Page 130 of Duty

Okay, babysitting might have been the wrong word, stupid.

“Excuse me?” his cousin asked.

It was now or never for this plan. Maybe … Christ, maybe if Andino could keep his cousin relatively close for a couple of weeks, he could see if this phase in John’s cycle would pass easily, or worsen in to something else that needed someone to step in. He was hoping for the former before the latter, but only time would tell.

“The boss wants me to keep an eye on you. Seems you’re dodging your father, the boss, and even my dad.”

“You know what they did,” John said.

Andino waved that off. “Doesn’t matter, John.”

“It does fucking matter.”

Frustrated.

Heavy.

Angry.

Andino changed the topic—anything to bring back the calm for John.

“How’s work?” Andino asked.

“Work is work,” his cousin said quickly. “I’ve got my crew handled. Money is coming in just fine. All the Calabrese work is going fine, as it should.”

“Good,” Andino said.

“That’s it? Good.”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re not going to push and question me on every fucking aspect of everything I do?”

“Nope.” Andino smiled, and shrugged. “If you say shit is on the up and up with you, then that’s what it is, John.”

“I see what you did there,” John murmured.

“Did you?”

“I’m bipolar, but not crazy or stupid.”

“I would never call you those things, anyway,” Andino replied.

“I know.”

“And I’m not going to treat you like the rest of the men in this family do a lot of the time. I just want to make sure you’re handling whatever you need to handle. Probation, work, and therapy. Anything else—who you’re fucking, or the rest of that—is none of my goddamn business.”

John cleared his throat. “You sure on that?”

Andino pointed upward. “As sure as the sky is blue, man.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Give them something, and they’ll back off.”

“But not about her. Not on Siena, Andi. They won’t back off a bit.”

“You’re really messed up on this woman, huh?” Andino asked.