The words were on repeat in my head like a catchy jingle from a commercial as I pictured coming home to Tex. Seeing him every night in my bed. Every morning as he moaned around a mouthful of coffee.

“What now?” Tex asked.

We cleaned up the kitchen after eating. I normally checked in on what he was doing before getting back to work. I was no closer to finding out who was double-crossing us. There were multiple cops and feds on our payroll. As far as I could tell, none of them had an influx of money coming in. Still, if they were bold enough to fuck my family out of money, then they had to be smart enough to cover their tracks.

I couldn’t exactly ask Tex to help or get him involved. It was best if he stayed clear of it all. At least then Benito wouldn’t have me eliminate him.

“What do you normally do on your days off?”

“Lately?” Tex looked nervously at me. “Not much.”

“You’ve been investigating me on your days off, haven’t you?”

“What do you do?” Tex asked, avoiding the question.

We sat there in silence, neither one of us willing to answer. I stood up. “We can watch a movie or read.”

“Movie first,” Tex said.

He was up and headed to the living room, only to stop short. “Ummm, where is a tv in this place?”

“You didn’t have time to check out all the rooms?” I asked as I turned right and headed down the hall. The laundry room had a door next to the dryer that looked like a cabinet, but it was a passageway to another room.

“I did,” Tex said, hot on my heels.

I opened the doors and stepped through into a secret room.

“Holy shit.” Tex moved past me and plopped down on the soft double recliner. “You have your own movie theater. Damn, money really does buy happiness.”

I hit a button on one of the walls, and the computer that controlled what we watched appeared. “What did you want to see?”

“Horror? Or something actiony?”

I looked through my collection, trying to pick the perfect movie. Tex materialized behind me. Before I knew it, he was scooting me over.

“Oh, a Bond movie is always good.”

Were they?

“Please tell me you’ve seen them,” Tex said.

“No.” I hadn’t been into movies as a kid and wasn’t into them as an adult. There were a few good documentaries I enjoyed. It was the only reason I’d allowed Giancarlo to talk me into the movie room in the first place.

“That’s it. We’re watching all of them.” Tex shoved me to a seat, and we plopped down.

“You know what would be perfect?” He licked his lips as if he was still hungry. “Popcorn.”

I stood up and pulled out the popcorn machine from the back closet.