Gio

“Fine?” I pivot on my heel to face my baby brother. “How is this fine?” I gesture to the disaster that is my apartment.

Johnny tries to display himself as easy-going. When we were younger he was. He always had a plan or an idea. As we got older though, I realized that the plan always sucked, and I was the one left to clean up the mess.

He ran a hand through his messy hair. “I have a plan.”

My stomach dropped. Of course, he does.

“They said you owe fifty k.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Like I said, banana, I have a plan.”

My lips pursed at him using my nickname. He was trying to calm me, but it wasn’t working this time.

“What did you do, John?”

“I mean, they opened a tab for me Annie. It’s fine, I’ll pay it back. This was just a reminder.”

The other thing about Johnny, he inherited far too many traits from our father.

Alcohol, check. Johnny would drink all night, past the point of being belligerent. He’d walk home in an alcohol-fueled stupor getting himself into trouble.

Drugs, double-check. Our father, the great man that he was, had introduced Johnny to pot at twelve. From there, it was all downhill.

And now, gambling.

I took a deep breath. Yelling at him wouldn’t solve anything, I needed to check my attitude.

“Who did you open a tab with?”

“You know, the casino. That one is Boston they just opened. They opened me a tab so I just gotta give them a few bucks and they’ll be happy.”

“A few bucks?” My nails bit into the palms of my hands from clenching my fists. “They said you owe fifty grand.”

Rob whistled low. “That much?”

“It’s fine.” Johnny declared, again. He leaned forward resting both elbows on his knees, he turned his head to look up to me. “I swear banana, it’s gonna be fine. Rob and I got a plan.”

“What plan Johnny?” Talking to him was exhausting. “How can you possibly get that much money? Do you know what they’re gonna do to you? They’ll kill you, John. That’s what they’ll do. And for all, we know they’ll take me down with you.”

“Hey,” Johnny springs from the couch to put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’s fine, we have a plan, Annie. I’m not going to let anything happen to us.”

I release the breath I’d been holding since those men walked into my apartment.

“Okay, what’s the plan?”

“It’s a good plan.” Johnny shrugged nonchalantly.

In another life he must’ve been a politician, telling people what they wanted to hear while also committing to nothing.

Trust me, Annie.

It’s a good plan, Annie.

I want to trust him, really I do. He’s my one and only brother, but fifty thousand dollars and Irish gangsters make me less trusting.

“Tell me what the plan is, Johnny?”

Rob’s eyes lit up like a lightbulb had gone off. “We could use you.” he states. “We need a driver?”