Page 183 of Ready to Cash Out

“Asshole?”

“I was gonna be nice and downgrade you to prick, but hey, asshole still works.”

Cold just smiled, reaching into his pocket to pull out a second phone. He handed it to Trev. “Here.”

“What is this?” Trev blinked as the phone buzzed in his hand. There was an incoming call.

“We call them smartphones. This one is for you. Rowena mentioned you needed one.”

“Ha ha, seriously.”

“Answer it. Or Rowena is going to get very upset with you.”

Trev swiped his thumb across the screen and then held the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Hi, sweetie,” Rowena crooned. “How was your nice little mafia adventure? Good? Great?”

“I don’t know about all that, but uh, still here, right?” Trev laughed.

“I’m going to strangle the fuck out of Roddy as soon as he walks in the damn door. Ugh, that motherfucker. You get a pass because you didn’t actually know what was going on. Everybody else is on my shit list.”

“Not Jupiter, right?” Trev smiled up at Jupiter.

“No, he’s okay,” Rowena replied. “Oh! And Juicy! That old geezer is at the very top for scaring the fuck out of me. Making me think he was dying. What a bitch.”

“Yeah, uh.” Trev grimaced. “Maybe go easy on him. He’s had, uh, a very exciting day.”

“Whatever.” Rowena popped her tongue. “Now listen, sweetie. Shoe size. Ready go.”

“Uh. Twelve?”

“Okay.” Rowena hummed thoughtfully. “And would you rather have Chinese, Japanese, or like, a blend of both? Like maybe a buffet with some sushi? Hibachi?”

“What?” Trev frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, you’re right.” Rowena laughed. “We should just do it all.”

“Do what? What are you doing?”

“Whatever I want.” Rowena made kissy sounds. “Because this means you’re staying today?—”

“Yeah, but?—”

“—so, I can probably get you to stay at least another week!”

Trev scowled. “Roe, girl. No. Me and Jupiter are leaving?—”

“Love you! Bye!” Rowena made more kissy sounds.

“Love you too, but—” Trev grunted as Rowena abruptly hung up.

He wasn’t sure what was more alarming—Rowena planning what sounded like a very, very big party or how easy it had been to say love you too.

Did he really mean that?

Was it just a reflex?

Rowena had treated him like family from the moment they’d first met. Jimmy too. Trev supposed he loved them in a way, the siblings he’d never had. Rowena was ever the big sassy sister and Jimmy a sweet brother with a big heart. Juicy was family too, Trev decided, for all he’d done for Trev over the years, especially the times he had no idea.

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