I had no idea that I would be this excited to see Max until she threw her arms around my neck and hugged me wildly. "Oh my God!" she cried, "What are you doing here?"
"I…I'm here…" I stopped myself just in time. There were far too many people around here for me to be blurting out anything. "I had business in Seattle," I finally said. Sketchy had come back with the beer and in any other situation I would have laughed myself sick at seeing his expression. It was shock and horniness all mixed up, and he was just a little too dim to decide which he was more of.
"You two know each other?" Original Cindy asked, looking at me suspiciously. I had no idea what to say. That was a rare event. What had Max said to her friends about her life?
"Me and my girl went to school together when we were kids," Max said quickly, shooting Cindy a knowing look. Cindy knew what Max was really saying. The others didn't, but she did. No wonder Zack was always bitching about her if she was fucking telling people about our sick childhood. Even I was more careful than that.
Max's eyes were sparkling. It had been a long time since anyone had been this happy to see me. Ben had been pleased, but nothing like this. Max and I weren't close at Manticore, not like she was with Jhondie and Tinga, but she was so excited to see me anyways. I knew I was here to find Ben, but I was actually happy just seeing her.
"I moved to Louisiana when we were nine," I said, continuing Max's story and telling her where I'd been. I smiled big, looking at her. "I can't believe I'm really looking at you again." She was smiling back.
"Terran," she began but Sketchy interrupted.
"I thought you said your name was Topaz," he said, sounding confused.
"It's a stage name," I explained sweetly. "I picked it up when I started dancing and it just stuck." It had literally been years since anyone other than Ben or Zack had called me Terran. It felt a little funny being called that name, like it wasn't really mine anymore. But Max was right there, and to her I would never be Topaz, always Terran.
Original Cindy came between me and Max and linked arms with both of us. "Meeting in the ladies room," she announced. Sketchy looked outraged.
"That's not fair!" he declared. I smiled beguilingly at him and he about wet his pants.
"Don't you fret none," I said. "You'll get your turn fair and square." For a second I thought his back leg was going to start thumping. Men are too funny sometimes. A few words, a flirtatious smile, and they were on their knees begging for more abuse. Cindy quickly led us away not to the bathroom, but out a backdoor to the alley.
It was dark and rank, but there wasn't anyone around. I could smell fresh urine, and there was a drunk stumbling out the end of the alley. Now it was just the girls. I couldn't stop staring at Max. She had turned out so pretty with her dark eyes and her dark hair curling around her shoulders. We were on eye-level, and she was staring at me just as intently. I had never intentionally sought out one of my "siblings" before. Ben was an accident, and Zack had found me, and then just kept coming back. Max was a stranger, but we shared things that I had never told another living soul.
"So, you one of the Sam-Zack kind of sibs?" Cindy asked. I glanced over at Max in question. She gave me a little grin.
"Cindy's cool with it," she answered.
"Original Cindy is just asking because you seem to be missing a little birthmark on your neck," Cindy commented.
"I spend too much time being the center of attention to keep it," I told her. "I get that nasty thing removed on a regular basis." I sighed. "Sam-Zack?" I asked Max. If he had been calling himself Sam right after that time he…Lord above, he needed help more than Ben did.
"It's a long story," Max answered. "He didn't want me to know it was him." I snickered. That certainly sounded like GI Joe. "Have you been in Louisiana this whole time?" Max asked me. We both needed to go somewhere private and have a good long life-history talk. She was so eager to know everything about me, and now that I knew she wasn't about to be caught at any second, I wanted to know what had happened in her life over the last ten years. I suppose in truth, I wanted to hold off on the Ben talk as long as possible. That wasn't going to be pleasant for her to hear that one of the others had decided that hunting norms was the best way to deal with things.
Max looked over at Cindy. "The last time we saw each other was when Zack was telling us which direction to go."
I laughed. "You were heading west, and Zack told me to go east," I said softly, clearly remembering him ordering us to split up. He had done his damndest to keep us separate ever since. Maybe that was why he was so angry about me fucking around with Ben. I had never hidden it from him that I had run into Ben, and that I had told Ben where I was and invited him into my life whenever he wanted. Zack had been furious. He tried to hit me, but I ducked him, and got a lucky shot in. He went out the window the hard way. I ended up picking the glass out of his back later, listening to him bitching about compromising security, and plenty of other shit. I had to remind him that this was my place and I would do whatever the hell pleased me. He was pissed, but there wasn't a damn thing he could do and we both knew it.
I shook myself out of the memory and answered Max. "I started out heading east, but ending up hitching a ride, and making a long story short, ended up in New Orleans," I told her. "Nobody's come looking for me, so I've been there ever since. What about you?"
"Seattle the last few years," she replied. "Moved around a lot before then." There was a moment of silence. "We better go back in before Sketchy thinks we're doing some weird feminine ritual in the bathroom," she said.
"He's probably hoping we are," I commented dryly. Cindy finally laughed at that
"You not really interested in him are you?" she asked. I might be Max's "sister" but she was still most definitely interested.
"No, but don't tell him that," I replied. "I want to see how much drool I can wring out of him before midnight." We went back in and sat down at the table with Herbal and Sketchy. Beers were poured, and they started talking about work, their deliveries and a rather anal-retentive boss named Normal of all things. From the way they were describing him, it sounded like he was in need of about fifteen minutes in a private room in my club. I was willing to bet Ruby could take care of all his problems. I wouldn't recommend Onyx on him though. She would break him. Although, I didn't think his employees would mind terribly.
"So what kind of dancer are you?" Sketchy asked me at one point. He actually remembered. I was slightly impressed. He did have a better attention span than a goldfish. I could see the hope in his eyes. He wasn't going to be disappointed with my answer.
"Well I'm mostly retired from the dance floor now," I answered. "But until I took the club over, I was the number one exotic attraction at The Treasure Chest." I let out a little laugh, mostly at Max's stunned expression. I guess she never even considered that as a career choice for one of us. "Actually, I still am, I just dance very rarely now."
"You're a stripper?" he asked happily.
"Honey, I am far beyond a mere stripper," I replied rather arrogantly. I had the right to be arrogant about that topic. "There's a reason why my place is the hottest club in the French Quarter, and it isn't because of the private rooms in the back. No other club has got anything like me." I caught Max forcing back a smile. She knew how right that was.
Sketchy jumped up quickly, trying to get the jump on Cindy I think. "Want to dance?" he asked eagerly. I smiled benevolently. He was cute in the ugly-puppy kind of way.
I got up and danced with Sketchy. He got so excited as I writhed around him on the dance floor that I thought he was going to pass out. He was so aroused that I started to worry he wasn't getting enough blood flow to the brain. He stumbled around like he wasn't at least. I ended up with my arms around his neck, our bodies pressed tightly while I made sure that the rest of his body stayed upright as well, and I still managed to keep a hot rhythm going as well. It wasn't emotionally satisfying, but I impressed myself with my technical abilities. When we went back to the table, it was Cindy that practically had her tongue dragging on the ground. If this was a vacation, I would have taken her up on the offer, but I knew I was going to have to pass.
She was still staring at me, then leaned over and looked a little closer at my sector pass. I had been warned to wear it anywhere in the city, so I had it on a rope around my neck, but tucked into my shirt. It had come out while I was dancing, and she was looking at it with the funniest expression.
"Cale Enterprises?" she read, sounding doubtful about something. "You work for them?" Max immediately got an odd expression as well. Was that a bad thing around here?
"Not exactly," I replied. "One of the members of the Cale family gave it to me. He always comes to my club when he's in New Orleans, and every time just begs me to come and visit him up here. It's almost pitiful." I thought for a second. "Actually I think he wants me to come up here permanently to be his mistress, but I'm not into cages, even if they are gilded." I knew Max would know what I meant by that, but she was looking far too sick to comprehend that. Cindy was staring at me like I had just grown another head.
"Logan Cale?" Max squeaked out. Now it was my turn to stare at her like she had just grown another head. The name sounded a little familiar though. Whatever.
"No, Jonas Cale," I said. Her eyes widened and she burst into laughter. The other people at our table were snickering as well. I sat back. At some point they had to explain what was so fucking hilarious. I had thought for a second that maybe Max was Jonas' mistress but she didn't seem like she was getting jealous over finding out that her sister had fucked her lover. That was relief laughter.
"The tides of your lives have crossed many times, though the vehicle of your mortality has been separated," Herbal said, trying to explain what they had found so funny. I had no clue what he meant. Cindy came to the rescue and translated.
"My boo here's new boy is Logan, nephew of the aforementioned very married sleaze-hound," she explained. No wonder Max looked so ill. She thought I had fucked her boyfriend.
"Me and Logan are not like that!" she protested. It sounded like a rote statement to me, as in they were like that, just not wanting to admit it. Too bad. Most of the world's problems could be solved if people would just stop trying to mind-fuck each other instead of saying what you mean. I had not laid eyes on Max for ten years, and I could easily tell her protest was at odds with the way she really felt about this Logan guy.
"Mmmhmm," I said with a grin. She was looking a little frustrated that nobody at the table believed her. I raised an eyebrow. "So that means I can offer him a family discount?" I teased. Now she looked jealous. I laughed. "I'm just playing with you," I laughed out. Everyone was now laughing at Max's instantaneous reaction. She grinned sheepishly, and then jumped up.
"C'mon," she said, holding her hand out to me. "There's someone I want you to meet, and I want to take you somewhere." I grabbed her hand. Ben had waited two weeks. He could wait a few more hours.