Chapter 3

"Since I was young, I've tasted sorrow on my tongue...

Too late, I'm coming undone."

- Korn, Coming Undone

"Max? You like your beer all warm and watered down?"

Max glanced up from the rim of her glass, around which her fingers had been absently tracing. O.C met her confused stare with a look of open amusement.

"What?" Max asked.

"Your beer ain't gonna be good if you don't start drinkin' it now."

"Right," Max said, automatically taking a sip of the bitter liquid. It usually wasn't that good anyway, so she didn't see O.C's concern. Of course, if she was actually able to experience the effects that alcohol usually produced, she might appreciate it more.

"Where's yo' head tonight?"

Max grimaced and took another swig of beer to hide her pause. Her thoughts were firmly on Alec, which only made her angry and annoyed. She didn't want to think about Alec; she didn't want to care.

"Just… Logan." Max said finally, liking the lie better than the truth. Logan wasn't a fun topic either, but him lingering on her mind was much more acceptable.

As Max expected, O.C believed it. "What's wrong between you and yo' boy?"

"Nothing's wrong," Max said, and then barked a bitter laugh. "Well, besides the usual—y'know, that a virus will kill him if we touch. I just don't know…."

"Don't know what?" O.C prompted when Max didn't answer. Max frowned, because it turned out she really didn't feel like talking about this, either.

"I just don't know," Max finished simply, honest confusion coloring her voice. O.C seemed to accept this, but then she was accustomed to Max's ineloquence.

"It's gon' be okay, boo. You know that, don't you?" O.C spoke earnestly but not truthfully, and they both knew it. Cindy couldn't know that, anymore than Max could know what was going on with Alec.

Max wished for a moment that O.C would stop trying to comfort her and just be honest, but she knew O.C was only trying to be a good friend. A lot of Ordinaries delighted in keeping themselves ignorant; they hid away the worst possible scenario so that they didn't have to think about it. Although Max had acted that way in the past, she was growing tired of it. The worst always seemed to happen to her, which meant she needed to make herself aware of it.

She was saved from thinking anymore on the subject because she caught sight of someone who, though not on her mind at the present moment, had been lingering there most of the night. Alec had entered the bar while she'd been talking to O.C, and he was now standing at the edge of the pool table.

She would have been relieved, but she could tell that he still wasn't himself. His shoulders were tense and rigid, and the expression on his face was both broody and foreboding. Her enhanced vision took in the tight lines around his eyes and mouth, and the steely look in his usually happy green eyes.

Whatever he was doing here, it couldn't be good.

"Max? Max." O.C called her name a few more times, and Max turned to look at her.

"What?" She asked again, eyes flitting between O.C and Alec.

"What's goin' on with you tonight?" O.C asked, although Max suspected it was a rhetorical question. "I asked you if somethin' was wrong with yo' boy."

"What? Logan's fine," Max said distractedly. Alec had started talking to a big group of guys, and he seemed to be challenging one of them to a game of pool. Hustling someone who had five or six friends to back him up was a terrible idea, and Alec knew that.

"Not Logan," O.C said with a small, rather knowing smile. "Alec. He's lookin' upset."

Max looked at O.C in surprise, and the other woman raised her eyebrows. After a moment, Max shook her head slowly. "I don't know. Something is going on with him, though."

"Duh," O.C said, her gaze flicking back and forth between Max and the transgenic in question. "You say somethin' to him, boo?"

Max looked back at her, startled. "What? No. And even if I had, nothing I could say would upset Alec. He doesn't care."

O.C raised her eyebrows again, the look on her face distinctly perceptive. "You sure about that?"

"Of course," Max answered absently, watching Alec's game progress. He had missed the first few balls, but each bad shot had clearly been purposeful. He wasn't just scamming his competitor; Alec was playing with him.

"This don't look good, boo," O.C said, her voice a few pitches lower. "He don't usually flaunt like this."

Alec flaunted all the time, but it was always in a harmless, carefree way. Max wasn't so sure about this, especially when she saw the way Alec began to make superb shots. There was no finesse to his hustling, no care to hide his aptitude.

"I think I'm going to go check it out," Max said decidedly, taking one more swig of her drink before hopping off of her stool. O.C tipped her head in approval, and Max walked over to the pool table. She heard the argument as soon as she was within earshot.

"You're playing us, man!"

Max looked quickly at Alec, expecting a response to diffuse the situation. Instead, the transgenics eyes narrowed and his lips quirked into a mean smile. "Well, you're not as dumb as you look."

"Alec!" Max said sharply, alerting all of the testosterone-driven men to her presence. She ignored the leers as Alec swung around to look at her.

"Who's the pretty lady?" Loser Number One said, taking a step toward her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust but didn't back away. If she had to, she could take him down easily. Loser noticed her lack of reaction and took it as a sign of interest.

"She yours?" He asked Alec, eyebrows raised. "If she is, she won't be much longer. Bitch is taking a liking to me, I can tell."

Max let the revulsion blanket her face. It was so tempting; just a flick of her wrist and he'd be on the floor, begging for mercy and too afraid to ever talk to another woman. She would be doing the world a favor, really—but she couldn't. The risk of exposure was too great.

"Alec, what are you doing?" She asked, turning away from the loser and focusing on the transgenic. Up close he looked even more haggard, with dark circles under his eyes and a hard set to his jaw.

The tension in his mouth was even more noticeable when he tried to smile. It was a dim, ghostly comparison to his usual grin. "Just a friendly game of pool, Max."

"Yeah, real friendly," Max said tightly, glancing pointedly at the six guys standing around them. It began to occur to Max that Alec wasn't just trying to win some cash; he seemed to be deliberately picking a fight. The insults, the blatant display of his abilities, all of it pointed in that direction, but Max couldn't figure out why.

"I'll make you a deal," Loser said, and suddenly his meaty hands were clamped around her wrists. "Give us some time with your girl, and we'll forget all about this little game of pool."

Max could have effortlessly freed herself, but Alec jerked the guy away and slammed him into the pool table before she had the chance.

"Alec, stop it!" Max hissed as people began to look their way. A fight in Crash would expose them completely. She and Alec could take these men down, but not without looking like a couple of revved-up freaks. "You don't need to defend me!"

At this Alec grinned again, and there was malice laced inside the smile. "Believe me, I'm not."

And then he pounced on Loser, which caused Loser's friends to pounce on Alec. Max watched helplessly for a moment as the fight broke out, and then she joined the fray. She took down two guys before she was freed enough to reach Alec, and once she did she grabbed his arm and yanked him away from Loser, whose face he had been relentlessly pounding.

"Let go of me!" He snarled, teeth bared.

"No!" She growled, moving very close to his furious, heated face. "If you don't come with me right now, I swear to God I'll hand you to White, myself. We're leaving!"

They had the attention of most of the bar now, and the bartender was gesturing to the bouncers. Max grabbed Alec by the scruff the neck; he shrugged her off violently but moved towards the exit, anyway. She gestured to security that they were leaving, and then jerked her thumb in the direction of the other guys. If they were stupid enough to follow, Max knew that she and Alec would have to take them down outside. Luckily, they looked like they were too surprised to consider the option. Max followed Alec out of the bar, making sure he didn't try to double back.

He didn't, but he did try to leave.

"Where are you going?" She asked fiercely. He glanced back at her, looking almost surprised that she'd asked.

"What's it to you?" He asked, voice still set to that hard, cruel drawl he'd used with the men in the bar.

"If you think you're doing this again, you're wrong," Max answered, shaking her head. She latched onto his arm, and didn't let go when he tried to pull free. "Come with me, or I'll drag you."

His head shot up; her threat had clearly surprised him. His eyes narrowed on her face, and gradually he shook his head and laughed. "You couldn't."

"Look at me," she demanded, and his eyes flickered over her enraged expression. "I'm so mad at you right now, I think I could. And if not, I could still put up one hell of a fight."

He looked ready to take her on for a moment, posture tense and hands raised. She even thought he might accept, since he had deliberately gone looking for a fight in Crash. Then the weariness seemed to drip down his body like rain, and his shadowed face loosened. "Where are we going?"

She started walking. "Your apartment."