Page 78 of Bene

Starting now.

On speaker, the call rung three times while Bene stared at the clock on his Lambo’s dash. Chicago was an hour behind Toronto, and it was already a little past one in the morning his time. Chances were, his brother was fast asleep next to his wife, unless someone had him out doing business for the Chicago mob.

And even then, he might not pick up the phone.

Business first.

Everything else second.

Beni did pick up on the fourth ring, though, right before it went to his voicemail. “Yeah, fuck … hello?”

“Sorry, I woke you up, huh?”

It took a second.

Then, two …

“Bene?”

“Hey, man,” he said quietly. “Uh, if you’re not up for talking, I can call you tomorrow or—”

“Now is fine.”

It clearly wasn’t.

He’d obviously been asleep.

And still …

It had been so long since the two of them talked that Beni didn’t even seem to care his twin was calling way too late for it to be normal.

“Everything good your way?” Beni asked.

Bene cleared his throat. “Yeah, I mean, it’s good. A lot of shit’s changed, and—”

“Yeah, Marcus mentioned you got the button, huh?”

His laughter filled up the car.

“Can’t say it was because I deserved it, or anything.”

“You did,” Beni replied quietly, “you just had a moment for a bit, that’s all.”

Right, right.

“How’s August?”

Beni sighed, proud and pleased. “Great, man. Loves her job. You know, her articles made her more famous in this city than I am back home.”

Bene chuckled. “I know, I’m subscribed to Manic Media’s online edition. Swear she could write about a polar bear eating snow, and it would somehow be interesting.”

He wasn’t even lying.

August was an amazing writer.

“Tell me about it.”

The silence stretched on between Bene and his twin, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. He broke the silence first, if only because he just needed to talk to someone about Vanna, and maybe then he could go upstairs to his penthouse alone, instead of rushing back across the city to spend the rest of his night with that woman.