Nine Lives pounced on the sofa. “How long did you think they’d keep me in Rio, Sarah?” he purred close to her face. “It’s fine to bribe the police, but when you leave, they start taking bribes from someone else.” His hot breath was on her cheek. He was near enough to bite her.

She tried to concentrate on NASCAR. “I was scared, Bill,” she said. “You cut me with your ring when you hit me.”

He smiled grimly and rubbed the scar in his plucked eyebrow. “And you need to be more careful with that shoe.” He leaned even closer. His lips touched her cheek as he growled at her, “Have you ever gotten stitches in a Brazilian jail?”

His soft hand with the long fingernails filed to points grazed her rib cage and headed south. She tried not to tense. This NASCAR race was actually pretty exciting.

His fingers reached her hand guarding her lap. His nails rasped across the diamond-and-emerald ring. He started back, then picked up her hand to examine the stone more closely. “Speaking of rings,” he said. “You’re in the national gossip columns with this singer from the Cheatin’ Hearts. And they call me your ex-boyfriend. Did he give you this ring?” He moved his soft hand to her throat. “And the necklace? What happened to the ankhs I gave you?”

“You know it’s not like that, Bill,” she said with reproach. “I’ve told you I never date musicians.” This wouldn’t have been a lie ten days ago. “It’s business. New musicians, new jewelry.”

Nine Lives sniffed. “I have something special for you, too.” He pulled a tiny bottle and a packaged syringe from his pocket and showed them to her. “Kryptonite.”

Sarah hoped this wasn’t a new delusion. She said carefully, “I’m not Supergirl.”

“Figuratively, Sarah,” he said. “Do you think I’m crazy? It’s bee venom. You made the local paper with your little problem.”

“Bee venom,” Sarah repeated emotionlessly. “Where did you get bee venom?”

“Hospital,” he said simply. “They bottle it and give it to people with the allergy, to build up a tolerance. You’d be amazed what you can get anywhere for four thousand dollars and some crystal.”

Sarah laughed. “You’re going to shoot me up with bee sting ?” Wait until she told Wendy about this. The gasoline-huffing boy band Wendy had handled last year didn’t hold a candle to Nine Lives and his bee venom.

He popped the sterile wrapping around the syringe. He was serious.

“You know that’ll kill me,” she breathed.

He said offhandedly, “If I give you enough.”

She vaulted over the back of the sofa and half ran, half fell down the stairs, then dashed down the hall to Martin’s room. Slammed the door, locked it, jerked out the top left-hand drawer of the dresser, and opened the gun case.

It was empty.

The door boomed next to her, and something slammed into her shoulder. She fell on Martin’s bed in a mass of wood splinters and plaster dust, with Nine Lives’ bodyguard heavy on top of her.

“Hello, Goonie,” she groaned.

“Hello, Sarah,” he said pleasantly. He stood her up and brushed her off casually enough. But he gripped her upper arm hard as he pulled her up the stairs.

“Please don’t let Bill play around with that bee venom,” she whispered to him. “It could kill me.”

He stopped her on the stairs and turned to her, his pupils dilated. He’d started using, too. “You and me used to be cool, Sarah,” he told her. “You used to be all right. But while you were keeping Bill in prison, we were all stuck in Rio without a paycheck. Let him pass the bee shit to me, and I’ll shoot you up myself.”

Nine Lives was waiting in the kitchen. The two of them escorted Sarah down the driveway and held her while she recited the code for Nine Lives’ driver to open the gate. She glanced hopefully toward the bushes, but of course all the paparazzi were at the Nationally Televised Holiday Concert Event. She gazed the other way, toward the Timberlanes’ driveway, but their large car was gone.

Nine Lives’ driver, Fred, stood next to the open back door of a limo with a wrecked front end. Before Sarah slid onto the seat, she looked into his eyes. Dilated pupils. “Et tu Brute?” she asked.

Fred said, “Shut up and get your little Caesar ass in the car.” Even though she got in without protest, he gave her a shove across the seat, muttering, “Et tu Brute.”

“Come on, Fred,” she coaxed. “Bill could kill me with that bee venom. You’re not mad enough at me to kill me, are you? You’re not willing to kill a girl over a few paychecks?”

“It ain’t the paychecks so much,” he said. “It’s what happens to you in Rio when your cash is cut off. Why couldn’t you just let him f**k you?” He slammed the door.

Sarah pressed her cold hands to her face. She was about to cruise Birmingham in the methmobile. She was going to die here in the methmobile of an induced allergy attack at the hands of a demented rock star while the man she loved played a country concert under Vulcan’s bare buttocks. And it wasn’t funny if she couldn’t e-mail it to Wendy.

The doors opened on both sides. All three men reached out to her. Goonie sat on her legs and held her wrists while Fred put his knee on her throat.

“This isn’t necessary,” she croaked.

“I seen what you did to Bill with that shoe,” Fred told her.

Beyond Fred’s leg, Nine Lives stuck the needle into the small bottle again.

“Thank you for using a clean syringe,” she said.

Nine Lives assured her, “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Sarah.”

Fred and Goonie laughed.

“How do you know how much to give me?” she asked.

“I’ll give you just a little at first,” Nine Lives said.

“And if your head gets swole up,” said Fred, “we’ll know that was too much.”

She asked, “Can’t I just have some meth?”

Goonie said, “Bet you fifty she keeps a straight face through this.”

“You’re on,” said Fred.

“I wouldn’t take that bet,” said Nine Lives as he jabbed the needle into her shoulder.

She watched several red-ringed white hives pop up on her arms, and she gripped the limo seat hard as her throat began to close. Nine Lives on one side and Goonie on the other just watched her, amused. It got worse and worse, and then it didn’t get any worse. She wouldn’t die from this dose.

Through the sparkles flashing in front of her eyes, she tried to watch the Cheatin’ Hearts concert on the small TV hanging from the ceiling of the limo. Quentin wore the green college T-shirt with the fire-breathing dragon, sleeves rolled up to expose his tanned biceps. The cameras seemed to take perverse pleasure in cutting to his ancient deck shoes as he adjusted the sound of his bass guitar with a pedal. But through song after song, most of the broadcast zoomed in on his handsome face, the flash of his deep green eyes, his tangled waves of brown hair.

His hair. The Cheatin’ Hearts weren’t wearing their characteristic cowboy hats.

He hit the money note at the end of “Party in the Double-Wide,” but after that, his voice grew raspy. He traced a circle in the air with his finger, grabbed a water bottle at the base of his mike stand, and walked offstage. The other three began an instrumental without him.

The camera swung to Erin, who looked especially beautiful tonight, in her way. Her boobs were enormous in the bustier she wore with her Daisy Dukes, her blond curls were equally enormous and bouncy, and her carefully made-up frosted pink lips shone in the spotlights. She looked happy. The camera flashed to Owen, who looked happy. The camera flashed to Martin, who focused on his guitar.

Martin’s shirt was off.

The instrumental ended quickly and Quentin returned, fist to his mouth, still coughing a little. “Sorry about that, folks,” he said. “Y’all may have heard I had a little problem this afternoon. It ain’t a party until somebody pulls out the beta-agonist.” The crowd cheered like he’d named a beer brand. He smiled his lopsided smile and shook his head at Erin.

“Now he’s going to mention you again,” Nine Lives said, absorbed in the show. “I swear, if he mentions you again—”

“Sarah,” Quentin said into the microphone, “if you don’t show up, we might just release our third album free on the Internet.” The crowd cheered again.

Sarah thought, There goes my job.

Throughout “Honky-tonk Hell,” Sarah focused on the TV, Quentin’s smiling green eyes, his smooth lazy voice. He was so happy and comfortable onstage, a joy to watch. Nine Lives stared at her.

The song ended. Nine Lives said, “He’d better not mention you again.”

Quentin asked, “Have y’all been watching the World Poker Tournament?” He paused for the crowd’s cheer. “Y’all know Hell’s Belle, the poker queen? That’s Sarah’s mother, and this song’s for her.” The band began “Naked Mama.”

Sarah thought, There goes Christmas in Fairhope.

“I hate country music,” said Nine Lives.

“Me, too,” said Goonie.

Sarah said, “I used to.”

The song ended. The camera caught Quentin mouthing to Martin, “Where is she?”

Nine Lives leaned forward with his chin in his hands, pointed fingernails pricking his face. “You made that guy fall in love with you,” he murmured. “Just like you did me. And you f**ked him, when you wouldn’t f**k me.”

“Oh, did you think he was talking about me ?” Sarah laughed. “No, he’s talking about a different Sarah.”

“Sarah,” said Quentin, “you need to get your purty pink-haired self up here.”

Nine Lives watched her, waiting for her to crack. She concentrated on Quentin, who had his hands in his hair.

“Sarah pointed out to me that this next song could be interpreted as being about backdoor action,” he said. “So we’re dedicating it to Nine Lives, who’s in prison in Rio.” The band started “Come to Find Out,” and the crowd roared.

Nine Lives scratched his cheekbone with one pointed fingernail, leaving a red mark. Then he looked at his watch. “Fred,” he called, “the concert will be over in a few minutes. Let’s go get him.”

“What do you mean, ‘go get him?’ ” Sarah asked, trying her best to sound calm. “Do you mean the singer? What do you want with him?”

“He’s got a little coke problem, right?” Nine Lives asked. “OD’d recently in Thailand? If you’ve been on his ass, he hasn’t done it since. I’ll bet he’s really bluesing for some coke. It just so happens that I have some coke. I thought I’d get him good and hopped up. And then I’ll let him watch while I show you what really happens in a Brazilian prison.”

Sarah looked at Goonie. Goonie smiled at her.

She watched trees and buildings and signs spin by out the windows of the limo for a few moments while it sank in.

She said quietly, “The thing is, Bill, he’s not really on coke. You know how you’d collapse at nightclubs in Rio and I’d start a rumor in the press that you had diabetes? Well, the Cheatin’ Hearts are the opposite. Quentin has asthma and allergies. He doesn’t do coke.”

“Wow, you can lie with a straight face,” said Nine Lives.

“Bill, you have to believe me. Quentin’s never done drugs. He was in the ICU in Thailand because of an allergy. If you coke him up like he’s an addict, he really will OD. You’ll kill him.”

“Sarah,” Nine Lives said condescendingly, “if we don’t give him enough, he won’t get off.” He pointed to the TV. The camera focused on Martin’s hands as he played the intricate guitar solo in “Heavily Sedated.” Black track marks marred both arms. Nine Lives said, “The Cheatin’ Hearts don’t do drugs. Right!”

“Allergies,” Goonie said, shaking his head and laughing.

Sarah recalled what Quentin had told her: Be careful what you say to the press. It might come back to sting you. She’d better keep her mouth shut. Nine Lives had become an avid news reader of late. Cocaine was bad enough, but if she wasn’t careful, she’d persuade Nine Lives to feed Quentin an almond.

It was difficult to act alluring to a greasy rock icon while she was having an allergic reaction, but she gave it a go. She leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, “We don’t have to do it like this. It’s no fun if we’re angry with each other. Do you have your plane here?”

He nodded.

“You and I can ditch Goonie and Fred and fly to Monte Carlo. Or Cannes. Monaco.” Sarah tried to think of more resort towns where French was spoken. She was fluent in French, and she didn’t want to get stuck in another Portuguese situation.

“No dice,” he hissed. “You’d just be trying to get away from me the whole time. No, I think I’d rather get revenge.”

“Me, too,” said Goonie.

Fred leaned through the window between the front and back seats. “Me, too,”

“Turn around and drive the car, Fred!” Goonie boomed. “That’s how we wrecked this morning.”

“How do you feel after that shot?” Nine Lives asked her.

“Itchy.”

“How about some more?” He patted her in a friendly way on the shoulder where he’d injected her. “I don’t think I gave you enough before.”

Not even Natsuko could see her way out of this now. When Sarah showed up at the concert with Nine Lives, Quentin would come to rescue her, and Goonie and Fred would take him. She had to keep him out of this. It wasn’t his fight. She couldn’t go to the concert. She would let them kill her instead.