Nova laughed. “Don’t smoke any more. He is coming up.”
Carlo pushed all the video game controllers over and crawled up on the king-size bed with Tino. “Stop looking at your brother like that.” He grabbed Tino’s face when Tino tried to turn away, and whispered in his ear, “It’s not his fault. You know it’s not his fault.”
Tino knew it wasn’t Nova’s fault. He had firsthand knowledge that in this family, there were no choices, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be angry about watching his brother being turned into a trained dog for the mafia.
A really smart trained dog.
But still a fucking lap dog regardless.
It pissed him off so bad he almost wished Nova would go back to being that terrified, furious pit bull in the shower instead.
Tino was angry about a fuckload of shit, and he’d be damned if they took away his fury too.
“He doesn’t have to look so happy about it,” Tino mumbled, knowing Nova was still standing there listening.
“The don saved your life. You would’ve died in that shower if it wasn’t for him,” Nova explained without an ounce of apology. “I would lick his boots if he wanted me to.”
Tino groaned in disgust when he heard the absolute honesty in Nova’s words. He also noticed Nova was choosing to ignore it was Carina who saved Tino by telling her nonno her cosmic twin was bleeding to death in the apartment above the garage.
“Dark pope,” Carlo whispered in his ear and repeated, “It’s not his fault.”
“The don’s not my pope,” Tino told both of them. “He’ll never be my pope.”
Because Tino didn’t consider saving his life just to turn his brother into a trained dog a favor worth licking boots over.
“Please be polite if he comes in here,” Nova said imploringly. “He’ll protect Romeo when he goes to prison. He’ll make it a lot easier for him. The don has a few judges in his pocket. We could get Romeo off with just a couple of years if we’re lucky. Be respectful, Valentino. For me.”
“Fine,” Tino whispered but then reiterated, “But he’s not my king. He’s not my pope. He’s not my nonno either.”
“Then lucky you.” Carlo laughed and squeezed Tino’s cheeks. “You think you’re better than us, tough guy? You walked out of that basement, and now you’re a badass?”
“Yeah.” Tino jerked his head away from Carlo’s grasp. In other families, they might ignore the giant elephant in the room. That Tino’s father tried to kill him. In this family, it had turned into a weird badge of honor that was highly fucked-up, but he owned it anyway. “I am badass. So step back, motherfucker.”
“You did break Napoli’s nose.” Carlo laughed at that. “I respect the hell outta that, and I’m pissed off I missed it. Just like I’m pissed off I didn’t get to see Nova kick the shit outta Frankie. That made my life.”
“Your voice when you smoke,” Nova hissed at him. “It gets really loud.”
“Whaddayou mean?” Carlo shouted so loud Tino flinched, considering Carlo was still in his face. “Your father can suck my—” Carlo was cut off when Nova grabbed his shirt and yanked him off the bed, but then he caught Nova’s ankle, bringing him down hard. Nova scrambled to throw a hand over Carlo’s mouth, but it was too late. He screamed at the top of his lungs, “Sucami a minchia, Frankie!”
“Coglione.” Nova was laughing, as if the pot chose that moment to hit him.
Carlo grabbed Nova’s face playfully. “You wanna know what happens to wiseguys who try to get the drop on me?”
“No, show me.” Nova was still laughing his ass off and didn’t fight Carlo’s hold on him. “Go for it, puttana. I dare you.”
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to dare a Siciliano to do something unless you can handle the consequences?” Carlo warned, but the playfulness in his voice changed; it got dark and dangerous enough to give Tino chills as Carlo lifted his head and looked toward the door when he said, “You think I won’t take out family. Think again.”
Tino followed his gaze, seeing Frankie standing in the doorway glaring at them. He hated that his stomach jerked in fear. Even stoned, the terror rushed through him, making all the fine hairs on his arms stand on end.
What he hated more was that he was embarrassingly grateful that Carlo was there. So grateful he wanted to fall to his knees and thank him for being stronger and scarier than his brother. So far, Carlo was the only advantage to being on Team Bastardi in the Moretti Borgata.
Nova was obsessed with this notion that as long as he kept the old man happy, they were safe from Frankie. They would all be protected, and he was working very hard at licking that motherfucker’s boots to earn the privilege of making sure he didn’t ever have to watch Tino almost beaten to death again or know Romeo wasn’t getting sold off to God knew what in prison.