And Jasper might die mad at me, but he was also honest to a fault. And nice. He’d never take advantage of even his worst enemy. Who was apparently me. Damn it. I wasn’t giving up, though. I’d wait until his shift ended, try again.

It was cold, but I’d been in worse, and at least it wasn’t actively snowing or sleeting. Luckily, I had gloves and a hat in my pockets, so I went around to the alley that ran behind the row of downtown shops. Sure enough, the old beater hunk of metal that Jasper called a car was parked in one of the spots behind the gaming store. Finding a convenient concrete planter to lean against, I settled in to wait, but I hadn’t been there long when my phone buzzed.

Bruno’s face flashed on the lock screen, and I almost dropped the phone. Hell. My pulse raced, my stomach rebelling all over again. I could let the call go to voicemail, but that was the way of a coward. Bruno got so little time to call home that Mom and I always made a point of answering if at all possible. He was out there saving everyone’s asses and keeping us safe. The least I could do was pick up the phone.

“Hey, Bro.” I tried to keep my voice steady, play it cool.

“Hey. I’ve only got a few minutes here, but I wanted to check in on my favorite baby brother.” The phone crackled with every third word, but still the warmth in his voice came through loud and clear. His voice was deeper than mine, more naturally authoritative without trying. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” Maybe the less I said, the better.

“Only fine?” Bruno’s tone shifted, concern replacing the easy warmth. “You okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Nothing for you to worry about.” I sped up, trying to convince both of us at the same time. “Job’s going well. They said they might have more hours for me.”

“Good. I knew when I told Juan about you needing work that you’d make me proud.”

“Trying.” God. Like I needed a reminder of all Bruno had done for me. He could have washed his hands of me a half dozen favors ago, but he was Bruno, full of patience and intrinsically good, a better person than I’d ever be. Jobs for a college dropout with an iffy record had been in short supply, but Bruno had leaned on his old buddy from high school to get me work in the online shipping warehouse. Decent hourly wage and health insurance, which had been the main incentive for me.

“Excellent. How’s the leg holding up?”