Sempre (Forever Series #1)(137)

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Glaring at the paper on his desk, Carmine read the last question for the twentieth time, but he was no closer to an answer than he had been five minutes ago.

He groaned as he slouched in the hard plastic chair, shifting position to get comfortable. The girl beside him shot him an annoyed look, and he cocked an eyebrow at her, daring her to say something. She huffed dramatically before focusing back on her test. He stared at her, unable to place her name.

Michelle? Mandy? Monique? He couldn’t f**king remember.

She cut her eyes at him again and mouthed, “What do you want?”

“Nothing,” he said, turning to his paper. He didn’t care about her. He barely noticed anyone anymore. They were all the same, and there wasn’t a single thing any of them could do for him. Haven was everything he wanted, the reason he sat in this room, stressing over this ridiculous test, so he could take her away and start a new life somewhere.

The administrator announced there were five minutes left, and Carmine sighed loudly as he read the question once more. He tried to wrap his brain around the analogies, but he didn’t know what half the words meant. He gave up and dropped the pencil, not bothering to answer. The only analogy that mattered was weed is to smoke, as p**sy is to f*ck, because that was the only thing that would ease his nerves today.

After the tests were collected, Carmine headed for the exit, rolling his neck to get the tension out of it. He strolled out to the parking lot with the rest of his classmates, where the sound of squealing tires stopped him in his tracks. He looked up, his brow furrowing in confusion when the old pickup truck pulled into the parking lot.

“Isn’t that Nicholas?”

Carmine cringed as Lisa spoke behind him. Nicholas parked his truck and climbed out, glancing around in a rush. He looked in Carmine’s direction, muttering to himself as he approached. “Carmine, I need to talk to you about Haven. She—”

He didn’t have time to finish before Carmine swung. Nicholas’s head snapped to the side when the fist connected. Staggering backward, Nicholas glared at him. “There’s something wrong with you! I told her you’d go psycho if I came here!”

“Excuse me?” Carmine grabbed Nicholas’s shirt. “When did you talk to her?”

Nicholas pried his hands off, shoving Carmine away. “Twenty minutes ago when she called me.”

The words stung. “What do you mean she called you?”

“I mean—ring, ring—she called my phone,” he said. “What else would ‘she called me’ mean?”

Carmine lunged at him, but Nicholas was prepared this time. He barely stumbled before striking back, jabbing Carmine hard in the ribs. He gasped at the unexpected shot. Before he could recover, Nicholas struck him in the nose. Carmine’s vision blurred as sharp pain shot through his face, blood flowing instantly. Someone grabbed his arm before he could get his wits about him, and he turned to see that a crowd had formed.

Carmine wiped his face with the back of his hand, smearing blood all over himself. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pinched his nose with it, trying to stop the bleeding.

“You know, you’d think you’d show some damn gratitude,” Nicholas said. “I didn’t have to come here.”

“Why did you? You’re wasting your time.”

“Maybe I am, but I came here because Haven asked me to. She didn’t have anyone else, and she needed you to come home. I try to do her a favor, and instead of listening, you’d rather fight for no reason.”

“Why did she ask you to get me?”

“I think someone was there or something.”

Carmine tensed. “How do you know?”

“I don’t know. I heard a doorbell.”

Carmine pushed past Nicholas and sprinted for the car. His father was leaving town, so no one should have been at the house. He sped through the streets of Durante, trying to figure out who it could be. Salvatore? Had La Cosa Nostra come again?

Fresh skid marks aligned the driveway when he arrived home, ruts dug into the path, but there weren’t any cars in the yard, the house as quiet as he’d left it hours before.

Parking near the porch, Carmine climbed out and looked around, nothing raising any red flags. He unlocked the door and disabled the alarm when it beeped, his blood running cold when he saw the phone lying on the floor in the foyer. Glancing around suspiciously, he tried to remain calm as he made his way upstairs. He didn’t find Haven on the third floor, so he slipped into his bedroom and pulled his gun from the top of his closet. He had hidden it there before he dropped the Mazda off to be fixed, not wanting to carry it in his brother’s car. After checking to make sure it was loaded, he slipped the pistol into his waistband and went back down to the first floor.

His footsteps echoed in the house as he headed toward the kitchen, stopping in the doorway. Haven stood behind the island, her arm drawn back as she clutched a rolling pin. Carmine could see her trembling from where he stood.

If he hadn’t been confused, he might have found it amusing. “Are you okay, tesoro?”

She nodded. “Are you?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She blinked a few times and continued to gaze at him. “What happened?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking that?”

“Yes, but your nose . . .”