Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles, #3)

by Shelly Laurenston

“We should just get Natalie out of here,” Shay said to his brothers. “You’re not taking our sister anywhere,” Max said and she suddenly had the full attention of the Malone brothers. They locked on her the way those lions locked on that gazelle in the documentary he’d watched. “She’s not your sister,” Keane snarled. “She is now. She’s already been through the gauntlet.” “The gauntlet?” Finn asked. “Yeah. The Dad-gauntlet. Where he does something so ruthless and shitty that you realize you’re stuck being his child. At least this time he didn’t sell her.” “Sell her?” “Yeah. Once he sold me to a family. Indentured servitude, I think it’s called.” Stevie nodded sadly. “He sold me to lots of people. The most infamous, though, was the Peruvian drug lord.” “Yeah. Charlie and I dealt with that situation.” That’s when Max smiled. The smile said it all, and Zé knew he was in real trouble with this girl. He was no longer falling . . . he’d fallen. Because she was a nut. And he liked it. He liked her lethal nuttiness. “Whatever,” Keane finally snapped. “You’re not keeping our sister.” “You can’t raise her,” Max argued. “You giant house cats don’t know what to do with a honey badger.” As the two families bickered, Zé saw Natalie roll her eyes and wander off. She studied the trees and the house, then looked into the glass door of the garage and disappeared inside.

:)