Page 24 of Vendetta
The colour in Nic’s cheeks faded as his brother whispered urgently in his ear. I scanned his open hands – the knife he had been holding was gone.
Beside us, Gino was slowly starting to rouse himself. He got to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. He regarded the scene groggily before nearly knocking me over as he stumbled up the bank towards his brothers.
Alex had gotten to his feet as well, and was shaking with anger. He started towards Gino.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ said Luca. ‘Just walk away.’
‘Two on one isn’t fair,’ said Alex, starting to circle the brothers, two of whom were completely spaced out. Nic hadn’t said a word since Luca pulled him off Alex, and Gino was still having trouble standing upright. I could see Alex sizing them up, zeroing in on their injuries. ‘You should fight your own battles next time, Gino.’
I came between them. ‘Alex, just go home,’ I said. ‘This doesn’t need to get any worse.’
He narrowed his eyes at Nic and then Luca, considering his options. Then, reluctantly, he relented. ‘Fine. Are you coming?’ he asked me.
I glanced at Nic.Not without an explanation. ‘In a minute.’
‘They’re bad news, Soph,’ he said, his voice laced withconfusion. ‘Why are you taking their side?’
‘I’ll just be a minute,’ I repeated, trying to ignore the sense of betrayal in his expression.
‘Suit yourself. I’m out of here.’ Alex started walking away, but not before adding a pointed ‘You’re lucky!’ over his shoulder. I wasn’t sure which of the brothers he was talking to.
‘No,’ said Luca. ‘You are.’
Once Alex was out of sight, I turned my attention to the Priestly brothers. Nic was breathing hard, his expression unreadable as he scanned the grass around us. Beside him, Gino’s hair was falling unevenly around his ears, like a lopsided mushroom. He held that same crazy look I had seen out on the court: darting and unfocused. Luca was regarding me calmly.
‘We’re going to go now,’ he said, as if he were leaving a party, not a brawl.
‘What the hell was that about?’ I asked, ignoring his flippancy.
‘He called me a cheat,’ said Gino slowly, like the memory was just dawning on him. He was obviously concussed, but I couldn’t tell what was wrong with Nic, who was still uncharacteristically quiet, his eyes downcast. ‘He said I played dirty on the court.’
‘So what?’ I asked.
‘So I had to shut his stupid mouth up!’ He raised his voice and I registered his pronounced lisp for the first time. It must have been the effect of his chipped teeth.
Luca rolled his eyes. ‘Relax, Gino.’
‘Fighting’s not the right way to shut someone up,’ I said, stopping the phraseyou dumbass!before it slipped out. I grabbed Nic’s arm and tugged him away from Luca’s grip. He pulled hisattention from the grass and looked up, the embers in his eyes igniting, and at last he seemed to register me.
‘I’m sorry you had to see that, Sophie,’ he said quietly. ‘I was just trying to defend my brother and it got out of control.’
‘You think?’
‘We’re leaving,’ said Luca, gesturing for Nic to follow him. ‘Come on.’
His dark eyes studied the space around me as he pulled himself away.
‘Wait!’ I said, following him.
He turned.
‘I just saw you pull a knife on Alex. You can’t just walk away from that!’ As I said it, I couldn’t quite believe it was true. It was such a dark thing to do.
Nic shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t.’
‘I saw you,’ I countered. ‘You took it from your pocket.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Luca without bothering to turn and look at me. ‘Come on, Nicolò.’
