“Fucking government,” Tino mumbled under his breath as he kicked his Ducati to life with a loud roar. “Hold on, baby.”
So she did, just held on and left the gossipy school and the nosy FBI in the dust, not caring at all what anyone thought about it.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Brianna wouldn’t consider an old brownstone walk-up in the meatpacking district close, but she supposed in Tino’s world it was close enough. He took the Ducati to Brooklyn all the time like it was nothing.
The Ducati they’d abandoned four parking garages ago.
Now they were in an old black Mustang with white racing stripes and spinning rims, which Brianna thought was funny. Even when they were undercover and trying to blend in, Tino picked the most guido car ever.
Old-school guido, but still…
When she pointed it out, giggling as they parked, Tino laughed with her and admitted, “It’s one of Carlo’s ditch cars. He loves old Mustangs. He loves Camaros too. He bought Romeo’s old one off Nova. He still has it. Romeo would fucking freak if he knew that.”
“Oh my God.” Brianna laughed harder as she fought with the door, which was sticking. “He’s the worst enforcer ever.”
“Really?” Tino leaned over her and did something to the handle, and then he cracked the door open. “You don’t think he blends in an ’81 Mustang? You don’t think he looks like every other guido going to the gym after getting off the construction site? You don’t think that’d make it hard to pick him outta a crowd?”
Brianna turned to look at Tino with her eyebrows raised in shock as she said, “Oh my God,” for a completely different reason.
“Right?” Tino laughed. “Yay for stereotypes.”
“That freaks me out,” she whispered when she realized not only how good Carlo was at what he did, but how much he had taught Tino in the past two years.
“Yeah, well, the best lies are the ones closest to the truth.” Tino shrugged. “Like Nova says, you gotta play the hand you’re dealt, but I told Carlo if he gets his ears pierced and starts wearing wifebeaters three sizes too small, we’re not related anymore. I’d rather bail him out.”
Brianna laughed at the joke but couldn’t help but notice the way his voice hitched over the word lies. She reached out and grabbed his hand like she had that first time on the train when they were twelve. She pulled it into her lap, keeping it there in a protective gesture that was mostly unconscious.
Tino let her, which seemed important, because she noticed that sometimes he flinched away from affections like that.
“Why did we change cars so many times?” she asked. “Is it the feds or—”
“It’s everyone. The feds. The Borgata. I just don’t wanna be found for a little while.” Tino let his head fall back against the headrest and looked to the roof of the car with his sunglasses still on. “That first time with you in my old bunk bed. Cazzo, Bri, I just wanted to hide with you forever. I still want that. I never stopped wanting it. I need you to know how much it meant to me to have that before I tell you this other shit. I’ve been living off it for two years. I didn’t think it could get any better until what you gave me last night. Now it’s taking everything I have not to grab you and run away so fucking far that they’ll never find us. Any of them.”
“I would run away with you,” Brianna confessed. “Forget school.”
“That means you’re almost as fucked up as I am,” he said with a shake of his head. “You shouldn’t just agree to something like that. I’m not worth throwing your life away for.”
Brianna squeezed his hand tighter. “To me you are.”
Tino was quiet for a long time rather than return the affection, but it didn’t bother her. With Tino, it felt like it was a step in the right direction that he didn’t argue.
“When we first got to Dyker Heights, we didn’t have cable for months,” Tino started cryptically and then pulled off his sunglasses to toss them on the dash. “We were always looking for something to keep our attention. Or maybe Nova was just looking for something to keep my attention so I wasn’t bouncing off the fucking walls from the nerves.”
Brianna smiled. “I remember.”
“So me and Nova used to play chess when he wasn’t working for the don. Nova didn’t know Mary had already started showing up.” Tino closed his eyes as he said it. “He didn’t know why I suddenly gave a shit about his geek game.”