The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3) (34 page)

“
Diavolo, no
,” Carina growled at Brianna. “You don’t get to apologize.” She pointed at the door with her cigarette. “Get out.” Her voice was threatening now, making a shiver roll down Brianna’s spine. “First Tino breaks her heart, and now you’re threatening her. No. My family is done hurting her for the night. If you say one more word to her, I will get very mean.”

“Tino?” Mary Moretti turned on Brianna with such intense accusation Brianna shrank back instinctively. “Have you been fooling around with him?”

“Duh, Ma!” Carina shouted again. “Crawl out from the bottom of the wine box. Everyone knows they’re fucking!”

“That dirty guinea in the garage?” Mary sounded appalled, like she couldn’t imagine Brianna touching Tino even though anyone with eyes could see he was gorgeous. “That’s who you’re fucking?”

“Get out before I turn into a dirty guinea and
beat your ass
.” Carina still sounded very dangerous. “You’re not allowed to talk about my brothers like that!”

Mary didn’t back down. “Bring it.”

Carina threw her ashtray with shocking force, making it shatter against the wall. Brianna jumped from the sound of it, but Mary was a little too numbed, either by life or too much wine.

She just looked at Carina furiously.

Carina glared back.

It was strange, like watching animals in the wild waging a silent battle for dominance. Carina took a long drag off her cigarette, looking eerily like Nova as she did it.

And it was obvious her mother noticed.

“You wanna be like them? The dirty trash in the garage. I gave birth to you; now you wanna side with them? Those bastardi who insult me by existing.”

“Yeah, I told you before, guineas stick together,” Carina said without remorse.

“Fine.” Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “You think you’re so tough, little girl, but I can cut you. I can make you bleed.”

Carina rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“The whore deserves it anyway. Insult me like that.” Mary’s gaze darted to Brianna, giving her a look that made Brianna’s stomach feel leaden. “Do you enjoy being a puttana for a filthy whore?”

“Are you calling
me
a whore? Are you giving me shit for defending my best friend?” Carina asked her mother in disbelief. “At least I didn’t sell myself to a Borgata I hate just to make my daddy happy. I’d eat a bullet before I got under a man just because someone told me to. Who’s the troia?”

“I always win,” her mother warned. “So I’d tread lightly.”

“Okay.” Carina gave her a thumbs-up. “Go win. You’re drunk, Ma. Leave me alone before I call Nonno and ask him to come get me again.” Her mother was silent for a long time, and Carina threatened, “I’ll do it. I swear to God, I’ll call him right now.”

Brianna jumped when Mary Moretti stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

Carina huffed and lit another cigarette. “Cunt.”

“That was bad,” Brianna whispered. “That felt extra bad, even for her.”

“I cannot wait to get outta Brooklyn.” Carina got up, cigarette in her mouth, and went looking for another ashtray. “One day, Bri. We’re gonna get an apartment in Manhattan. No Borgatas and no men unless we feel like being entertained for the night. It’ll all be on our terms. It’ll be great.”

Carina found a new ashtray in her closet and tapped her cigarette against it.

Brianna stared at the mess of ashes and broken glass on the floor left by the first ashtray. “You’re not gonna pick it up?”

“The maids will get it in the morning.”

Brianna raised her eyebrows, because sometimes Carina was undeniably spoiled. There was no way she could leave that mess until morning, so she got out of bed and started gathering the bits of glass in her hand. Then she looked at Carina, who was back to smoking in front of the window. “I haven’t fucked Tino. You lied. You made me sound like a puttana for nothing.”

“Of course you have.” Carina stared at Brianna like she had two heads. “We all know that’s what you were doing this weekend. I mean, hello, who’re you lying to? Not like I’m a pillar of chastity.”

“But we haven’t.” Brianna grabbed the garbage can from under Carina’s desk and picked up the rest of the glass and cigarettes with a grimace. “Not even close.”

“He’s Siciliano. Come on.” Carina said it like it was some unbreakable rule. “
You have to have.
”

“I haven’t even touched it. I haven’t seen it either,” Brianna whispered. “He won’t let me.”

Carina took another drag off her cigarette and blew it out the window thoughtfully, and then she mumbled, “Really?”

Brianna nodded. “Really.”

“That
is
weird. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you,” Brianna snapped at her, even if she was very relieved to finally have someone to talk to. “That’s why he freaked tonight, ’cause I wanted to touch him.”

“You wanted to jerk him off, and he got pissed with you?” Carina looked at Brianna like she was speaking another language. “Is that why he made the cash comment?”

“Yeah, he said he just wanted to hold me.”

“Maledizione.” Carina’s eyes grew wide. “What if he’s gay?”

“He’s not gay,” Brianna said without a doubt. “He wants it. He just won’t take it. Not from me, anyway. Apparently the rave girls are perfectly fine.”

She left Carina sitting there and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She looked in the mirror, seeing that her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were splotched.

Ugh.

That was the last thing she needed to see when her self-esteem was already shattered.

“Are you sure?” Carina asked as Brianna came out of the bathroom. When Brianna frowned at her, Carina clarified, “If a Siciliano is turning down a handjob from a beautiful woman, I’m pretty sure that means he’s gay.”

“He’s
not
gay. I’ve made out with him. There is no way in the world he is gay. He made me come without feeling skin. He’s really good at it, Carina. Unnaturally good. And when he kissed me, he did it like a guy who knows he’s awesome at it. He’s confident. Too confident. I can’t explain it, but I promise he’s not gay.”

“Well, huh.” Carina sounded mystified. “Maybe that’s his thing, a power trip, making you beg for it. Maybe he’s just kinky.”

“Maybe.” Brianna considered that for a bit as she crawled back into bed and snuggled under the covers. “He licked my feet. It was sort of nice, actually. He made it nice. He makes everything nice.”

“Porca puttana.” Carina held up her hand. “We’re done now.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Brianna turned over in bed as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s over before it even started.”

“Aw, sweetheart.” Carina came to her, obviously abandoning her cigarette in the ashtray. She crawled into bed and hugged Brianna from behind like a sister. “Fuck ’em. You don’t need a man. One day we’ll be out of Brooklyn. I promise.”

Brianna nodded. “Okay.”

“It’ll work out. One way or another,” Carina whispered into the night. “Trust me, I know Tino. He’s my cosmic twin. He’s got a good soul. He wouldn’t hurt you like that unless he had a good reason.”

“I don’t think you know Tino at all,” Brianna argued as she closed her eyes. “I don’t think any of us do.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tino stared at the ceiling, watching the flashes of color dance across it in rhythm to the rave music. He was so fucking tired, and he blinked heavily as Meilei ran her fingers through his hair.

“That’s what you get for fucking a Dyker Heights girl,” she chastised not for the first time, and with no little amount of bitterness. “Stick to your own kind.”

“True that,” Bobby agreed and squeezed Tino’s knee, because somehow he ended up taking Carla’s place with Tino’s feet in his lap. “Was she a virgin?”

“Sì,” Tino answered in Italian, because he was still trying to keep his eyes open.

It was three in the morning, and he had been smoking weed all night. Dangerous when he was dealing, but the entire week was sort of hazed out for him.

Not only was Brianna ignoring him.

Carina was too.

Which made life really fantastic when Tino was still fucking to keep his sister from being sold off by her cuntface mother. Now he didn’t even have his escape. He couldn’t close his eyes and visualize Brianna when he knew she hated him.

So it was either drown himself in drugs or end it all.

Sounded overly dramatic, but his life wasn’t exactly stellar to begin with.

“Wow.” Bobby sounded awed, though Tino couldn’t remember what they were talking about. “I wonder what that’s like.”

“It’d just make you more expensive,” Meilei said dismissively. “And the bastards who took it wouldn’t be kind, or maybe you forgot that part. Be happy it’s over.”

Oh.

Virginity.

Right.

Tino had to agree with Bobby.

What the fuck was
that
like?

“She’s still a virgin,” Tino said, feeling very proud of himself, considering it had taken everything in him not to take what she offered. “I didn’t fuck her. I wanted to. Madonn’, I wanted to, but I didn’t.”

“I understand,” Meilei said without hesitation, which was very nice after everyone else in his life treating him like he was fucking crazy for turning it down. “You don’t want the ugliness to touch her.”

Tino rolled over and wrapped his arms around Meilei. He buried his face against her stomach, smelling expensive perfume, and whispered, “I’m sorry I hurt you, sweetheart,” because she was way too good for someone like him. “I’m an asshole.”

“No, you’re not. You can’t hurt me.” Meilei’s fingers were still in his hair. “You only hurt yourself. You loved the wrong one.”

That was the fucking truth.

Life would be so much easier if he could just love Meilei instead.

Or Carla.

Or even Bobby.

“She seemed nice.” Bobby squeezed Tino’s knee again. “What was it like?”

“It was awesome,” Tino said against Meilei’s stomach as he closed his eyes and remembered lying in bed with Brianna. Holding her. Kissing her. Listening to her. “When I make her come. Cazzo. To listen to her, you’d think it was the greatest thing in the fucking world. It’s like I can actually feel what it’s
supposed
to be like when you fuck someone. I didn’t even need to fuck her to feel it. I just needed to hear her. To watch her.”

Meilei’s fingers stopped in his hair, and for a second he thought he’d pissed her off again, but instead she asked, “Really?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, unable to taper the admiration he felt for Brianna and the fact that she could give him that. Even if it was gone now, just touching it was something. “It was incredible. I want you to have that, sweetheart. Someone who makes you feel like a goddess.”

Meilei was quiet for a moment, and Tino opened his eyes to see that her dark gaze was glassy before she gave him a smile and said, “I matter,” like she wanted to believe it.

“You do,” he promised her. “You really do. One day, you’ll find your Peter Pan. You’ll be his Wendy. It’ll be amazing for you. I believe that.”

“What about me?” Bobby pushed Tino’s leg. “Where’s my Peter Pan?”

“Bobby, you
are
Peter Pan,” Tino said with the first genuine smile he’d managed since Brianna walked out of his life.

Bobby laughed, and Meilei laughed with him. For a tiny flash of time, Tino thought he might be able to take a clear breath without the pain crushing the air out of his chest, but then just as quickly, their laughter sobered, and Bobby said, “This is Moretti turf.”

An annoyed female voice cut in over the music. “But you’re here.”

“Tino’s my friend. Everyone knows that.” Bobby sounded indignant. “And Carmine’s not my father.”

That slashed through the drugs flooding Tino’s system, and he rolled over to see Lola Brambino standing there, beautiful as ever in a long blue dress that clung to her in all the right places and brought out her eyes. She had an Armani purse on her arm despite the location, in the same way Nova carried thousands in cash. They were too valuable to be attacked, and they knew it, but all Tino could do was look at her in horror. “What are you doing here? My brother’s here!”

Lola leaned into him, long dark curls falling past her shoulders. Her light eyes were wide and fearful against her tanned skin. She spoke in a low and frantic tone. “I didn’t know. Please don’t tell him. Promise, Tino.”

“What?” He frowned at her, feeling like he’d smoked way more than he actually did, because he didn’t understand what the hell she was trying to tell him. “Don’t tell who—” He stopped when he spied Nova breaking his way through the crowd. Every muscle in Tino’s body contracted when he saw Carlo with him. He’d been checked out this past week since the fight with Brianna, but it all came back in a huge rush, and he whispered, “Oh my God. You’re the Dominican?”

Lola pulled back and gave him an icy stare. “Is that how he described me?”

“You’re not twenty-one!” Tino barked at her, because that was the only thing he could latch on to when every thought in his brain just shattered in a thousand different directions.

“It sounds better than nineteen. He’s only twenty-nine. I’m almost twenty. It’s not a huge age gap.” She shrugged, before her eyes got glassy in a way he didn’t think was possible for her. “Please don’t tell him.”

“You’re screwing my zio! The fuck, Lola!” Tino snapped in a low voice because Nova and Carlo were getting closer. “Did your father put you up to it?”

“No,” she said quickly, giving him a look of pleading as if begging him to understand. “He didn’t. I swear. I just met him, and—”

“Holy shit,” Bobby said in awe and pointed from Tino to Lola. “But I thought you two were still—”

“Yeah!” Tino felt like he was going to have a nervous breakdown. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked Lola in disbelief. “You could have told me last week instead of breaking my fucking brain two seconds before my brother walks up.”

“I didn’t know last week. I didn’t know until right now. He wanted me to meet his nephews, and I realized when he introduced your brother as Casanova. So I went to go look for a restroom and—”

“You didn’t know Carlo’s last name was Moretti?” Tino gave her an unamused look. “You didn’t know he was Cosa Nostra? Carlo could be the fucking poster child for the organization. You’re not stupid. I call bullshit.”