“What are we gonna do about him?” Mack asked quietly from his place between Cole and Wolf.
Cole shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s working through it in his own way.”
“What he’s working through is Sonny’s whole line-up,” Wolf clarified.
“Christ,” Mack grumbled.
Wolf shrugged. “What? You’ve heard that expression hair of the dog? Maybe that’s just his own special brand.”
Mack rolled his eyes and looked over at Cole. “Keep him busy. Last thing he needs is to sit around and stew about some goddamned piece of tail.”
“Think she was more than a piece of tail to him, Mack.”
“Woman, broad…you know what I mean. Just do it.” Mack picked up his beer and walked away.
Cole looked over at Wolf.
“Don’t look at me, brother. Maybe we could get him back in the cage. Let him beat the crap out of Green again.” Wolf grinned.
Cole shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Green walked up. “Did I hear my name mentioned?”
Wolf turned to look at him. “Yeah, Cole’s got a job for you.” With that Wolf grinned, picked up his beer and walked off.
Green looked over blankly at Cole. “What do you need, VP?”
*****
A couple of days later, Cole had invited Crash over for dinner. Cole was in the kitchen helping Angel carry serving bowls to the table, when he glanced over into the sunken living room. He watched as his daughter, Melissa climbed up into her Uncle Crash’s lap. As Angel moved into the dining room with a platter of meat, Cole hung back and listened to their exchange.
“Uncle Crash?”
“What sweet pea?”
“How much longer till Billy wants me around?”
“A little longer, punkin’.”
“Uncle Crash?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you sad?”
“A little bit.”
“Momma said it’s because Shannon went away.”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Uncle Crash?”
“What sweet pea?”
“I’ll be your girl.”
“You’re already my best girl, sweet pea.”