Page 25 of Cohesion

Six snickered quietly as he tapped away at his keyboard. “Must be something new. She was making noise yesterday about this boy who was bullying one of her friends, though, so I’d warrant a guess and say it has something to do with that.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jericho muttered. If she punched someone, he wasn’t taking responsibility for it. He’d taught her that forself-defence. That would hold up in a court of law. Zero surprise if he ever needed to pull out that argument in front of a jury.

“I told her to find the biggest rock—”

“Six,” Jericho interrupted. He fucking better not have. That kid soaked up their advice like a goddamn sponge. His gaze flitted to Moira. “Were you there for that clusterfuck or…?”

“I showed her how to lift her knee… like a lady,” Moira said innocently.

“You’ll be disappointed to know she didn’t use any of your useful pieces of advice,” Hunter said dryly behind them.

“Thatisdisappointing,” Six said mournfully. He pulled his lollypop out, slurping it loudly. “What’d she do?”

“She tied her school cardigan—the same cardigan I paid almost one hundred dollars for, mind you—to a pole on the playground, tricked the boy into playing tag, and then used it to clothesline him.”

“I didn’t teach her that,” Jericho said automatically. He was not being blamed for this one. He’d taught her how to make a fist and where to hit to cause the most damage so she could run away. Not how toclotheslinepeople. Where had she even learned that? Greer or fucking Kendrick.

Six burst out laughing.

“How old is this kid?” Quinn asked.

“She’s six,” Hunter said.

“What grade’s that?” Peyton asked. “Like… first? Second? Kinder?”

“Kinder isbeforefirst and second grade,” Six pointed out. “You’re going the wrong way.”

“You don’t hang around kids much, do you?” Moira asked.

“None of my siblings have kids,” Peyton said. “My old team leader has a boy, but he’s…” He glanced at Hunter. “Not like that.”

“No one is like Vee,” Jericho said. “She’s one of a kind.” She had all the best and worst parts of both himself and Hunter. Jericho refused to give her other father any credit.

“Your niece has a penchant for the dramatics,” Hunter said dryly. “I think I would have preferred her to just knee him in the balls.”

“Why is it that she’smyniece when she’s being a pill, but she’s your daughter when she’s being an angel?” Jericho asked, rolling his eyes.

“When is she ever an angel?” Hunter asked, raising an eyebrow.

“When she’s sleeping.” Obviously. Sometimes if she was enthralled in a movie or one of her art projects. Not when she was playing sport; that brought out the beast in her.

Quinn glanced between them. “Brothers,” he said. “There was nothing else to tell?”

Jericho faltered. It hadn’t occurred to him to mention that when they’d been talking aboutworkstuff. He understood where Quinn had been coming from in regards to Greer. And he’d apologised. He could count how many relationships he’d been in on one hand. Because the number was zero. This was uncharted territory for him.

“He told me,” Peyton said quickly. “We need some kind of noticeboard to relay information.”

Six waved his hand at the wall. “Take one of ours.”

Quinn sighed. “Any other brothers?”

“Not that we’re aware of.” Considering their parents were dead, he’d hazard a guess and say no with likely one hundred percent accuracy. Better to be safe and err on the side of caution, though.

“I have a midday appointment with a man that won’t wait,” Hunter said. “Can you discuss this later?”

“A man that won’t wait?” Quinn questioned.

“Politicians aren’t known for their patience,” Hunter replied. He pulled out one of the standing corkboards and flipped it over.

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