Page 96 of Cash

“Then what?” Brick tried not to sound too eager.

“I told you.” Jules smiled. “I’m gonna be takin’ a little vacation down here in the good ol’ city of oaks.”

“With me?”

“With you,” Jules confirmed.

“Good.” Brick thought for a moment. As nice as it was that everything seemed to be falling into place, there was one last piece of the puzzle that was nagging at his mind. “Never did figure out who the rat was, did you?”

“Eh?” Jules cocked his head.

“Who told Finchie you were down here, remember? The whole reason my house got broken into? Because someone saw you?”

“No.” Jules grimaced. “We got a little sidetracked with the questioning.”

“Well, shit.” Brick leaned his head back on the edge of the tub. “That’s… unfortunate.”

“Yeah. Can’t really ask him now.”

“Oopsies?”

Jules laughed, and then looked like he regretted it. “Shit. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Brick smiled a little, leaning into Jules’s hand as he gingerly washed his face.

“We took out Finchie’s whole little bitch crew, though.”

“Allegedly?” Brick snorted.

“Very allegedly. But look, it’s all done with, all right? Cold is already settling shit up with the Finches now.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Ah, you know. Send some flowers, makin’ amends…”

“For killing Finchie?”

“Allegedly,” Jules teased. “Just gotta make sure that business goes on as usual.”

“And they’re gonna accept that? Really?” Brick frowned. “After you, ahem, allegedly murdered Finchie and all of his guys?”

“They weren’t real happy with Finchie for murderin’ his old man,” Jules replied with a shrug. “We were doin’ them a favor, really.”

“Wow.” Brick hesitated. “I didn’t realize it was that easy for some people. To just, well, to just write off a member of their own family.”

“To some people, the end all be all is fuckin’ cash. That blood is thicker than water bullshit just goes out the window when there’s dollar signs involved.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“That’s life.” Jules rubbed some of the soap bubbles off Brick’s cheek with the back of his hand. “Bad people doin’ real bad things to chase that coin.”

“What about you?” Brick asked quietly. “Do you care that much about money?”

“No.” Jules frowned. “What I care about is my family. I came down here to make shit right because that little fucker hurt my sister and stole from us.”

“Rowena, right? Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s good.” Jules smirked. “She was more pissed off about ruinin’ her favorite pair of Louis Vuitton’s.”

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