Chapter 1
Max wearily lugged her motorcycle up the stairs to her apartment, trying to be quiet as she wheeled it down the hall. The tires softly crunched over crumpled newspapers, empty bags of chips, and bits of broken glass. No one cleaned up because there was no one to care. They didn�t have human waste strewn around, but it was far from neat. It wasn�t a slick apartment in Foggle Towers with permanent hot water. No, her home was a condemned building full of desperate squatters hoping to make it through another day, another week.
Max knocked softly on the door to her apartment, hoping Kendra would be awake. It was only two in the morning on a Saturday night. Hopefully, she�d be up and around and not out with Mr. Multiples or some other flavor of the week.
"Max! You�re back!" Kendra squealed, nearly pulling Max through the door in her glee. She hugged her roommate with arms covered in a bright purple fuzzy robe, then stepped back to look at her face. "What�s the matter? You didn�t find your friend in Portland?"
"No, I found her." Max wheeled the bike over to the corner and leaned it against the wall.
"So, did everything work out okay? With her and that guy?"
Max frowned at Kendra�s earnest face, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Belatedly, she remembered the story she�d concocted to make the clandestine trip out of state seem plausible: A girl she knew pre-pulse got into a bad situation with a guy who beat her, and Max went down to get her into a safe house.
In actuality, she was on a mission to find Jondy.
"Yeah, she�s in a secure facility now," Max grumbled.
"Facility? So, you got her into a group home, or a shelter?"
"Yeah."
"You don�t seem too happy about it," Kendra observed, moving over to the galley kitchen and turning on the hot pot to make tea.
"It was just so hard to see her in pain and not be able to do anything about it," Max tried to explain. At least that was honest. Seeing Jondy chained up and dragged to a waiting Manticore vehicle was more than she could stand.
"You went above and beyond. I�m sure you�re exactly the extra push she needed to get away from that creep."
Max softened, smiling at Kendra. She was a faithful friend and a good roommate and meant well, trying to cheer Max up with encouragement and tea.
"So, you hold down the fort while I was gone?"
"Had to beat down an army of vultures looking to rent your room," Kendra said dryly. "I may have taken a bribe or two."
"That�s the entrepreneurial spirit."
"Want some tea? Unused tea bags?" Kendra dangled two fragrant packets in the air.
"Mmm. Definitely. I want to hear all the gossip I missed while I was away, and then I�m gonna crash, big time."
"Well," Kendra said, her voice rising in a teasing way. "Original Cindy kicked it with a girl who turned out to be Sketchy�s sister."
"What?!" Max crowed. "No way!"
"Don�t worry, Jeanie looks nothing like Sketchy."
"Thank God! That would be a horror movie waiting to happen."
"Don�t worry, she�s cool."
"They serious?"
"Original Cindy? Nah, just having fun, making Sketchy�s life miserable, that kind of thing. Jeanie�s in town for a couple of weeks. What about you, stopped by Logan�s yet?"
"Kendra, it�s the middle of the night. And don�t think I didn�t notice you turning the talk like that. What�s up with the matchmaking?"
"Nothing, I just like to see you happy. Plus, he�s rich and cute and way into you. He stopped by while you were away with some lame ass excuse about needing something back that he lent you. I think he just missed you."
Kendra had the wistful look in her eye, but Max was instantly on alert. Logan, here? Prowling through her room? She forced herself to remain calm, her face betraying none of her emotion. Kendra filled her in on the world she�d missed while she was away and she listened attentively, trying not to think of Logan Cale. Kendra and Original Cindy were the peeps she should miss, not the underground cyberjournalist who only called her when he needed a favor.
"Well, that�s it," Kendra finished, plunking her mug down on the counter. "You can go to your room now and dream about�"
"Shut up," Max warned.
"Okaaay," Kendra said in a singsong voice. She hugged Max, who almost hugged her back, and skipped off to her room. Max rolled her eyes as far back in her head as they could go.
Her room was exactly the way she�d left it: pants and shirts neatly stacked in two piles in a crate, underwear tossed in another crate, making a tangled nest of colored fabric. Kendra hadn�t moved or cleaned anything as far as she could tell. Her mattress had a single, threadbare bottom sheet and one blanket, and seemed to audibly call her name. She�d been without sleep for two weeks while she searched for Jondy in Portland, and was reaching her engineered limit. She�d have to sleep to reenergize, because tomorrow she�d have to go back to Jam Pony and pretend everything worked out. Pretend that Jondy wasn�t trapped and dragged away fighting while Max watched in silence, biting down on her fist to keep from screaming.
Her head hit the pillow and hit something hard. Max sat up, turned on her flashlight, and grabbed the offending item, which turned out to be a small box with a blue ribbon. Her name was printed on the top of the box in capital letters. She knew it had to be from Logan, but she still held it up to her ear to listen for ticking, an automatic gesture she hadn�t lost from her youth. She took off the ribbon, opened the box, and read the note.
"Dear Max," she read aloud. "When I saw this, I thought it was something you�d fence, so I got it for you. I�d love to meet Jondy when you get back. Let me know and I�ll make dinner for the three of us. Logan."
Not "love" Logan or "Sincerely" Logan, just�Logan.
"What�s in the box?" Kendra�s whispered voice came from the crack in the doorway. Max jumped and guiltily shoved the box and the note back underneath her pillow.
"Kendra!"
"Don�t keep me in suspense," Kendra begged, coming into Max�s room and sitting cross-legged on the end of the mattress. "I saw him put it there when he came to visit."
"Fine," Max sighed. She reached underneath the pillow, retrieved the present and handed it to Kendra. "I�m not keeping it."
"Oh, yes you are," Kendra said, taking out the ring that was nestled in a bit of cotton. "Is this platinum?"
"Sterling silver with lapis lazuli. The craftsmanship and original design means he didn�t get it off a street vendor, but I could hock it for a couple of Franklins."
"Max."
"Two-fifty, maybe."
"Max! Give me your hand."
"It�s such a girly girl present," Max protested, sitting on her hands. "Logan thinks he can creep into my personal space and do the secret stalker thing, but I�m not his schoolyard crush. He doesn�t know anything about me."
"So he gives you a present that isn�t expensive enough to get you mugged and too gorgeous to sell. I'd say he knows you pretty well."
"Whatever."
"I think he�s falling in love with you," Kendra said very softly, handing her back the ring.
Max turned very pale and bit down on her lower lip. She held the ring up to the window so the trickle of moonlight could make the silver shine. The blue stones winked at her, reminding her of Logan�s eyes. Had he done that on purpose? Either way, Kendra was right about the status of the ring. It was safe to wear as long as she could take the heat from her friends. But about the falling in love part� Eyes Only didn�t have time for love. Neither did she.
"Maybe I should just bang him and get rid of all the tension. Then y�all can go live vicariously through someone else."
"Logan Cale isn�t a one-night stand, Max," Kendra said, smiling. She got up and left Max to brood alone in the darkness.
