Chapter Five
Somewhere in West Virginia
Four years without seeing Tino.
And over five hours spent in silence with him after they had both abandoned their phones and their lives in Kentucky.
The tension was so thick Brianna felt like she was coming out of her skin. In general, she wasn’t someone used to sitting still. She had a very physical job and was generally a high-energy person, who lived in a high-energy city and hung out with high-energy people.
Driving in silence through the Deep South was slowly making her crazy.
It didn’t help that Tino was every bit as wired as Brianna, jumpy and angry, at whom, she wasn’t sure, but it was affecting her already frayed nerves. Especially with the not-so-minor problem of the mob wanting her dead hanging over both their heads.
And she got the impression Tino knew why.
That didn’t make the trip back to New York any easier.
So when he asked if she wanted to stop in West Virginia for the night, she couldn’t agree fast enough.
“Oh my God, yes.” Brianna practically sobbed in relief. “If I never see another car again, it won’t be too soon. I’m walking or taking the subway from now until forever.”
“I’m actually right there with you.” Tino surprised her by laughing. “If you only knew how much time I’ve spent driving over the past week or so.”
“Was Miami fun?” she asked, noticing his tan again in the dying sunlight.
“Not really.” Tino shook his head. “Miami sorta sucked.”
“But you found a beach.”
“Yeah.” He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I found a beach. Needed it too. We both did. Nova’s tanner than me.”
“How’s Nova?” Brianna asked, because now that they were talking, she was jumping on it. Anything was better than the silence. “Is he doing okay?”
Tino arched an eyebrow at that. “Do you care?”
“Not particularly.” She couldn’t help the wince. “But I know you do.”
“He’s probably not okay,” Tino answered with a sigh. “In fact, I’m almost positive he’s right behind us. That’s why I figured West Virginia would be a good place to stop.”
Brianna frowned. “What’s the significance of West Virginia?”
“We’re about twenty miles out from where Romeo and Jules got caught by the Borgata.” Tino said it quietly, but the impact was huge. “It’s where—”
“Nova killed your father,” Brianna finished for him.
“Yeah.” Tino nodded. “West Virginia is the last place in the world Nova would wanna stop. He nearly went down here. He won’t talk about getting arrested, but I know it wasn’t pleasant. West Virginia, can you imagine? The only place worse would be—”
“Kentucky.” Brianna laughed and then had to ask, “Did you hate it there?”
“Nah, it’s okay.” He laughed with her. “Actually, I’ve been arrested in Kentucky. Just the other week. And it’s been a wild ride ever since. I guess it was a bad omen.”
“What did you get arrested for?” Brianna couldn’t hide the catch of fear in her voice. “Are you out on bond? Were you allowed to leave?”
“He didn’t charge us. I know the sheriff. He’s my sister-in-law’s twin brother. We’re all pretty tight. Wyatt just had to arrest us because me and my friend Chu were fighting in public.”
“Oh.” Brianna tried to process all of that but decided to give up. “Why were you fighting with your friend?”
“He said I looked like I was from Jersey.”
Brianna scowled. “Nice friend.”
“I sorta had it coming.”
“Well.” Brianna gave him a smile. “I don’t find that too terribly hard to believe.”
Tino snorted in amusement. “Thanks, baby.”
Brianna took a deep breath, shocked by the endearment and how naturally it still came to him. She was fairly certain she was mad at Tino, but she wasn’t too sure why.
Had he really done anything except abandon his family and friends to save her from a mafia hit?
“Tino—”
“Bri, no,” he cut her off before she could say anything, as if he heard a lifetime of pain and need in that one word. “You’re supposed to be sitting there thinking about what an asshole I am for taking you with me.”
She pulled back in surprise. “Is that what I was supposed to be doing for the past five hours?”
“Yes.” Tino looked at her as if he thought it was obvious.
“You’re stupid, Tino,” she huffed. “Really stupid.”
“Ditto, Brianna,” he snapped back. “You probably deserve an award for bad life choices.”
It wasn’t like she could argue with that.
So she just held up a hand and flipped him off as she went back to being silent.
After a while, they pulled into one of those small travel stops off the interstate, which was unnervingly empty now that it was dark.