Then he set his wife aside, got up and went to go let in his father.

* * * * *

His father showed up sober. Nervous but sober. And his nerves didn’t fade no matter that there were flowers in a vase, Lexie was tricked out, she’d made some snack where she’d baked cups of rolled out pieces of bread she’d cut the crusts off of and then filled with some sausage, mushroom, olive, cream, garlic and cheese stuff that tasted the shit then offered up homemade brownies with a thick layer of chocolate frosting she’d served with ice cream. She was saying plainly that Irv was welcome, this visit meant something to her, she wanted to make it nice but Irv still didn’t get it and relax. Lex went all out being Lex, smiling, joking even touching, his arm, his hand.

Irv did not loosen up.

Ty acted as normal, not overtly welcoming but not hostile either. Watchful but not tense. He wasn’t going to go all out like his woman was doing.

This was Irv’s penance, whatever was going on in his head that wouldn’t let him relax, Ty was not going to bust his ass to let him off paying it. One visit where he’s sober, one phone call where he pulled up the courage to share was not going to buy his father that.

Ty would wait and see and give it to him when he earned it.

When Lexie’s phone rang, Ty took over with his father and Irv wound up tighter. It was then Ty saw that Lexie actually was helping his father relax, it was Ty he was worried about winning.

This didn’t change his manner but when his wife wandered to the front deck for privacy, Ty explained her absence completely and honestly, laying it all out about Lexie, her dead parents, her dick of a grandfather, her being taken in by the Rodriguez family, her relationship with Ronnie, most, if not all, of the path that led her to Ty and her recent news. He did this in an effort to make his father understand why his wife was crystal and should be treated as such.

From the look on his father’s face when he was done speaking, he figured Irv got it.

She was gone awhile. When she came back, she got Irv another soda and led him onto the deck. It was then Ty decided he had business he needed to see to and he was going to let his wife get to know his father without him there as a physical reminder of just how bad Irv f**ked up.

When he told her he needed a few minutes, she nodded.

He made his excuses to his Dad, walked up the stairs, went to the office, closed the door, pulled his phone out of his back pocket, sat in the swivel chair and dialed Julius.

“My man,” Julius greeted.

“You don’t f**k around,” Ty replied and heard a deep chuckle, Julius knew what Ty was talking about. Ty kept talking. “You know I appreciate it. What I need to know is if I got debts to pay.”

“Welcome to the jungle,” Julius stated.

“Come again?”

“You were forced to live in a zoo, Walk, a controlled jungle that has guards and bars. But outside that, you mighta skirted the real jungle but you didn’t live in it. LA has a jungle, Dallas too. And in the jungle, it’s survival of the fittest.”

“Not sure you’re answering my question, brother,” Ty told him.

“Okay, then I will,” Julius returned. “See, got a brother who’s got a brother who had a brother and when I say that I mean they shared blood. He didn’t get a cap busted in his ass. He got two to the face, five to the chest. A signature. He was not feelin’ the love for Momma and the Hit Man so he laid them out.”

There it was.

Julius wasn’t done.

“Got another brother who’s got a brother who was lookin’ into expandin’. Business is boomin’, my man, and he wanted more turf. Now he’s got it.”

There was more.

Julius continued.

“Got another brother who’s got a brother who sells gash. Always recruitin’. Didn’t mind he got himself some more when girls lost their Daddy. They got a new Daddy now.”

And that was the rest of it.

So Julius finished, “What I’m sayin’ is, you don’t owe dick. A man goes down, other men move in to stake their claim. Shift was not liked. My chats pointed out the benefits of workin’ for the cops, get that ass**le outta the way, divvy up the leftovers. No one’s hurtin’ in this scenario, everyone got what they wanted. You’re good.”

Ty couldn’t say he felt peace deep inside his soul that the loss of Shift to the underbelly of Dallas meant Peña didn’t clean the streets but instead bought himself different headaches with new names and faces. But, even so, it meant Ty lost himself a headache and he had enough of them, he could use losing some pain.

“You know it without me sayin’ it,” Ty said softly.

“I know it,” Julius returned then asked, “Been two days since I been updated on the Life and Times of Ty Walker, ‘spect there’s news.”

Ty had kept him briefed and he didn’t delay in relaying his update.

When he was done, with a smile in his voice, Julius noted, “Soon, your free will be free. Means you and Lexie can haul your asses out to LA.”

“Just as long as one, the other or all of your women take Lex to a beach.”

“That we can do.”

Ty grinned at his phone.

Then they said words of good-bye.

Then he flipped it shut, folded out of the chair, shoved the phone in his back pocket and walked back down to his wife and father.

Chapter Nineteen

That Felt Good

Ty sucked back the last of his beer and I watched as his long arm reached out to put the empty on the coffee table.

I was tucked into the back of the couch, my front tight to my husband, my cheek to his chest, my nearly finished beer in my hand resting on his abs and we were watching a movie.

His Dad was gone. The visit had not been great, it had not been shit. I’d invited him back, Ty had not protested, Irv had said he’d be delighted to come but no plans were made. There was something going down with Irv and Ty and I suspected, when plans were made, they’d be done through Ty.

I didn’t pry. Ty needed to work this out without me in his face about it and he knew I was there when he needed me.

After Irv left, I made dinner and Ty told me the rest of what Angel had to say. To say I was stunned was an understatement. Then again, Chace Keaton had given it away that day in the closet; I just didn’t get all of it.

We ate dinner and we hit the couch.

And I didn’t like the dregs of beer, warm beer at the bottom of the bottle was not my favorite thing so I wanted another one and I knew my husband did too.