Page 129 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“Fuck yeah, called it!”Sprout’s voice carried around the room.Bear shoved him into silence.
Nonno studied Kate.“Is that your condition?”
“No.My condition is that, we stay here in Skilletsville as a family.I’ll go wherever you want, but my base is here.”
“Not Maine?”Nonno’s question caught me off guard.
Someone muttered, “What the fuck is in Maine?”He was quickly silenced.
“Maybe in the summer.It gets fucking cold up there in the winter.”
Zoe couldn’t catch the laugh before it burst out of her.
Under her breath, Kate whispered, “Crystal Ann is going to need a raise.”
Big G tapped Nonno’s shoulder.“Give him whatever he wants, as long as he staysoutof Chicago.Too many people die around him.”
Nonno smiled, knowing exactly how those rumors were true.“He’s better on our side than not.”
Big G didn’t blink.“I believe that.Good luck with him.”
He didn’t stay to party with the clubs.Apparently, being the power behind the throne got you perks like that.Zoe and Kate retreated to Wolf’s office with the key he gave them.Smoke stood outside the door as a guard.I stayed downstairs to take the backslaps and lies like a true lackey should.
“You’re going to get old and fat in this job,” Griz joked.
“Me?Fat?Never.”
“Two years, you’ll be looking like Walt.”Sprout was not funny.I shook my head.
“I ain’t fat.”Walt pulled up a barstool and ordered two whiskeys.He slid one under my nose, the other he lifted in toast.“You know, I wanted the regional spot.But I think I don’t now.”
The small glass dangled from his fingers like his words.
“Why is that?”I asked.
He smiled, almost in depreciation.“Sounds like a lot of work.And fuck working.”
Liar.He worked ten times harder than I ever did.But a toast was a toast.
“Fuck working.”I lifted the cup and waited to see if he’d drink to my sentiment.
He didn’t.Instead, he mused.“Politics means a whole lot of folks lying to you so they can get what they want.”
“I’ll fit right in.”
He blinked.“No, you won’t.And that’s why you’re the best man for it.You lie about two things, women and fish.Anyone who doesn’t know that about you, doesn’t know you at all.”He grinned.“To women and fish.”
He had me pegged.“To women and fish.”I drank with him.
Once the whiskey hit bottom, he leaned in.“She was worth the trouble.I see that.Congrats.”
Had I properly thanked him yet?Probably not.“Kate’s prettier than Mary, isn’t she?”
Walt’s expression shifted.“No one’s prettier than my wife.”
I expected that statement.
I also expected the quick succession of Sprout and Wolf putting their wives into the contest.Walt’s own men began listing their women, including their newest victim, I mean “ol’ lady.”
