excited to wait.
As she closed the door, her mother was already throwing herself into Max’s arms. They hugged, holding on tight, neither speaking. What was there to say?
Over the years, once Max had been able to travel without her sisters, she’d attempted to see her mother. Many times. But Bulgaria had a tough penal system and her mother was considered a highly dangerous prisoner. So they’d kept in touch with letters and smuggled-in phones.
So this, this very moment, was the first time they’d held each other in years, and it meant everything to Max.
“My beautiful girl,” her mother said in that growly voice of hers. According to Yang family lore, her mother hadn’t been born with that voice but had gotten it after she and one of her brothers got into a nasty fight and he slammed Renny against a table. He’d been trying to knock her out, but he’d misjudged the distance and her throat took the hit. Which turned out to be very bad for her brother once Renny caught up with him. His arm was successfully reattached once she’d finished hitting him with it, but it never quite worked the same.
Renny stepped back, still holding Max’s hands. “Look at you. You look just like me when I was your age.” She pointed at Max’s chest. “You have better tits, though. Those real?”
“Yes, Ma,” Max said, laughing. “They’re real.”
“Lucky girl. I didn’t even bother getting bras, they were so small. Just put some Band-Aids over my nipples, a tank top over that, and out the door I went.”
“Ma.”
“Sorry, sorry. Just a little jealous.” Without moving her gaze from Max, Renny jerked her head in Zé’s direction and asked, “Who’s the cat?”
“That’s Zé Vargas.”
“He’s cute. You fucking him?”
“Not yet.”
“I’m feeling objectified.”
“Shhh, pretty kitty,” her mother said, ignoring the follow-up hiss. “No one’s talking to you.”
* * *
The music started outside, and Charlie couldn’t believe how fast the bears could get a party started. Maybe it was because they didn’t need much. A couple of whole cows already butchered, a farm’s worth of potatoes and corn to boil and roast, and a few industrial-sized barbeques carried from their nearby homes like they were carrying a six-pack of beers. Get that together and you had yourself a bear party. Apparently her cupcakes would just be a “lovely dessert” as one of the She-bears noted when she passed through the dining room.
The security door at the front of the house opened and closed and Charlie called out, “Did you get the flour? Or did you forget again?”
“If you need flour,” said a voice that did not belong to Max, “I can get you flour.”
Putting down the bowl she’d had in her hands, Charlie faced the doorway.
“Do I know you?” she asked the woman standing in her kitchen.
“You know, I would say we’ve met, but we really haven’t. We just sort of keep passing each other in the most interesting of ways.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. You tranq’d someone on my street from, I believe, the roof of this house, and I witnessed you kicking the ass out of some very strong male apex predators.”
Okay. Charlie remembered her. She’d been in the conference room, but she hadn’t involved herself in any way. She hadn’t spoken, hadn’t helped the ones attempting to recruit Max and her teammates and, when things really got nasty, she’d gone into the office next door and stayed there.
“Now before you pull that gun you’ve got behind your back . . .” When Charlie frowned, the female tapped her nose. “I can smell the gun oil. Anyway, before you start doing what you do so well, I have an offer.”
“You want my sister to work for you.”
“Yes.”
“And her teammates.”
“Yes.”
“By blackmailing them?”
“No. I never would have gone that route, but you know what they say: boys will be boys.”
“That’s why you didn’t do anything. You were letting them fail.”
She shrugged. “A She-lion teaches the younger generation by letting them get their asses kicked. Usually the ass-kicking comes from a clan of hyenas but you did a very good job.”
Charlie rested her hands on her hips. “So what is this? You’re hoping I’ll force my sister to work for you? You’ve got something on me you think you can use to get me to help you?”
“Look, kid, I know you can’t be blackmailed. I know you can’t be forced. And I fully understand the extent of your dangerous nature.” She smirked. “That’s why I want to hire you.”
“Hire me to do what?”
“To do what you do for your sisters, but this time for others.”
“You can hire the Dunn triplets if you want a protection unit. I have other things to—”
“No, no. I don’t want you to protect and serve. That’s what we have cops for. I want you to do what you do for your sisters: protect and destroy.”
* * *
They did look alike. The pair of them. The same height. The same face. Even many of the same mannerisms. But there was a difference. The thing that drew Zé to Max was the same thing that made him keep a healthy distance from her mother. He just didn’t know what that thing was or why his reaction was so vastly different from one woman to the other.
“I can’t believe you stole a Bugatti. Why not just wear a sign that says, ‘Hey! I’m a fugitive’?”
“Oh, you’re such a little worrier.”
“That’s the thing, Ma. I’m not.”
Max’s mother leaned against the Bugatti’s door, putting that expensive paint job at risk.
“So why couldn’t I come see you at that house you guys are living in?” Renny asked.
“Not sure Charlie would be okay with a fugitive coming to call.”
“Must you keep bringing that up?”
“Ma,” Max said, grabbing her mother’s hands. “I am so glad to see you. You have no idea how glad I am. But I don’t want you back in prison. I want you free to live your life. I want you to be happy.”
“Happy? Sweetie, we’re honey badgers. We’re rarely happy. We’re bitter and angry. And that’s okay. That’s what gives us our edge.”
“I’m happy.”
“You are?”
“I’m almost always happy. I’m happy you’re here. I’m happy my sisters have met men that can tolerate them. I’m happy Charlie’s making cupcakes tonight. So yeah . . . I’m happy. Aren’t you happy? Now that you’re out of prison? Because you should be happy. I want you to be happy.”
“Well, I’m not depressed. Among the Yangs that’s considered. . . happy-ish. But stop worrying about me. I want you to start thinking about the future.”
“The future of what?”
Her mother let out a long, pained sigh. “The future of your life, dumbass. I’m back now. So start thinking. What do you wanna do? Where do you wanna go?” Her brown eyes suddenly lit up. “What do you wanna steal? The whole world is ours for the taking. So let me know where you wanna go from here.”
Before Max could say anything—if she was going to say anything—her mother kissed her cheek and hugged her again.
“I’ll text you in the next day or two. Okay? You think about what you want and you and me, baby . . . we’
re on our way.”
Her mother gave her one more hug, waved at Zé, got into her Bugatti, and then pulled out in such a way that Zé knew he’d never willingly get in the car with that woman if she were driving.
“Your mother seems nice.”
Slowly Max turned to face him, her eyes wide.
“Okay. I’m lying. She doesn’t. But she clearly loves you. That must be nice.”
“It’s great.” She nodded. “It’s great.”
She walked toward the SUV. “Come on. We still have to get stuff for Charlie. And liquor. We need to get lots of liquor.”
Zé got into the driver’s side and started the engine. “Do you want to talk?”
“I’m not one of those girls,” she said, staring out the passenger-side window, “who sits around, endlessly analyzing her feelings. If you want any of that shit, talk to Stevie.”
“Okay. Fair enough. So what do you need now?”
She looked at him, stared at him intently. “You know what I need right now?” she said in a husky whisper.
Zé cleared his throat. “What?”
“Ice cream.”
“Huh?”
“I need ice cream. Two scoops. Chocolate and honey almond. On a sugar cone.” She pointed. “There’s a place not far from the house. Just go up this street and take a left.”
“If it’s ice cream you want . . . then it’ll be ice cream you shall have.”
* * *
Because the bears kept coming in and out of the kitchen, they moved their conversation to the front of the house.
By the time they’d finished and Imani had handed Charlie her business card and told her to “think about it and call me,” Max and Zé were double-parking in front of the house.
“Hi!” Max greeted Imani with a big smile as she stepped out of the vehicle. “I remember you. You tried to blackmail me, and my sister kicked the asses of your friends. And despite this, you’re here. With me. That seems like a bad idea.”
“Max,” Charlie said, “it’s okay. Let her go.”
“You should thank my sister, because she’s the one person who can stop me from tearing out your throat.”
“Wow.” Zé took Max’s arm, pulled her away. “Talk about not subtle.”
Imani returned to the cat side of town and Charlie returned to the house. But she didn’t want to go inside, so she sat on the stoop stairs.
Zé had a few bags of groceries but he stopped before going past the fence and said, “Why are we doing this?” He put the bags down and walked to the far side of the fence.
“Hey! Bears!” he yelled into her yard. “Get over here and take this stuff if you want liquor.”
A small herd of bears tromped out of her yard, went to the back of the SUV, and grabbed all the groceries. Zé led them inside by heading around the house. That way Charlie wouldn’t have to move from her spot on the stoop. She also noticed that Zé’s arms were now empty.
“Typical cat,” Charlie joked when Max sat down beside her on the stairs.
“He is turning out that way.” She motioned in the direction that Imani had taken. “Want me to deal with her?”
“No.”
“I don’t mind.”
Charlie laughed. “That I know.” She slipped Imani’s business card into her pocket. “So what took you so long getting back?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Probably not.”
* * *
Max cut through the house and went out into the backyard. She found her teammates lounging by the pool and the big bears relaxing in the water. She motioned to the girls with a wave of her hand and led them into the garage. Kyle was there, working on sketches, but he had his noise-canceling headphones on and didn’t seem to be aware of anything but what was on his giant sketchpad.
“What’s going on?” Nelle asked.
“That bitch was here. From earlier today.”
“Which bitch?” Tock asked. “There were a lot of bitches in that room. Bitches and bastards. Unless you’re specifically talking about the canines. Then the room was also filled with sows and boars and—”
“Please stop,” Max begged her teammate. “The older black chick. Who didn’t do anything except watch us.”
“Ohhhhh,” they all said.
“Wait,” Nelle said. “She was here? Why was she here?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. More importantly, who does she work for?” When her teammates all shrugged, Max said, “Nelle—”
“I’ll find out.”
“Good. Find out and then I’ll know if I need to kill her. I won’t let her push my sister into something she doesn’t want to do just to protect us.”
“I’m on it.”
“Did you see your mother?” Mads asked.
Max nodded. “Yeah.”
“How did it go?”
“Amazing.”
“And?”
“She’s already talking about us working together.”
Mads frowned. “Seriously? ‘Hey, honey. Boy, have I missed you these past two decades. Let’s go rob some people’?”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that,” Nelle argued, shoving Mads aside with a very nice hip bump. “She was just probably really excited to see you and wasn’t thinking.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” Max agreed. “Anyway, I’ll see her again later. I’m not going to worry about it right now.”
“So,” Streep interjected, “we’re not going to talk about the fact that on our off-time we’re all thieves? Except for Mads, I mean.”
“I steal magazines from doctors’ offices all the time,” Mads admitted.
“Why are you in doctors’ offices?” Tock asked.
“To steal magazines.”
“Okay.” Max went over to the metal shelf where she kept still-boxed basketballs and took one out. “Let’s go practice a little before we eat.”
“Why?”
“So when Coach is busting our proverbial balls about not being at practice today, we can tell her—without lying—that we still practiced.”
“Niiiiice,” her teammates quietly cheered before heading outside.
Max started to follow but Kyle’s voice stopped her. “You MacKilligan sisters do live fascinating lives.”
Walking to the table where he was working, Max wrapped her arm around him and rested her chin on his shoulder.
“I thought those were noise-canceling headphones.”
“They are. But I’m a jackal.” He rested his smudge-covered hands on her arm. “I can hear someone washing dishes, like, six blocks away. These just cut down on the noise. Nothing truly cancels it out for me.”
“I’m sorry. Did we scare you?”
“Not at all. I like you guys. I especially like Nelle.”
“Everybody likes Nelle. But you are too young for her and too poor.”
“But I will be rich and will need a beautiful woman on my arm to impress people I do not care about.”
Max laughed and kissed the kid’s cheek. “You are too cute.”
“Forget it, MacKilligan,” he teased. “You’re much too short for me.”
* * *
It was the dark chocolate cupcake that made it clear to Zé why the bears had come into the MacKilligans’ yard and then patiently waited. He’d never tasted anything so amazing before and he was a connoisseur of dark chocolate. Whether it was truffles or cake or ice cream. A very picky connoisseur, in fact, but Charlie had made a believer out of him.
She even used a proper dark chocolate ganache on those cupcakes.
When he went to grab four more and some polar bear attempted to get between him and what he wanted, Zé bared his fangs and hissed. When the polar paused to wipe the spit from his eyes, Zé grabbed his treats and walked away. He sat down in a lounge chair and watched Max and her teammates playing ball against a few of the locals. To say they were wiping the floor with those guys would be an understatement.
“Hey!”
Zé
let out a very long, very loud sigh.
“Damn,” Dutch complained. “I haven’t even said anything. Yet.”
“Just your presence annoys me.”
“People love me.”
“I doubt that.”
“And after I did you a favor.”
“Really?” Zé asked, licking chocolate ganache off his fingers. “And what favor was that?”
“I took care of everything with your company so that they and your girlfriend know you’re alive but don’t know you’re a shifter.”
“Shit,” Zé snarled at himself, lowering the half-eaten cupcake. “I forgot to call Kamatsu again. And she is not my girlfriend. She’s my team leader.” He looked at his watch, winced at the time. “I’ll call her in the morning.”
“Why are you going to call her?”
“Because she’s my friend. Do you have friends? Do you know what that’s like?”
“I have friends. And you can’t call her. What are you going to tell her?’
“What do you mean?”
Dutch moved his chair closer. “What are you going to tell her about where you’ve been? What you’ve been doing? How you healed so fast? Your blood was all over the place.”
“I’m sure I can come up with something.”
“Come up with something—or admit the truth? Because you look like someone who thinks he can get away with telling the truth. Except you can’t. Not now. Truth is off the table.”
“But isn’t it easier to—”
“What? Explain to her how you can shift into a big cat? That Max is a honey badger? Max’s best friend is a wolverine? That Max plays on a pro basketball team filled with shifters? Do you really think you can tell her all that and not have her think you’ve gone insane or, even worse, believe you, and tell the world?”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“I know you believe that, because she’s your friend. But what if you’re wrong? Then what do you tell these people”—he looked out over the bears filling the MacKilligans’ yard—“when your friend’s government comes for them and their kids?”
Zé wanted to tell the man he was wrong. That he didn’t know Kamatsu. That his battle buddy would never betray him. But Zé also knew the risk was too great.
“So you’re saying I have to give up my entire life?”
Badger to the Bone Page 24