that she had to look up at him.
“Do you date?” he asked.
“Not you.”
“Because I’m a genius?”
She pulled her hand from his grasp. “If that makes you feel better . . . sure.”
“Are you positive you don’t want to go out and—”
The glass door swung open, slamming right into the kid’s face. Natalie covered her mouth with her hands, shocked when she saw blood smeared on the glass from his broken nose.
Keane stood in the doorway. “What are you doing?”
She just shook her head.
Keane pointed at the glass. “Blood?”
She pointed at the kid. He was still behind the door, two bloody hands covering his nose. But Nat knew she didn’t need to point him out; her brother could see him through the clear glass. She knew Keane had seen Kyle before he’d even opened the door! That’s why he’d opened the door. He’d seen a boy talking to his baby sister. Once again, her psychotic brother was attempting to ruin her social life!
“Oh.” Keane nodded at Kyle. “Hey.” He jerked his thumb at Nat. “Let’s go.”
Keane walked out and she began to follow, but she did stop long enough to shrug at the kid and mouth, Sorry.
* * *
He’d needed a few minutes, so she’d let him sit down next to her on the porch stairs. His name was Xavier Vargas and he was a very nice man. He also missed his grandson. That was obvious without his even saying it.
“How long have you lived here?” he asked, continuing the small talk of the last few minutes.
“Not long actually. Just a few weeks.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s nice. I wouldn’t say the people are friendly . . .” Charlie thought long and hard about how to finish her sentence. After a good sixty seconds, she went with, “But I like that they’re easily manipulated by food.”
Mr. Vargas nodded, but then he began to rub his forehead with his fingers.
“This was a mistake,” he finally said after blowing out a long breath.
“No. You guys need to talk.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell him the truth. Tell him you did what you had to in order to keep him safe. He’ll understand.”
“You don’t know my grandson.”
“No. Not completely. But the more comfortable he becomes with himself... the more he’ll understand. Just give him time.”
Those words didn’t seem to help and she worried that Mr. Vargas would leave before he had a chance to see Zé. So she quickly added, “But you know what? You’ve made the first move, which I’m sure he’ll appreciate. And you’ve come to the perfect place to have this discussion. It’s a nice, quiet house with quiet neighbors and—”
Her next words were abruptly cut off when the front security door was thrown open and Keane stalked out, dragging his baby sister behind him. Bears and cats and badgers followed.
“There’s nothing left to talk about!” Keane barked, stepping over Mr. Vargas as if the man wasn’t even there. “I’m taking her home!”
Stevie dashed around everyone, jumped over the porch steps—and Charlie and Mr. Vargas who were still sitting on them—and skittered to a stop in front of Keane and Natalie.
She rammed her hands into the tiger’s chest and said, “You can’t just take her away from us.”
“Watch me.”
“Natalie can stay if she wants to,” Berg said. “Why don’t we ask her what she wants?”
“Why don’t you shut up?” Keane snapped back.
“Talk to my brother like that again . . .” Britta warned.
“Hold it!” Max stepped into the middle of the fray, right where she liked it. “Before this gets ugly, why don’t we see if Charlie has anything to say.”
That’s when all those heads turned toward her. Even Mr. Vargas’s. They all looked at her as if they expected her to say something that could help resolve the situation. But what did they expect her to say?
* * *
“Well,” Charlie began, looking directly at Natalie, “let’s face it. You’re doomed. Your life is over. All your hopes and dreams are gone.”
Oh, shit. Max hadn’t realized that her sister was in one of her “moods” as the Pack used to call it. Of course, she should have realized. The only person who ever managed to make her like this was Freddy, but still . . . Max had never thought her sister was this far gone. Into the world of despair and misery.
Stevie tried to cut in. “Charlie, I’m sure you don’t mean—”
“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Charlie continued, sounding sadder and sadder by the second. Even if Natalie couldn’t