The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3)(27)

“Ay carajo,” Paco said from below, and Tino agreed.

He cleared the window, nearly losing his pants when Nova tried to grab his ankle. Tino kicked back on instinct, catching Nova in the face.

Yeah, he hadn’t planned on that either.

“Oh, merda,” Tino cursed when Nova wiped at his face, coming away with a handful of blood.

“Run, avanza, pendejo!” Paco shouted.

Tino didn’t need to be told twice. He was already dashing down the stairs. When he hit the third-floor landing, he saw Nova was behind him.

A few other teenagers came out when Paco kept yelling his encouragement. It was summer. They all had the inclination to stay up late. Some just to hang out and play ball like Paco, others for more sinister reasons. Tino heard Jorgie say, “Que estúpido. He’s dead.”

That was predictable. Nova had a notoriously bad attitude since their mother died, and no one wanted to f*ck with him in their neighborhood.

There was also the little matter of the parent who should not be named. Tino and Nova didn’t even talk about their father anymore. They didn’t know him too well, and they didn’t miss him, but he had left them with a last name that made people very nervous.

Kids didn’t f*ck with Tino too terribly much either.

Even the gang members steered clear.

Plus, Tino could hold his own, and everyone knew it, but he’d rather not get into a fight with his brother on the landing at midnight.

Over f*cking chess.

They were supposed to be playing nice in case of a surprise social-worker visit, so he flew down the stairs and shouted up to his brother in Italian so no one else understood him. “I’m going to dime on you about the smoking, Casanova! I’m telling Romeo when he gets home tonight!”

“Do it, bitch! Dime me out! I’ll tell him I forged his name on the last three notes you brought home before school ended.”

“Go for it,” Tino announced in English. “He’ll kick your ass first.”

“And I’ll stop doing your math for you.” Nova was still speaking Italian, so close behind Tino could practically feel Nova at his heels as he went on, “You can help Romeo explain to the social worker why you’re failing it like a f*cking champion next year.”

Well, f*ck.

There was no way he was passing prealgebra without Nova.

He also wasn’t getting the ladder to the street down before Nova caught him, so he made a split-second, very stupid decision to crawl over the railing of the first-floor landing.

“Merda, no, no, no!” Nova’s tone changed from pissed off to frantic. “Valentino, don’t!”

“I dare you!” Paco called up as a whole group of kids stood there, eyes wide. “You don’t got the balls, cabrón!”

“Fuck!” Nova slid down the last flight and fell to his knees as he dived for Tino, but it was too late.

Tino jumped.

He made sure to make his knees soft when he landed, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he hadn’t really stopped to consider just how far a fall it was and how hard a landing it was on cement.

He hit the curb but ended up on the street when his ankle gave out. Tino blinked up at Paco when he walked over to him, the basketball still under his arm as he whispered in awe, “You jumped.”

“Yup,” Tino groaned, street cred intact, feeling like his shins had just been shoved up into his brain and his ankle had exploded. He rolled over to his hands and knees. “One game.”

“One game, my ass,” Nova growled as he came down the ladder to the street. “Paco, you better run, you motherf*cker!”

Tino caught the basketball when Paco dropped it, using it to hide the fact that he wasn’t all fired up to get to his feet. Instead he would just lie here with this ball and pretend the asphalt was his friend as he watched Nova tackle Paco, forcing him to the street.

“Someone should probably step in,” Tino mumbled when he saw Nova punch him, because Nova really shouldn’t be beating on someone in front of their building. “You know we got the social workers on our asses since we lost benefits.”

“Yeah, you step in.” Jorgie snorted.

“Really?” Tino held up his hand. “Did you see how far I just jumped?”

“My mamá told me not to mess with Nova.” Jorgie shrugged as he avoided Tino’s glare. “He’s all yours, pendejo.”

“Cazzo.” Tino groaned and pulled himself to his feet. His ankle was on fire, and he was inclined to limp, but everyone was still watching.

The joys of living in El Barrio.

So he walked over slowly to save Paco, biting his tongue the whole time to hide the pain. Nova was cussing Paco out, mostly in Spanish. Nice of Nova to use someone’s own language when he kicked the shit out of them.

“Are you loco, Paco? You knew he’d jump! And you dared him!” Nova shouted and then jumped to his feet. “You don’t tell an Italiano they don’t got the friggin’ balls to do something!”

“I didn’t think he’d do it.” Paco rolled onto his back, not looking too terribly put out about the tackle as he grinned past Nova to Tino. “That was awesome, though.”

Nova jumped at him again, but Tino reached out and grabbed his arm. “Come on, Nova. I’m the one who did it.”

Nova turned on Tino and punched him, catching him off guard, nearly knocking him off his feet when he was still unstable. He was suddenly really scared to see his ankle. One punch and he was almost on his ass again.