The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3)(54)

Brianna turned around and stretched out next to him. “Did you buy your school uniforms?”

Tino opened his eyes to stare at her. “I have to wear a f*cking uniform?”

“You do.” She giggled. “I’m sorry.”

Tino kept looking at her, studying Brianna long enough that her cheeks heated again when he asked, “Do you wear a uniform?”

“We all wear a uniform.” Carina hopped to her feet and started jumping, making Brianna and Tino bounce with her. “So stop looking at her like that.”

“What? I can’t like a cute girl in a Catholic school uniform?”

“No, you can’t.” Carina jumped by Tino’s head, nearly landing on him, which was probably really dangerous when he was recovering like he was. “Morettis make babies. They leave them everywhere.”

“You’re a Moretti too,” Tino reminded her.

“Boys are disgusting. I will never, ever, ever!” Carina jumped higher and higher. “Ever!” she screamed it like she wanted her father to hear it. “Get married! NEVER!”

Brianna’s cheeks were on fire again, but she still admitted, “I don’t think boys are disgusting.”

Tino arched an eyebrow at her. “Even boys with scars?”

“Especially boys with scars.” She smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. “Scars make them interesting.”

“Then I’ll probably be interesting as hell.” Tino laughed. “At least one girl won’t mind them.”

She laughed with him. “I won’t be the only girl.”





Chapter Seventeen


Reasons Neverland Sucks!

Romeo in jail

The basement

Nova barking and fetching for the don and Frankie

Catholic school

Blond Italiani

Being storage over the garage

Uniforms

Nova’s cooking


“You better f*cking eat it,” Nova snapped, making it obvious he was reading over Tino’s shoulder. “And burn that list before someone sees it.”

Tino eyed the pasta Nova put in front of him. It looked fine, but it smelled funny. Rather than eat it, Tino underlined Nova’s cooking three times on his list, because the * could not cook.

At all.

It would stand to reason that Nova would be able to. There were directions on the boxes. There were books full of detailed explanations about how to make food edible, but Tino was quickly on his way to starving to death.

He knew better than to try it, but he was hungry. He should probably smoke first, but he was starting to feel a little worthless being stoned all the time.

So f*ck it. He ate it.

Tino actually spit the macaroni out on the plate, gagging as the metallic taste stung the back of his mouth. “Casanova.” He groaned. “How did you ruin pasta and sauce outta a friggin’ jar?”

“Stop being a *.” Nova took a bite of his pasta. Then he went back to flipping through the law book resting on the arm of the couch. He turned ten pages in rapid succession before he said, “It tastes fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Tino assured him. “There’s nothing fine about it. What did you do to it?”

“Eat the f*cking pasta.” Nova pointed at Tino’s plate with his fork. “I made it. You eat it.”

“I’m not eating it.” Tino shook his head. “You shouldn’t either. You’ll get sick if you eat this merda.”

Nova turned and looked at him and took a bite pointedly.

Tino gaped at his brother, unable to believe he could eat that shit. Basic survival instinct kicked in with a vengeance. He got up and half hopped, half ran to the stove without his crutches. He grabbed the pot, noticing there was still water in it, as if Nova hadn’t bothered to drain it. He dumped the whole thing into the sink, knowing there was something not right.

The entire bottom was black.

Most of the pasta was still stuck to it.

Tino brought the pot to his face and winced at the horrible smell of burned pasta. “Look at this!”

Nova stared at it when he got up, looking genuinely confused. “It tasted fine to me.”

“It doesn’t taste fine. It tastes like merda,” Tino said with a whine. “Why can’t you cook? What’s wrong with you?”

Nova grabbed the pot and smelled it curiously. “I did it as long as it said.”

Tino yanked the pot out of his hand and threw it in the sink, realizing right then that Nova had never cooked. Not from scratch. Romeo did the cooking and stored it in Tupperware containers for them. Microwave meals were about as far as Nova’s domestic kitchen skills went. “You’re not allowed to cook anymore.”

“I don’t wanna order pizza. I’m trying not to draw any attention to us,” Nova said anxiously. “The cunt will start bitching if we have delivery. Just eat a cereal bar.”

“I can’t eat any more cereal bars. Can’t we buy a friggin’ microwave? Can we go to the store and buy one? Please.”

“I don’t wanna spend any more than I have to. The lawyer’s eating up all the money Romeo saved and—”

Tino whined again. He was hungry and trapped in this shithole, and his back hurt. Now that he’d made the decision to stay away from drugs as much as possible, reality was starting to become more than a little difficult to deal with. So f*ck it. He had a bratty-little-brother moment.