“Madonn’.” Tino rolled his eyes and nudged Meilei. “Lemme out, sweetheart.”
“Are you into her? I thought you were still crying over the BFF,” Nova said curiously in Italian as Tino handed him his backpack to watch. “And what was the deal with your feet in this one’s lap?” He gestured to Bobby and then put the backpack next to him. “You’re falling apart, Valentino.”
“Yeah, what was the deal with that?” Carlo jumped in. “I thought you said—”
Tino walked away before he had to listen to them finish. Lola had already disappeared into the ladies’ room, but Tino didn’t let that stop him. He walked in behind her, and the woman at the sink gasped in shock.
“Sorry. Looking for my girl,” Tino said as the woman hurried out. “Baby doll,” he called out in a singsong voice. “I know you’re in here.”
Lola didn’t answer, so he walked into the stall beside the one that was locked. He stood on the toilet and rested his arms on the partition as he looked down to find Lola sitting there, feet up on the seat with her head resting against her knees.
“What if I was taking a piss?” she snapped without looking up.
“It wouldn’t be the dirtiest thing I’ve seen you do,” Tino said dismissively in Italian.
“I didn’t know,” she mumbled against her knees. “I swear.”
Tino didn’t say anything. He just looked at her.
“He walked up to me in a coffee shop,” she went on when the silence in the bathroom clearly became too much. “I turned him down, but then he showed up the next day. And the next. He figured out my schedule. He wore me down.”
Tino snorted, because Carlo left that part out.
Lola finally lifted her head to look at him with eyes that were swimming pools of ice. The tears rolled down her cheeks. “He said so many nice things.”
“So what?” Tino shrugged. “They all say nice things. You’re not new. You know this shit better than anyone.”
“Yeah, but he was the first one who made me believe them.” She wiped at her cheeks and looked so lost in that stall as she admitted, “I love him, Tino.”
“Merda.” Tino groaned. If he had his choice, he’d rather Lola be doing some sort of reconnaissance for her father. A lovesick Lola was way more than he wanted to deal with. “He’s an enforcer, sweetheart.”
“I realize that now,” Lola whispered miserably. “He lied to me too.” She wiped at her cheeks again. “Maybe he’ll understand and—”
Tino shook his head, because there was absolutely no way it could work. “No.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
Tino considered that for a while before he sighed. “I have to.”
“Figlio di puttana,” she cursed, but it held no threat. Instead she looked at him with deep betrayal. “I made you,” she said passionately in Italian, obviously afraid of someone walking in and understanding her. “They would’ve sold you to men a long time ago if it wasn’t for me. Women want you because of me. I made you beautiful to them.”
Tino closed his eyes, because he knew Lola was probably right.
“He kept coming back. I know a Siciliano is asking for trouble, but he was different. He reminded me of you in a way. An older you.” She said it like a dark confession. “I guess now I know why.”
“Lola—”
“I know.” She let out a sob. “I know, okay? I know.” She covered her face with her hands. “Just please don’t tell him. Let me break up with him. I don’t want him to see me like that. I want to keep it beautiful. You don’t understand, Tino. When he looks at me—”
“I understand.” Tino felt tears stinging his eyes too when he thought of Brianna. “I do understand.”
“He makes me feel like I matter. Really matter,” she said like it was the only way she could find to explain it. “When he touches me—”
“Cazzo, Lola, you have the worst fucking luck of anyone I ever met, and that’s saying something.” Tino sighed and then did something incredibly stupid. “I won’t tell him, but—”
“I’ll break up with him,” she said quickly. “If you promise not to tell him, I’ll break it off.”
“I promise, but—”
“I’ll do it,” she said so solemnly. “Just give me one more night.”
“I can give you more than a night. Take a week.” He shrugged, because at this point, what the fuck could it hurt, and he was still high enough to believe in love. “A week for making me beautiful to the rich cunts and keeping me out of men’s bathrooms. I owe you that much.”
She smiled, which made her face light up despite the tears. “Grazie.”
“Sure.” Tino crawled down until he was sitting on the toilet in the stall next to her. He was silent for a moment before he remembered the conversation with Meilei and Bobby earlier and confessed, “Did you know you were my first?”
“What?” she asked in surprise. “But Mary—”
“I wasn’t fucking her yet. Just—” He shook his head, feeling sick at the mention of it. “Other stuff.”
“Minchia,” Lola whispered in the stall next to him, sounding as sick as he felt. “That was your first time?”
“Yeah.”