Sequel to "Wiseguys". If you haven't read the original, read it before reading this story. Give it a shot. People say it's good.

Andre walked towards the large house on the coast. The tides were coming in the afternoon while the sun was about to settle down for the day. The years had done him well. The former enforcer had not lost in size. He worked out more than even back in the day, having way more time to do so now compared to the hectic and sometimes unpredictable time schedule back in LA. His hair was longer, but the dreads never disappeared. It was something he refused to get rid off.

He stepped into the house, not even bothering to knock. He knew that Beck was home, and he knew that he was always welcome. It had been like that since they got away from LA and the Trapani family had fallen to pieces.

He walked upstairs into the room that served for business. Beck was there every afternoon, counting the expenses and searching for ways to reduce them in his household. Andre opened the door and walked into the room, where Beck was sitting behind a desk, looking through bills and writing numbers down on a separate piece of paper while the cooling breeze came into the room through the open window.

"Any chance you'll find a check in one of those letters?" Andre asked as he closed the door.

"I'm keeping my hopes up every month, and I always get my heart broken." Beck answered as he threw the stack of bills onto one of the drawers with some money to pay for them.

"How much do you have left?" Andre asked as he took one of the wooden chairs and turned it around, sitting down and leaning on the back of the chair with his arms.

"Around a hundred grand. It should last for another year. Maybe eighteen months if I'm careful. You?" Beck asked, looking at his friend.

"Hundred and twenty. But you got one mouth more to feed than me, so we are probably doing the same thing." Andre said. Beck let out a sigh, time catching up on them and their financial reserves.

When we came here, I didn't want to think about the money. We had plenty of it and could do whatever we wanted. Both Andre and I bought a house and decided to enjoy the cash we had made through all those years. But after all those years, I guess I could say it lasted long enough. Inflation, financial crisis and all that crap did their job, too. The prices for everything fucking tripled after a while. I remember when the american dollar still had some strength and worth. But now? Now it seems like a fucking joke to me.

"We gotta do something. I'm not planning to sit here and wait until I have nothing left. I got a wife and two small kids to take care off. And what am I supposed to do when they grow up and want to go to college or somewhere like that? Sell my fucking kidneys?" Beck said. The former made man looked as good as ever, his hair having grown way longer while his facial structure was way more mature and masculine and the soul patch gave it the final touch. He also kept in shape himself, but focused more on jogging than on building muscle as his best friend did.

"I'm sure Cat could borrow us some money. Adam left her quite a lot and she's been careful herself." Adam suggested.

"I know she has a lot left and I know she would give all of it to us in a heartbeat if we asked her. But I can't take money from her. I mean…" Beck said with a sigh, not finishing his thought. Andre understood. It was an option he would only consider if things got really bad.

"Then how about this? We go to the city and see if there is anything worth investing in? A nightclub or some shit like that, while we still have enough to do so." Andre suggested.

"You think we should?"

"I'll rather have some okay income every month than watch the pile of cash in my mattress become smaller. Keeps the blood pressure down." Andre said with a smile.

"You got a point there. Let's do that first thing tomorrow morning." Beck said.

"Alright. You and Jade coming over tonight? Tori is making dinner, and Cat said Lilly and her would be there." Andre asked.

"Sure. We'll come over around eight. I'll bring the wine."

"Good. See you then." Andre said as he got up and walked out of the room and the house.

If you are wondering, my family is doing fine. Andre and I proposed to our girls at the same time and had our weddings two weeks apart. He did it first, and I decided to wait and give him the honor. It wasn't anything special by any means. It was always the same group of people. The five of us and little Lilly, who was still a baby then and cried most of the time while the priest said whatever he did, were the only people to celebrate it. And as far as I'm concerned, I didn't need anyone else.

Beck walked downstairs where his two daughters were playing with their dolls while Jade was watching something on TV and ironing the now clean clothes. Beck saw that his girls saw him, so he motioned them to stay quiet as he slowly and silently snuck up to Jade and hugged her around the waist, kissing her on the cheek and neck before resting his head on her shoulder.

"Hey, careful, I don't want to burn you with the iron." She said with a chuckle as she put aside the iron and leaned back in his hug. Jade was still good old Jade: dark clothes, dark hair, a great body and the same emerald green eyes that Beck could not get enough from. The fact that she was wearing a short or a swimming suit dress most of the time only made Beck happier.

"Andre and Tori are inviting us to dinner. Cat and Lilly will be there too." Beck said. Jade turned around in his arms and wrapped her hands around his neck as she pulled him towards her and kissed him, almost knocking down the board behind her.

"When?"

"Eight o'clock. Let's not be late again." Beck begged.

"They are late too all the time. Why can't we be?" Jade asked.

"Because we are the more polite couple." Beck said.

"Yeah, we fucking are." Jade whispered to him with a smirk as she turned around and took the clothes off the board and carried it towards the table. She decided she would put them where they belong later. She then walked where the girls where playing.

"Hey, want to go visit uncle Andre, aunt Tori and play with Kyle?" Jade asked them as she crouched down next to them.

"Mhm." The five and four year old mumbled, way too focused on their puppet house.

A few hours passed and Beck, Jade and their two kids made their way towards Andre's place. They arrived there a few minutes later, living close to each other. Beck opened the door and the kids immediately ran inside towards Kyle's room.

"Watch for the steps." Tori called as she walked towards the door to greet the guests. "I heard your kids the moment you walked out of the house." She said with a smile as she hugged her cousin. The half Latina was still as tanned as always and looked as good as ever. "I've made your favorite meal, just so you know."

"You really are an angel, you know that?" Jade said as she hugged her back.

"Yeah, I've been told that often." Tori said with a smirk as she pulled away and looked at Beck. "And you can go and help Andre get the drinks."

"Why does he need help with that?" Beck wondered.

"Because the fucking ice box outside is stuck and I can't open it." Andre said as he walked inside. "Honey, I need a knife." Andre said as he stopped next to Tori.

"What for?" She wondered.

"You want to open it with a knife?" Beck asked.

"Well, if it won't open I'll stab it with it." Andre said as he walked into the kitchen and took out the biggest knife out of the knife holder. "That's what I'm talking about." He said with a smirk before he walked back outside.

"I'll go with him before he hurts himself." Beck said with a smile as he walked outside, leaving the girls by themselves.

"Is Cat here yet?" Jade asked as she and Tori walked into the living room.

"She should be here soon. I only hope she isn't arguing with Lilly again." Tori said as she sat down on the couch.

"Well, she is 17. We weren't much better that age." Jade said.

"True. She doesn't have it easy herself. No father and no idea what happened. And Cat doesn't want to talk about it." Tori said. "We've been over this. It's easier for her. And the less Lilly knows the better." Jade said.

That moment the door opened and both girls got up. Cat walked inside, wearing a colored dress and keeping her hair red, but only on shoulder length. It made her look younger, but her eyes revealed a lot of life experience and a lot of pain.

"Hi." She said, drawing the "i" out as always.

"Hey Cat. Where's Lilly?" Tori asked as she hugged her friend.

"We had an argument again. She is at home." Cat said.

"It will be alright, Cat. She's still a kid." Jade said as she put her hand on Cat's shoulder before being hugged by the smaller woman.

"I know. I know…"

The slide door opened and Andre and Beck walked into the house, each carrying a couple of bottles.

"Hey there. We got the ice box open." Beck said.

"And how?" Jade asked with a small smirk, keeping her arm around Cat's shoulder.

"Doesn't matter. But I need to buy another one tomorrow." Andre said.

"And a new knife." Beck added.

"And a new knife, yeah..:" Andre repeated while Tori shook her head and smiled.

"Let's just eat." She said.

Dinner went well. The kids were playing upstairs while the adults had dinner downstairs in the dinning room. They talked and joked as usually, having fun and enjoying each others company.

"We are going to the city tomorrow." Beck said.

"Why?" Jade asked as she looked at him.

"Andre and I want to go see if there is anything we can invest our money in. We are slowly but surely running out." Beck explained.

"Oh god, how much do we have left?" Tori asked, looking at Andre with a worried expression.

"Don't panic. We have enough for at least another year, maybe longer, but instead of watching our money disappear slowly Beck and I want to have some income. A few grand every month and we would be set." Andre explained.

"If you need money, I could give you some. I still have most Ad…" Cat said after having been silent the whole night. She stopped before she said Adam's name, however. The memories of him only hurt her more with time. Nobody spoke of him in front of her because of that. It would only make her cry again.

"It's okay. We'll take care of it. Thank you for offering it, Cat." Beck said.

"I though we should go and check out some of those night clubs. I'm sure they make some nice money out there." Andre said, changing the subject.

"I bet they do. When I take the kids to school, there are still people out there. They all must party until the morning. I bet they also leave a lot of money in there." Tori said.

"Well, if they do, I want it. So tomorrow, Beck and I will take the kids to school and look around the town to see if there is something good there." Andre said.

"It's a deal. Tomorrow, we take care of finances." Beck said as he raised his glass.

It was a nice plan. Go to town; see what clubs are there and then make money from one of them. It was supposed to bring in some money and also give me and Andre something to do. But who could have predicted what would happen the next day? Nobody. And if someone had, I wouldn't have believed him anyway.