“Come on.” Nova huffed. “Just leave ’em alone.”
“I’m serious. I think he wants a date,” he went on Italian. “He was all up in my grill. Did you see that? He called me a cocksucker twice.” Tino leaned into Nova over the counter and tried to imitate the husky pitch the blond used as he said, “His voice got all low when he said it. Like this. I think it was wishful thinking.”
Nova laughed at him and then glanced over at the two guys sitting in the chairs, who stiffened with insult.
“What are you laughing at? Fucking geek.”
Nova’s face fell slack for one second, and he looked behind him, as if searching for another student like Tino had. Then he turned back and asked them, “Are you talking to me?”
“Is there another chess club champion standing here?” The blond folded his thick, muscled arms over his chest, as if they were still new and he was enjoying the novelty of them. “You got a problem with it?”
“Did you—” Nova started, frowning at him. “You know what, no. We’re not doing this. I can’t be fucked with you. Valentino, come on.” He took the book out of Tino’s hand and opened the door to the back for him. Then he whispered to him in Italian, “I looked at your test.”
Thank God.
Tino was stressing about that test. He didn’t smoke before he came in, but he had an issue with timed tests on good days. Not that he was stupid, but focusing was a problem sometimes. Mix in being itchy, achy, generally uncomfortable, and more than a little twitchy about his life.
He’d fucking fail that thing with flying colors.
They’d worked out a code before they got here. So Tino spent most of the time tapping his pencil against the counter, giving Nova the number to the problem he was struggling with. Nova would click the ballpoint pen in his hand in response, and Tino would have to ignore the crazy noise in the office to hear how many clicks it was and then color in the right bubble.
He tried with most of the stuff, mainly because he didn’t trust Nova not to make him look too smart, but focusing in this office, with everyone coming in and out, was almost impossible.
He asked for more help than he should, and it was probably a mistake.
The last thing Tino needed was to get stuck in advanced calculus or some shit like that. Just because Nova had bargained Tino’s way into finishing high school didn’t mean he wanted to take his place in the math club.
This test was huge.
When they were finally done and walking to the parking lot, Tino asked, “Did you flake on your test?”
“Yeah, I flaked on it.” Nova shrugged. “It’s just easier. She was nagging me. If I did too well, she’d really bitch about college. Every brick in that place was put in with Cosa Nostra money. You’d think she’d be a little more aware of my situation.”
“Hey, guineas!”
Tino and Nova stopped in the parking lot for several long heartbeats.
“What is it with the guinea thing?” Tino asked his brother without turning around, because he knew it was the blond from the office. “What is their fucking hang-up?”
“I don’t know, but I’m about over it. These bitches are gonna make me lose my temper,” Nova growled when they started walking again. “I’m having a bad fucking month.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for your bad month, Casanova.” Tino snorted. “That must be really painful for you.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m about to scratch my skin off. My back itches so fucking bad. Can I smoke in the car?”
“Yeah, sure.” Nova pulled the keys to Romeo’s ’78 Camaro out of his pocket. “Maybe we’ll get arrested.”
“That worked out really well for Romeo.”
“Good point.” Nova opened the door and tossed the admission folders from the school on the dash. “Get in before I beat these fuckers following us.”
“Did you hear me?” the big blond called out again.
“What is your problem?” Tino asked, because really, he couldn’t believe their persistence. “Don’t you have something else to fucking do with your last week of summer?”
“We don’t like ghetto trash in our school. You think any real mafiosi wants to see you here? You think any of us wants to look at you and know where you came from?”
“We would love to take our bastardi, guinea asses back to East Harlem.” Tino turned around on his crutches and glared at the two blond, preppy Italians when they came up to the car. “Lemme know how you can hook us up with that, since you’re so fucking special.”
“Simple. Pack up your shit and go back to the hood rat bitch of a mother you left in the gutter. No one wants you here.”
“What did you say?” Nova’s voice was low and threatening as he took a step forward. “’Cause it sounded like you just called my dead mother a hood rat bitch.”
They both seemed to pause at that, because the violence pulsing off Nova was tangible. Nova did have a hard month, and he hadn’t exactly had an outlet for the anger. Tino and Nova hadn’t been to the dojo since Romeo got arrested, when usually they were there most every day after school.