Derrick leaned back and said, “Oh, okay. What, you got two, three of ’em coming over tonight? You ever had a ménage yet? You be around enough women for plenty of ’em.”

Ivan shook it off and said, “Naw, I don’t get down like that.”

Derrick said, “Shit, well, you don’t know what you’re missing, Ivan. The last time I was down here…” He stopped in midsentence and just smiled.

Ivan told himself, Yeah, that’s the kind of shit that I’m afraid of with him. I’ve kept all of my moves safe and sound and with no drama.

Ivan moved on from it. He said, “Well, since you snuck down here on me again, I already got plans for the night. So what are you gonna do?”

Derrick shrugged. “I’ll take that hotel room, then. The same one you hooked me up with the last time.”

NO MATTER WHAT, Ivan couldn’t seem to shake the family loyalty to his brother. But not everyone was family to him. When the word hit Chip Garrett at Hutch & Mitchell Accounting’s offices that Mike Adams had been chosen to do out-of-office accounting work under Ivan’s new negotiation instead of him, he wasn’t too pleased about it.

The first thing Ivan asked him was, “Who told you that?”

“Mike told me,” Chip answered, nearly screaming over his cell phone on his lunch break.

Why would he do that? Ivan asked himself. He was cruising on his way across the Coronado Bridge to pick up Lucina in his GT. Mike is so damn honest he doesn’t even know when he needs to keep his mouth shut, he thought. I’m gonna have to work on him with that.

Ivan told his fellow accountant, “Different people ask for different things, Chip. You asked me to set you up with one of my partner’s girls from a party, and I did that. Now you and Gretchen have been going out together.”

Chip told him, “Come on, cut the bullshit, Ivan. You think I want a girl over a new job position? I hear you’re gonna be doubling Mike’s salary now. And by the way, that girl Gretchen is expensive as hell, let me be the first to tell you.”

They all are, Ivan reminded himself. If not, then they’re not impulsive enough for Lucina to keep them around. They’re all there to make a guy spend on purpose.

Ivan decided to level with him. He said, “Look, the bottom line is this, Chip. You were already complaining about the workloads we were getting at Hutch and Mitchell. So what makes me think you’re not gonna do the same with me?”

He said, “This is hard work out here, man. I don’t get any easy money. I have to be on the numbers every day, even more so now. That’s why I wanted help.”