The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(158)

Alaine shook her head. “No.”

“Maybe if you told me why. I don’t understand why you have to be involved. I don’t understand why Chuito is either, and—”

Alaine huffed and looked to the ceiling, searching for a lie. “’Cause Nova paid me five million dollars to be his lawyer. So consider me shallow enough to accept it, and consider Chuito shallow enough to decide that he was tired of concussions and bruises. That’s a lot of money.”

“I don’t believe it,” Jules announced with the conviction of a woman who knew Alaine too well.

“I can show you the receipt,” Alaine countered. “You have to get over your shit, Jules. Have you ever once stopped to think that maybe the reason Nova agreed to take Tino is to protect you? Has Romeo stopped to think about that when he was tearing into Nova? Did he stop to think what it must be like for Nova to choose between which brother he gets to protect? Maybe your real babies are safer with them gone, and they know it. I’m going to leave you in here to think about that, but I will be praying that you find a way to enjoy your day with them at some point. I’m gonna pray you talk Romeo into it too, because Tino and Nova love you enough to make sure there is no reason for anyone to come looking for them in Garnet.”

Then Alaine walked away. She found Chuito sitting at a table despite the music and most of the people at the party having no idea how truly depressing it was. Next to him was Wyatt, holding his daughter, whose hair was such a bright shade of red it glowed copper under the fluorescent lights.

Despite the baby in his arms, Wyatt seemed to be having a heated conversation with Chuito, who was looking at the ceiling like Alaine had done in the bathroom.

“I have a vested interest in your success,” Wyatt was barking at Chuito. “Do you know how much money I’ve put into your career, and you’re just gonna walk away from it?”

“Oh, now it’s about money when you got a perfectly good replacement for me in Javier. Maybe a better replacement, because he is younger and the titles still mean something to him,” Chuito snapped as if he’d lost his patience. “Do you want money? Do you want me to pay you back even though we both know you’ve made a hundred times your investment off me?”

“No, I want you to stay,” Wyatt shot back, his eyes as glassy as Jules’s had been in the bathroom. “I want you to talk Tino into staying. I don’t want my sister to lose her family. I don’t want my nephews to lose their uncle, and I don’t want my friend to go off and do God knows what in New York. Why did this happen? You promised me you’d keep out of trouble. I trusted you.”

“Am I in trouble?” Chuito asked, doing a much more effective job of lying than Alaine had, before he turned to Alaine. “Are we in trouble, mami?”

Alaine shook her head. “No.”

“This is bullshit,” Wyatt said in denial. “I know it’s bullshit. It’s my business to smell bullshit like this.”

His daughter, Emma, started babbling, “Bu, bu, bu, bu,” to Wyatt as she patted his face.

And Wyatt groaned and glared at Chuito. “Now you’re making me teach my daughter how to swear.”

“I did that?” Chuito asked in disbelief. “I haven’t done anything but tell you that I’m taking a year off and moving to New York. You are the one freaking out.”

“I can help.” Wyatt sounded pleading now. “Tell me how to help. Does Nova need help? Why didn’t he ask me instead? I owe him more than you do.”

“If that’s true, if you really owe him, then you should probably trust that Nova’s doing what’s best for his family instead of making it harder for him. Peel Jules off his back instead of helping her fight this losing battle. We’re leaving, Wyatt.” Chuito just reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Let it go.”

Then Chuito got up, because like Alaine, he probably realized this wasn’t going to get any easier. They weren’t going to convince anyone here to be happy about them leaving.

Together the two of them walked over to the cage in the center of the room. Chuito opened the door to Tino lying in the middle of the mat, with one twin sitting on his chest and another tugging his hair.

Tino had been talking to them in Italian, looking at the ceiling, his dark eyes glassy, but when Chuito led Alaine into the cage, Tino just turned his head and looked at them. “So this party sucks.”

“Pretty much,” Chuito agreed. “I’ve been hearing it from Wyatt.”

Tino pulled Charlie to him, hugging him while Freddy kept playing with his hair. “You should’ve been at my house last night. That was fun. I’m pretty sure Nova is on his way to a nervous breakdown. I hate that they’re blaming him. I keep telling them, but they aren’t listening to me. I wish I could just take the heat off him somehow. If there’s a God, he’ll find a way to take the heat off Nova, ’cause he can’t deal with Romeo hating him like this.”

“That’s blasphemy, Tino,” Alaine chastised.

“I’m just saying,” Tino said without apology. “It’s too unfair. Life is officially a bitch.”

“Bitch,” Charlie repeated with stunning clarity, and Tino groaned.

“Mama taught you that,” Tino whispered in his ear. “Say mama taught you.”