Page 38 of Finding Hope

“I’ll double your ten.” Stepping forward, Jon takes his niece’s shoulders in his hands. “Foreachof my boys. So you’ll get forty bucks to make sure they don’t kill anyone.”

Her eyes light with mischief. She’s a wily Kincaid, just like the rest of us. “Fifty and you’ve got a deal.”

“Thirty, since I don’t negotiate with terrorists.” Laughing, he pulls her in for a hug. “Don’t try to hustle me, baby girl. I grew up in the ghetto. No one can hustle me.”

“Awww, Uncle Jon–”

“But,” he interrupts, “Stop trying to negotiate, and I’ll take it back to forty. Plus, you kicked that asshole in the head last week, so I owe you.”

“Jon,” Tina grumbles over her daughter’s giggles. “Potty mouth.” Her eyes go back to Evie’s. “And no fighting at school. That’s bad! Save it for the gym. Now scram. We have to talk.”

Pouting, she walks away and snags Bean’s hand on the way out, and within seconds, their voices carry through the house as she and Bean break up twin fights.

“That girl get home alright last night?” Pulling out a chair at the messy table, Jon pulls Tink into his lap and ignores his sons’ feral shouts as Evie takes care of business.

Nodding, Tink winds her arm around his shoulder and scratches gentle patterns into his scalp. “Uh-huh. We dropped her off at her door, and didn’t leave until she walked in and shut it again. She’s safe.”

“So…” Jimmy smiles wolfishly. “She’s Jack’s…friend. But she’s also our kids’ teacher? That’s some wicked comeuppance for our boy.” Laughing, he leans against the kitchen counter and lazily kicks one foot across the other. “Bet he regrets treatingherlike shit. We’ve watched girls doing the walk from his place for months, but this one wasn’t just taking it on the chin, huh? She has sass.”

Mirroring my best friend, I take a seat and pull Kit into my lap. I think about last night, about my wife’s baby brother crying in my arms, about the broken man who’s so lost, he can’t see us right here in front of him. “He needs help, guys.”

Smile wiped clean, Jimmy nods solemnly. “Yeah, I know.”

Squeezing Kit, I admit something to myself, something that hurts to acknowledge. Something that I so rarely have to admit. “I don’t know what to do.”

“No,” Aiden sighs. “Me neither. I have no damn clue.”

“We need to get him back in the gym, for starters,” Izzy states. “I know that won’t fix anything, but he needs to come back to us. He needs his family, and his family’s in that gym.”

“At least he went for a run,” Kit adds with a shaky voice. Shaky, but hopeful. “That’s new.”

“That’s definitely new, baby.” I pull her down for a fast kiss. “That’s a good sign.”

“Who’s Britt?” Aiden asks. “To Jack, is she important?”

I shrug. “Nah. I think she’s no one. I think she’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That’s a shame,” Tina adds. “She seems really cool.”

“Yeah, well, she’s a scorned woman, now. I mean, come on,” Tink snaps. “I did the walk of shame once. It was mortifying, and that waswithoutJon kicking me out. Jack was mean, guys. He didn’t have to treat her that way.”

“Even the coldest, most self-assured chick would’ve taken a hit after last night. What he did to her…” I shake my head. “That was cold. And in front of us all. She must assume we think the worst.”

“We have an appointment with her tomorrow,” Iz murmurs. “For the girls’ fight. I don’t know that there’s much I can say that’ll help, but I’ll let her know we’re cool. I’ll try and stop her before she commits career suicide. She’s probably typing her resignation letter right now.”

“But, Bubs.” Joking, Jimmy whines, “She said he butt fucks us. I didn’t even do anything to deserve it.”

She smacks his stomach. “If you mention it tomorrow, I’ll stab you. Don’t you dare make it worse for her.”

“Fine,” he grumbles. “I won’t mention it. But you should know, Ireallywanna. I’m doing this for you.” He leans in close. “You owe me a hummer or something.”

“Dude!” Snapping his long leg out, Jon almost un-nuts my little brother. “That’s my sister! Shut the fudge up.”

Smiling, Jim bounces his brows and pulls Jon’s sister in for an inappropriate hug.

I just shake my head.

Since finding out Jimmy was in love with Jon’s baby sister, Jon has wavered between loving his brother, and hating his sister’s husband. It’s love/hate at its finest, and a constant source of confusion for my poor best friend.

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