The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(96)

“Everything is very cut-and-dried with you,” Tino observed, looking sad as he studied Chuito. “Your whole world is black or white. You can’t just be in a little. It’s all or nothing. Either you f*ck the chick and tell her everything, or you don’t f*ck her at all. Same with the blow. If you are doing the shit you used to do when you snorted blow, you will start snorting the blow again. Do you get it?”

Chuito shrugged. “Yeah, I get it. The question is, why do you give a shit if I snort the blow?”

“I give a shit because I love you,” Tino said so passionately it stunned Chuito. “You’re my brother. I wouldn’t want Nova to do the blow. Just like I don’t want you to do it. I don’t want you to go and get shot in Miami either. Who has your back there? Your cousin? After everything you did to get him out? You probably won’t even tell him you’re there. You think you can just go in solo.”

“Yeah, I think I can go in solo.”

“You can’t,” Tino assured him. “If you could, you wouldn’t have come to me. You need a crew. You need backup. That’s who you are. If it’s just you, then you have nothing to live for, and if you have nothing to live for, you will find a way to take yourself out.”

“Maybe I should take myself out.” Chuito raised his eyebrows at that. “What the f*ck am I clinging to? I’ve been living for Alaine for a long f*cking time. Now I f*cked that up. The last really good thing in my life. So I go to Miami. Fix the Angel situation for Marcos, because obviously being diplomatic and bringing Nova into the picture wasn’t enough to make my f*cking point. I should’ve smoked him six months ago. That’s my f*cking fault. Garnet’s made me soft.”

“So you think she’s gonna tell Wyatt?” Tino asked in concern.

“I don’t know.” Chuito sighed. “But I don’t feel like finding out. That shit would kill me.”

Tino looked at his glass and then glanced to Chuito’s. “Man, we gotta stop drinking.”

“Why?” Chuito asked, because he was sort of enjoying the fuzzy blur the whiskey was putting on his reality.

“’Cause we gotta go to Miami.” Tino gestured to his door pointedly. “We gotta get lost before you end up in handcuffs. I appreciate that you think you’d go down to protect my family, but I don’t want to test it. Do you?”

Chuito shook his head. “Not particularly.”

Tino got up and dumped his drink in the sink. Then he jerked Chuito’s out of his hand and did the same thing. “You get the couch. We’re gonna sleep it off; then we’re gonna leave.”

Chuito frowned at him. “You’re coming with me?”

“Of course I’m coming with you,” Tino said as if it were obvious. “If you tell me we got to whack this motherf*cker Angel, I’ll help you whack him. Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“That’s it?” Chuito was shocked. “I didn’t even tell you why I need to whack him.”

“Do I need to know why?” Tino shrugged. “You say he needs to die. I believe you.”

“No details?”

Tino shook his head. “No details.”

“Wow.” Chuito pulled back at that. “I’d need details. Even for you, I’d need details.”

“Let me tell you something,” Tino said cynically. “The first thing I learned about Cosa Nostra is not to ask for details. If a motherf*cker’s gonna die, they’re gonna die. If the old man put out the hit, they’re already dead. Why do I need to get my ass beaten asking questions? If I didn’t do it, someone else would.”

“Can we thank your father for that?” Chuito asked sadly.

“You can thank my father for most of my baggage,” Tino agreed. “At least someone’s benefiting from it.”

“I don’t want you to come.” Chuito winced at the idea of Tino being brainwashed by pain like that. “I wish I could’ve killed your father. He sounds as bad as the motherf*cker who made me, and that’s saying something.”

“Yeah, take a number, but if it makes you feel better, no one wanted to kill him more than Nova did. He deserved that honor.” Tino rolled his eyes. “Couch, now, *. I’m going to bed.”





Chapter Thirty-Five


Alaine cried for a long time after Chuito left. Just really sobbed her heart out for so many different reasons, but mostly because he left and she let him.

It felt like a death.

She could feel it, the dream dying as she sat there in his bed, with the marks of sex on her body. More so, she could feel how naive she had been for believing it had ever existed to begin with.

He had waited five years to touch her, and there had been a good reason for it. It wasn’t something silly and ridiculous. It was very real. His reasons were more than valid, and why had she ever doubted them?

Chuito wasn’t one to waste things for nothing.

He wouldn’t throw this away unless the sacrifice was worth it.

Alaine fell down on his bed. She rested her head on his pillow and lay in his sheets that still smelled like a sensual combination of Chuito’s aftershave and sex. She looked at her wrist, seeing the mark of his kiss still there.

She touched it as the tears ran down her face.