“See that building right there?” Maz asks, pointing.
“Yes,” I respond.
“That’s a meeting spot for them.”
“Archer’s family?”
“Some of them, yes It’s not exactly fancy and upscale. They like to hide. An apartment building. That’s a service entrance. Right now, there’s a group of them sitting at a table, talking.”
“Talking?”
“About what Archer did,” Maz says. “Yeah, Archer took out aSavage. But he’s not anHeir. He doesn’t have the right to make that call. To make that decision, he should have gotten permission.”
“From?”
“People who are higher up,” Maz says. “And there should have been a meeting with Darby’s family. Now is Darby a scumbag piece of shit for what he did? Yes. Does he deserve to have his dick cut off? Yes. Did Archer do the right thing? Yes.”
“Okay,” I say. “So why are we here then, Maz?”
“To see if Archer shows up,” Maz says.
“So he can explain what happened,” I say. “Tell his side of things. The fact that Darby hurt someone. He attacked Birdie. He wanted to do a lot more to Birdie that night.”
“There’s no arguing that, Jaci,” Maz says. “But it gets tricky when families are involved. There’s history. There’s years behind them all. That’s part of who we are now. Especially you, Jaci. You’re anHeir. Now for Archer, he was supposed to be anHeir. He chose to be aSavage.That’s… unheard of.”
“He chose that because of me,” I say. “Before I even got here. Because of something with my family and his.”
Maz nods. “Let’s just watch and see what happens.”
“How long?”
“As long as it takes,” Maz says.
She’s cool and focused.
I’m jumpy.
So jumpy that I gently bite my lip, reach into my pocket and take out azaza.
Maz doesn’t see as I slip the little pill into my mouth.
I swallow it down without even a sip of water.
I know I have about five to ten minutes before it’ll take the edge off.
Those are a brutal five to ten minutes.
When I begin to relax a little, I reach for Maz’s right hand.
“Hey,” I whisper. “Will Birdie really be okay?”
“I don’t know,” Maz says. “She’s always been self-conscious. About her glasses. Her height. Figure. All that. She’s also very smart and scares guys away. I hope she’s okay. What you did for her. What you ordered to be done. That definitely helped.”
Maz smiles for a second.
She looks out the window again.
Then she says, “Oh, fuck.”