there. Coming in behind Mairi and yanking the blade away from them both. She yanked their cousin to her feet and began stabbing at her. Hitting her in the neck, the chest, even the face; gripping Mairi’s hair so she couldn’t get away without losing a good chunk.
Something that she actually did when she couldn’t stand being hit with the blade anymore.
Max cringed when she heard that horrible sound. Charlie left standing there with a blood-covered knife and part of Mairi’s scalp dangling from her fist.
Charlie screamed as their cousin sprinted away from her. A scream of rage and warning.
Until she winced from pain, Max hadn’t realized that Zé held her arm.
“Charlie!” Zé ordered, getting her sister’s attention. “Hold Max’s arm. I’ll be right back.” He waited for Charlie to replace him and then he ran back into the club.
They didn’t speak to each other but they were no longer mad either.
Zé returned quickly with a club T-shirt. He crouched beside her and began to wrap the wound. “We should take her to the hospital.”
“Why?” Max and Charlie asked together.
“The knife went through the arm. There might be nerve or tendon dam—” He shook his head. “Okay. Forget it.”
“Just take her home,” Charlie said.
“You coming with us?” Max asked.
“And ruin Stevie’s night?”
“I thought it was Kyle’s night.”
“Stevie planned this shit. It’s now her night. Besides, I can’t go home.”
“I swear to God, Charlie. If you go after that crazy bitch—”
“I’m not going after Mairi. At least not until we figure out how we’re going to deal with her. I just can’t go home right now because I promised Stevie I’d do ‘Ode to Billy Joe.’”
“You promised that on purpose?”
“I love that song.”
“It’s ten thousand years old.”
“And it has aged like a fine wine.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll get you guys a car.”
“We have one already,” Zé said. “Nelle got us a limo and a hotel room.”
That made Charlie laugh out loud but Max was mortified. “Seriously? She seriously did that?”
“She’s trying to help a man out.”
“We’ll take her limo, but we’re going home.” The last thing Max wanted right now was to be in strange surroundings. “Okay?”
“Fine with me.” Zé helped her to her feet, which was nice.
Charlie started to walk away but Max grabbed her arm. “Do not tell Stevie or my team about Mairi. Not a word. I’ll tell them myself when I feel like it.”
“Fine.”
“And I’ve decided.”
“Decided what?”
“You need backup.”
“In general?”
“No. Mary Mother, some days . . .” She took a breath. Began again. “I’m saying, you need backup on this job for Imani.”
“Because I didn’t kill Mairi right off? I wanted the bitch to suffer!”
“I don’t mean that either. I mean you need backup on this job and that’s what I’m going to do for you. I’ll be your backup.”
“So you can steal my job before I even get it?”
Max gritted her fangs. Because her teeth were fangs now. “Charlie, I swear to God!”
“Do you two do this all the time?” Zé asked.
“Yes,” they said together.
“I’ll have backup, Max,” Charlie told her. “Imani’s letting me pick my own team.”
“From the cretins who couldn’t defend themselves against you?”
“Why do you keep arguing with me?”
“Because we’re doing this. You go on that job, I’m with you.”
“Forget it. We’re not—”
“I’m dying! Why are you being mean to me when I’m dying?”
“You’re not dying!”
“I could be. And wouldn’t you feel bad not giving me what I want?”
“Dude, I don’t even know what that means.”
“I know and that’s all that matters.” She motioned for Zé to leave through the alley rather than going back into the club. “Oh, and by the way . . . thanks for saving my life.”
“Yeah, sure. Although we both know you could have taken that bitch out at any time.” The club door opened and then Max heard her sister ask, “Why haven’t you taken her out yet?”
“Don’t you find her sad?” Max asked. “I find her so sad.”
“Why?”
Max stopped and looked at her sister while Zé still held onto her wounded arm. “Unlike me . . . she doesn’t have a Charlie or a Stevie. She’s all alone. That’s gotta suck.”
“What does she expect, though?” Charlie asked, finally heading back into the club. “With that fucking personality.”
chapter TWENTY-FOUR
Zé worried that he’d made a mistake by not taking Max to the hospital. Once they were in the limo Nelle had lent them, heading back to Queens, Max slept cuddled up against him. She held her arm with her other hand; the blue T-shirt