The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(110)
“What?” Chuito growled as he looked at Nova like he was insane. “Who told you that?”
“Wow, that happened much faster than I anticipated.” Nova laughed as he took another drag off his cigarette. “You haven’t heard this yet, Chuito?”
“Heard what?” Chuito looked completely horrified.
“Apparently, Alaine is going through a thing.” Nova looked to Alaine for confirmation.
“A complicated thing,” Alaine supplied. “Very complicated.”
“Obviously,” Nova agreed as he glanced around the kitchen again, staring at the dirty floor with a look of distaste. “So you’re into threesomes. Which, okay, whatever. I certainly can’t throw any f*cking stones. I know my brother’s done some f*cked-up shit in his time,” he said as he gestured to Tino. “The first problem I had with the story was you.” Nova shone his phone on Chuito. “You don’t strike me as a threesome kinda guy, Chuito.”
Chuito laughed in disbelief. “What the f*ck?”
“Yeah,” Nova agreed and took another drag of his cigarette. “But let’s say, for argument’s sake, you let my brother f*ck your woman.”
“Did you touch her?” Chuito growled at Tino. “You said you didn’t—”
“No one touched anyone.” Alaine huffed.
“But someone did touch you,” Nova argued. “’Cause according to Jules, it looked like you’d been attacked by a bear.” Nova shone his phone on her, studying her critically. “I don’t see anything.”
“Makeup,” Alaine explained with a smile.
“Okay.” Nova nodded, still looking at her. “Nice dress.”
“Thank you. We stopped at an Armani outlet.”
“So after your night of debauchery, Chuito borrowed Tino’s car and went to get Patrón.” Nova arched an eyebrow thoughtfully. “In Miami.”
No one had a response for that.
“Right.” Nova nodded and went on, “Then my brother and Alaine stole the Ferrari to come get Chuito, and this is where you three landed. Romantic.”
“Did Jules believe the threesome story?” Chuito asked, his voice tight as if he was having a hard time saying it. “She believed I let that happen to Alaine?”
“No, she started to question the validity of it about the time Tino did fifty out of the driveway with Romeo chasing after him.” Nova let out another broken laugh. “At which point she called me freaking the f*ck out and has continually called me since then. Well, not continually. Sometimes it was Romeo, who, I might add, is going to bury you, Valentino. You stole the Ferrari.”
Tino held up his hand. “You trace my credit cards. I needed the cash.”
“Yeah, that’ll help your case.”
“Wait until he hears it got jacked,” Chuito offered with a glare at Tino. “You told Jules we both f*cked Alaine.”
Tino shrugged. “It was half-true.”
“The Ferrari got jacked.” Nova laughed again. “Madonn’, this had better be good.” Except no one was offering an explanation, and Nova looked at them again. “It’s three o’clock in the f*cking morning. I’m tired. I’ve been working all day. I had to catch a plane to Miami and take a cab into the friggin’ hood. I’m gonna ask one more time, and then I’m gonna be genuinely pissed off. Why are we here?”
“Chuito and I slept with each other,” Alaine started when Chuito and Tino just exchanged silent glances.
“Congratulations.” Nova took another drag of his cigarette. “No Tino?”
“No Tino.” Alaine shook her head. “Afterward, Chuito had a—” She held up her hand as she looked at Chuito. “An issue with his conscience.”
“Because of f*cking you?”
Alaine shrugged. “I’m assuming that’s why.”
“Okay, that’s sweet. Go on.” Nova gestured to her. “Then what happened?”
“He left and went to Tino’s. He spent the night there. I think whiskey may be involved. I saw it on the table.”
“I’m sure it was.” Nova looked to Tino. “I heard about the Vicodin, Valentino. Jules found it.”
“It’s my prescription. My name is on the bottle,” Tino argued. “My arm got dislocated yesterday. Did Jules tell you that?”
“You’re not supposed to take it with whiskey. That f*cks up your liver.”
“Anyway,” Alaine cut them off. “I went after Chuito, ’cause he’s my love story.”
“Aw, this really is sweet,” Nova said with another laugh.
“This is gonna be bad,” Tino interjected. “Let me just tell you my version.”
“I sorta like her version,” Nova argued. “Go on, Alaine. He’s your love story—”
“And, um.” Alaine swallowed hard, because Tino was looking at her with wide eyes and shaking his head. She realized they probably should’ve worked harder on their alibi for Nova on the way down here. “Maybe Tino should tell it.”
“Why don’t I just f*cking tell it?” Chuito said as he stepped forward and looked at Nova. “My cousin Marcos has been telling me that Angel’s been recruiting hard. He’s been getting these kids young and younger. It was his gut instinct that something was about to go down, and I trust my cousin’s gut instinct.”