He nodded. “Max.”
I pointed to the two guys. “Something wrong?”
Dad snickered. “Oh, these guys? They’re my associates. You know how it goes.”
You mean bodyguards. “Yeah. I do.”
They were two new guys this time. Not the regular men I usually saw with him. They both loomed in the sunlight, casting a hazy shadow over my father as he closed the car door. He walked to the entrance of the garage, just barely crossing the threshold before stopping again. As I dropped my wrench, Dad nodded.
“So I hear you’ve been spending some time apart from the boys.”
I blinked. “Have I missed any meetings I didn’t know about?”
He clasped his hands together. “I don’t know. Have you?”
I shrugged. “Nope.”
“So this is all hearsay?”
“Far as I’m concerned.”
He nodded. “All right. That sounds acceptable.”
“Anything else?”
“Let’s say, for scenario’s sake, you have been spending time apart from the boys.”
“For scenario’s sake.”
He took a step toward me. “Yes.”
“You don’t have to come any closer.”
“I can do as I please.”
“Not on this property you can’t.”
He snickered. “Pretty sure I own it.”
I grinned. “Pretty sure you’ve forgotten that John and I refinanced it.”
His face fell. “Why have you been spending time away from the crew?”
My defenses instantly went up. “What makes you think I’ve been doing that?”
“Let’s call it a little birdie in the tree.”
“I’m assuming you mean Benji.”
“We don’t have to name names.”
“If you don’t think I see the game you’re playing, you’ve clearly underestimated me. I’m not spending as much time at the house, so John is no longer a player in your schemes to keep an eye on me. So you enlist the help of my cousin. Benji. Who you find out has been seeing more of me since I’ve been around campus. He comes whining to you about something, probably because I won’t initiate him--”
He took another step toward me. “Yes, let’s talk about that for a second. Why not make Benji a member?”
“Other than the fact that you can manipulate him easier than you can John? He’s better than us.”
“Enlighten me on what that means.”