Page 48 of Phoenix

“I’m your only niece.”

“Doesn’t make it less true.” He gave her a squeeze, kissed the top of her head, and let go. “You good?”

“Yeah.” She sighed and looked down. “I thought he was my friend.”

“I’m sorry, Mags. Boys are assholes.”

“You’re a guy. Hell, everyone else that lives here is a guy.”

“And we’re all assholes,” Travis said from behind them. “What’d I miss?” He was standing by the back door. “Hey, Jule.”

“Someone who I thought was my friend tried to get something off me.”

Travis froze, his jaw ticking. “You take care of it?” he asked Jule.

“Your daughter beat me to it. Had him on the ground practically crying for his mommy.”

“Good girl.”

“Thanks, I guess.” She rubbed her foot back and forth across the floor, her shoulders hunched.

“Hey, how about I order us some Raffaele’s to celebrate you being a badass?”

“Really?” She perked up. “I want pepperoni and sausage.”

“Deal.”

“Thanks, Uncle Jule.” She jumped up and hugged him. “I’m going to call my friends and tell them what happened. Let me know when the pizza gets here.” She walked to her room, smiling.

“That was an easy solve,” Travis said. He gave Jule a longer than usual hug and clapped his back. “Good to see you, man. Been too long.”

“I’m going to order the pizza and then we need to talk.”

Travis dipped his chin. “Want a beer?” He walked to the kitchen.

“Yeah.”

Jule sat on the couch and made the call.

“What’s up?” Travis handed him a beer and sat beside him.

“You need money?” Jule popped the tab and lifted the can to his lips.

“No, man.” Travis shook his head. “Hell, with all five of us working right now, we’re actually doing really good. Tan and I stopped smoking too, ’cause of the kids, that helps more than I expected.”

That statement distracted Jule from his intended conversation. “All five of you are chipping in?”

“Yeah. We’ve always pooled our cash. You know that.”

“Uh-huh.” That part wasn’t news. For as long as he had known them, the brothers had worked as a team. They had raised one another and supported each other, including financially. What he hadn’t realized was that Tor was still doing that considering he had been hiding out for over ten years and couldn’t have a steady source of income, or at least not a legitimate one. He sighed and rubbed his palms over his eyes.

“You good, Jule?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath and refocused. “If you don’t need money, what were you doing at Jimmy’s? Something happen with your job at the shop?”

“No,” he said slowly. “Job’s fine. How do you know I was at Jimmy’s?”

“Cops have it bugged. Stay away from there if you don’t want to catch a charge. Tell Tan too.”