Page 63 of Gambler's Fallacy

“Okay,” I say, sighing. “But this is the last time, Connie. I’m serious. You need to look into a real job, even if you won’t take one at the casino. Being a TerMom or whatever isn’t working.”

“Sure,” Connie agrees, but I don’t believe her.

I sigh and open up the cash app on my phone to transfer the funds to her.

Are you sure? This is like giving away cash and can’t be undone, it warns me.

I grumble and hit the “yes” button.

Connie wraps her arms around me and smiles. “Thank you, Sebby! You’re the best big brother!”

No, I’m not. If I was the best big brother, I would’ve taught her work ethic and made sure she never got started with these MLMschemes in the first place. “Yeah,” I say with a heavy sigh as I pull away from the hug. I tap over to see Seven’s message.

Are you coming over soon?

I hesitate. I’m honestly not sure I want to see him right now, and that’s an unsettling thought. It isn’t fair to him. I know how he handles stress, and I could’ve told him no.

I hadn’t.

I’ll try. I have a few work things to catch up on.

“I love you,” Connie says, leaning up to kiss my cheek. “And now I gotta run to my meeting. See you soon, Sebby!”

“You too,” I say automatically, but I’m reminded of what Seven had said about me skipping over saying that I love her. “Good luck, Connie.”

She beams at me then heads toward her car, and I watch her go, wondering when I’d stopped being a good brother and started becoming an enabler.

I don’t think I like the answer to that question.

FOURTEEN

SEVEN

I glare atVortex’s text.

I’ll try. I have a few work things to catch up on.

“What did you send Vortex off to do?” I ask Caleb sourly. “He says he haswork.”

Caleb is sitting on the living room armchair, Miss K in his lap, staring straight at me. I resist the urge to roll onto my side and face the back of the couch.

I don’t want to talk to Caleb. I don’t want to have this “conversation” that he’s been hinting at.

“This and that,” Caleb says vaguely, and I think he’s lying. He’s covering for Vortex, who’s also lying to me and apparently doesn’t want to see me right now.

I clutch my phone tighter. “I’ll ask Havoc,” I say. “Unless he’s off doing ‘this and that’ as well.”

Caleb shrugs. “Ask and see. But if he says no, we’ll have the conversationwithout him.”

“We don’t need to have a conversation about anything,” I inform him. But I pull out my phone and text Havoc.

Can you come over? Caleb is about to lecture me.

The text sounds as whiny as I feel, but I don’t particularly care.

The phone buzzes immediately.

Ugh. Be up in five.

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