Page 12 of Smoke Screen
“It’ll be good to see you.”
This from Zeke. Well, look at his brothers being all cuddly.
“Yeah,” Ash said. “I actually miss you assholes.”
“Whatever. We’re out.”
Phin reached across and poked the disconnect button.
Zeke double-checked the phone, making sure the line was dead before meeting Phin’s gaze again. “He’s not sharing.”
“Which puts us in a pickle because if we take this job and don’t tell him, he’ll lose his mind.”
“Not our problem. He has a code of confidentiality, so do we.”
“Even if it embarrasses our brother?”
Zeke gave him a hard look. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”
Ash wasn’t the only one dealing with the line between job and family. All Phin knew was that he hated the secrecy. And people like that weasel Senator Blakely looking at him like he was trash because they were in the repo business.
Sure, his family liked to call it asset recovery, but make no mistake, Dad started with repossessing cars. Phin wasn’t ashamed of that. Never.
The business had grown, though, thanks to Ash and more-so Zeke, who’d upgraded them to expensive art, jewelry, and whatever the hell else rich people got robbed of. But …
Blakely.
People like him crawled right under Phin’s skin, judging him.
“What’s your problem?”
Zeke’s voice pulled Phin from his thoughts. “Sorry. What?”
“You’re … weird … today. What’s your problem? Don’t tell me you let Blakely get to you. Youknowthat guy. Total Napoleon complex.”
Phin did know. And yet …
“It still sucks.”
“You let him get to you. Dammit, Phin.”
Phin sat forward, propping his elbow on the arm of his chair. “You never wanted to run BARS. You enjoyed letting Ash deal with the administrative headaches. And here you are. Taking over.”
“What’s your point?”
No idea. All he knew was that the conversation with Blakely had taken root inside of him and festered. “I don’t know.”
“You’re thinking too much. I’ve told you a hundred, maybe a thousand times, you can’t worry about what people think or say.”
“Doesn’t it piss you off that people think we’re shady?”
“No.”
Well,thatwas bullshit. “Liar.”
“People like Blakely think we’re shady until they need us. Then we’re saviors because we found their Rembrandt or half-million-dollar bottle of brandy. I don’t care what they think. They’re clients. It’s not personal.”
“They don’t have the right to judge us.”
