“Smoking what?” Brianna asked as she showed up behind Carina with a knowing smile.
Tino shifted on the steps, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. He hadn’t showered since Mary left. Hadn’t even brushed his teeth, because Nova got home from work, and Carlo showed up to hang out the way he did sometimes after a long business trip when he needed to unwind.
If Tino had known Brianna was coming, he would’ve told them to smoke alone and scrubbed Mary off him.
“It’s a school night,” Tino said as he eyed Brianna.
“Yeah, it is,” Carlo agreed with a scowl at the girls.
“Who cares,” Carina answered for both of them, and she came up the stairs. “Ti voglio bene.” She kissed Tino’s cheek again and whispered, “Why do you look so miserable all of a sudden?”
“I’m not miserable,” he lied and shifted again, feeling dirty in front of Brianna.
“You sound miserable.” Carina pulled back with a frown and then looked at Nova. “Maybe he needs more of whatever you threw over the railing.”
Nova narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you looking for something, princess?”
“I’m out,” Carina admitted, and Brianna snorted from the bottom step.
“Well, doesn’t that suck for you?” Nova smiled. “No.”
Carina huffed in annoyance. “Do we have to do this every time?”
“It’s one of the rare joys in my life,” Nova said smugly. “Yes, we do.”
“Please, Nova,” Carina said in a singsong voice. “Share your candy.”
“Nah, I don’t give candy to little girls,” Nova said dismissively. “Fuck off.”
“Oh my God.” Carina was clearly done begging. “Tino—”
“In my top drawer in the closet.” Tino pointed to the door. “Just the weed, Carina. If you take the E—”
“I’m not gonna take the E,” Carina assured him. “I’m done with E.”
“Thank God for that.” Nova sighed and then leaned back when Carina stepped past him. He rested on his elbow, looking into the apartment. “I have to fucking pay for all the shit you steal from him.”
Carina showed back up and sat down next to Carlo. “So we’ll make it a party. Everyone wins, ’cause unlike you, I know how to share.”
Carlo had a kick-ass Midtown Manhattan apartment.
And a room at the don’s Bensonhurst mansion.
But he ended up sprawled out on the floor in their shithole above the garage, which meant he was a lot more fucked-up than he let on and was either planning to sleep it off or hang out until he was sober enough to drive. Clearly Carlo hadn’t planned on the girls hanging around, but they made it work and not for the first time. The apartment over the garage was everyone’s one-stop shop for weed since Nova ran most of the New York drug business.
Luckily, they still had all the mattresses stacked in a corner because they had been in Cosa Nostra long enough to know that having a fuckload of mattresses wasn’t a bad thing. Carina ended up on the couch as usual, and Nova was on a mattress next to Carlo, giving Tino the bed since the reason Brianna was here on a school night was obvious, considering she didn’t have the affinity for weed Carina did.
Chances were Brianna wasn’t planning on Carlo either, but she was willing to make do.
Which should leave Tino feeling very flattered.
Instead he was scrubbing his skin raw in the shower. With the water still running, he got out and brushed his teeth for the second time because he didn’t want anyone to know he was doing it.
He used that trick a lot.
Just left the shower running to brush his teeth a few extra times.
Except the fucking dentist noticed and said he was going to screw up his enamel if he continued to brush so hard. So Nova kept replacing all his toothbrushes with these suck-ass soft bristles. Tino bought a highline electric toothbrush four separate times, and they had all disappeared. He was going to bury Nova if he got rid of the next one.
Because Tino was buying it after school tomorrow.
Fucking dentist.
What the hell did the dentist care if he had to keep putting that coating stuff on Tino’s teeth? Didn’t they make money off fuckups like him?
He scrubbed hard, because the soft bristles were a total insult to toothbrushes everywhere. For the first time in a long time, he started to feel sick, like he might actually puke the same way he did that first night in the bathroom when Nova found him standing where he was now.
He was crashing from the drugs, which left him depressed. Usually it wasn’t a big deal; he’d just go to bed and reset the next day.
Tonight was another issue.
So Tino was brushing the enamel off his teeth and wanting to throw up because Brianna was in the bedroom. This was all so fucking unfair, because he wanted Brianna.
Desperately.