“Neither are you, mate.”
“Yeah, but you trust me. I wouldn’t trust a mage working for the SOA if my life depended on it.”
Jono rolled his eyes. “It does, remember?”
Marek made an annoyed sound. “He’s an asshole.”
“True, but the bloke does have a nice arse.”
“Did you fuck him?” he heard Emma yell in the background, easily picking out her voice with his preternaturally enhanced hearing.
“I got his scent, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Marek let out a surprised squawk before there was a scuffle and Emma’s voice came more clearly through the mobile. “Really, Jono?Really?”
Jono shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. “Would’ve done it anyway before I even knew he was a mage.”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “No picking up customers. That’s arule.”
“That’s your rule, love. Not mine.”
They both knew it was a rule in name only. Emma would never tell him what to do, and hadn’t over the course of his employment at the bar as their manager. She and her pack almost felt like his own some days, except they weren’t.
They couldn’t be.
That didn’t stop her from being his friend.
“Come have breakfast with us. Leon is making chilaquiles.”
Jono’s stomach growled at the thought of food, especially if Leon was cooking. “I should stay.”
“If he leaves you high and dry, I’ll kick his ass for you.”
“I can do my own arse kicking, Em.”
“Let her have some fun,” Leon yelled in the background.
Jono chuckled. “I’ll bring the bail money.”
“Marek has it covered,” Emma retorted. “Perks of being best friends with a billionaire.”
She failed to acknowledge the fact that both she and Leon were multimillionaires now that PreterWorld was a publicly traded company. They might not live like they were filthy rich, but they had money. They owned a floor in Marek’s building though, and Jono liked spending time there with the lot of them.
“Are you reopening the bar tonight? Need me on shift to manage?” Jono asked.
“Depends if we can get it cleansed in time. The PCB finished processing the scene sometime early this morning, and we have access again. Casale assigned Marek a sorcerer for protection. We’re gonna swing by Tempest after breakfast and check out the damage, see if the kid can do anything about it.”
“Is he really a kid?”
“Baby sorcerer, and he’s Casale’s son.”
Jono winced. “Bloody hell.”
“Yeah. We’ll keep an eye on him. Wouldn’t be good for any of us if Tyler died.”
“Too right.” Jono fought back a yawn. “I’m going to get some coffee. I’ll ring you later.”
“You better.”
