Brianna looked at the mostly empty water bottle in her hand and glanced back at Tino with wide eyes.
“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Tino told Dominic, and he was dead serious about it, because the Brambinos had taken so much from him. Now that motherfucker was going to drug and screw Brianna just to piss him off. That felt like a murder worth going down for. “I just wanna kill you. I wanna put a bullet in your brain.”
“You know what will happen if you do that?” Dominic didn’t even look nervous about it. Like he was so fucking secure in his family’s control over Tino he was fearless in the face of Tino’s gun pointed at his head. “Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”
“What the fuck is going on?” Nova shouted before Tino could decide. “Valentino!”
“He drugged Brianna’s water,” Tino explained without lowering his gun. “And he gave Carina E.”
“Holy shit, why would anyone do that?” Nova made it sound like that was the worst possible combination he could think of. “Get him out!” Nova pointed at the door when the bouncers came up. “You let Carina in! The don would lose his fucking mind!”
“We didn’t let her in!”
“Well, she’s in here!” Nova threw up his hands in disbelief. “And this puttana tricked Tino into selling him E to give her. I can’t even fucking conceptualize what Carina is gonna be like on E. Now thanks to you motherfuckers, I get to find out!”
“You sell drugs?” Brianna asked him.
“I—” Tino put his gun back, because the bouncers grabbed Dominic real fast once the don was mentioned. “Yeah, sometimes. I sell them sometimes.”
“For the Borgata?” she asked in disbelief. “Do you like selling it?”
“This situation is awesome on so many levels.” Nova looked a little manic. “We have to leave. Right now.” Then he leaned down and got in Carina’s face. “Thanks for ruining my buzz, princess! This was one of my last weekends!”
“You ruined my buzz!” Carina shouted back at him. “I can’t do anything!” She pointed to her forehead. “This is my life! I’m gonna die a virgin because my family is psychotic, and everyone knows it!”
“Oh my God, is she fucking for real.” Nova grabbed Bobby’s arm and shoved him at her. “Here you go. There’s approved dick for you.” He turned around and walked toward the door shirtless. “I can’t deal with her princess problems.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brianna knew it wasn’t a great plan to lie to their parents and sneak out. Her mother thought she was at Carina’s, and Carina’s mother thought she was over at Brianna’s. Considering both their mothers liked their wine a lot, especially after dinner, they knew it was a foolproof story, and there wasn’t going to be any unfortunate checking up.
Still, sneaking out to Harlem, a really scary part of Harlem, with Dominic Brambino, who was always a raging asshole, was bad news.
But getting into a rave wasn’t easy.
The good raves were way underground, and Dominic was the only person Carina knew who had the address. Plus, he was Carina’s cousin. What could happen? They’d dance for a few hours and then head back before they got caught. It seemed like a good idea the way Carina explained it.
Note to self: anything Carina thinks is a good idea is probably an epic train wreck.
Now she was stuck sitting on the subway between Tino and Nova Moretti. Most of the girls in her school wouldn’t see a problem with that scenario. It wasn’t a bad place to be.
Except Nova was pretty preoccupied with his girlfriends.
Girlfriends.
As in more than one.
One girl was black, the other was Hispanic, and both of them had that very pretty, very Manhattan look to them, with long, straight hair and dark eye makeup. They smelled like expensive perfume and seemed to sparkle under the flickering lights in the subway, because everything they had on twinkled and glittered. Their coloring was different, but for some reason they appeared to match when they were making out like they were.
On the train.
And even if there was no one else in their car, Brianna was here.
Tino was here.
Carina was here.
Carina’s new friend, who was one of the smallest teenage boys she’d ever met, was still here.
Brianna glanced away from the two girls making out and stared at Tino to see if he was watching, but he wasn’t. He was looking at Carina sitting next to him. Carina was staring out the window with wide eyes, like she was seeing something the rest of them weren’t.
“Are you okay?” Tino asked his sister. “You look like you’re freaking out.”
“I can feel the lights. Like they touch my soul. This is very groovy.” Carina lifted her eyebrows like she was agreeing with herself. “I like it so much.”
“Of course you do.” Tino glanced back to Nova, rolled his eyes, and just slumped down in his chair. “I’m the only mutant in the family it doesn’t work on. Figures.”