Page 96 of The Enforcer
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 isverygroovy.” 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.”
“I don’t think it’s working on me either,” Brianna whispered as she went back to staring at Nova and his girlfriends, because he was doing a very good job at ignoring the rest of them.
Nova leaned into the girl next to him. She had a soft Caribbean accent and beautifully tanned skin. It made the gold glitter she’d sprayed on her arms look like pixie dust. Nova’s hand was on her lower back. His face was in the curve of her neck. He whispered something in French, making her wilt back into him before he dragged his tongue up to her ear.
“I’m sorry,” Tino apologized for his brother. “He’s…really high.”
“Yeah,” Brianna agreed, studying the three of them with a sense of awe, because the girls were still kissing. She honestly didn’t think she would ever be sitting on the train watching something like this, especially with Nova Moretti somehow tangled up in between them like it was exactly where he was supposed to be. “I guess he is.”
“The roll makes touching feel good.” Tino played with the zipper on his jacket, because he had to give his T-shirt to his brother once he walked back and found it at the warehouse. Nova’s had disappeared somewhere. “It makes your skin extra sensitive.”
“Have you done it before?” she asked curiously. “Ecstasy.”
Tino shook his head. “No, tonight was the first time I took it.”
“I saw your…friends.” A flush rose up on her cheeks. “The girls who had your jacket and shirt. They’re pretty.Verypretty.” She looked back to Nova, watching him with these two beautiful women, feeling extremely plain as she whispered, “Exotic. You probably like exotic.”
Tino didn’t respond, because Carina had found the approved boyfriend next to her and was playing with his hair that was spiked high with gel, but Tino pulled her back.
“You said touching makes it better,” Carina argued.
Tino snorted. “That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to do it.”
“I’ve done it with women,” the guy next to her said. “I can do it with women easy.” His gaze was on Carina’s tits, because the hormone fairy had visited Carina with a vengeance, and most boys with a pulse noticed. “Sometimes they like to watch. Sometimes they like to play.”
“Wrong crowd, Bobby,” Tino snapped at him. “Way wrong crowd.”
“What?” Bobby lifted his head and looked at Tino. “Is she your girl?”
He sounded strangely hopeful about it, which was odd, considering his fascination with Carina’s chest.
“She’s my sister.” Tino pointed to Carina’s forehead. The letters were dim because the ink was designed to show up under a black light, but it was still there. “So I wouldn’t look too hard unless you want my father to murder you.”
Carina would normally be really pissed off about that.
This time she went back to playing with Bobby’s hair, patting it and admiring the way it stayed standing.
Bobby seemed more than happy to let her, despite the murder threat that should probably be taken seriously considering the source. Tino appeared to give up on both of them with another roll of his eyes as he turned back to Brianna and asked, “What were you saying?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
Brianna couldn’t stop watching the way Nova looked with those girls. He had moved over a seat and pulled the Hispanic girl onto his lap. Unlike her friend, she had light skin and freckles over her nose. Nova spoke to her in Spanish, as if all the languages in his brain were sort of just out there, jumbled somehow, but it didn’t seem to matter to them. Brianna got the impression this wasn’t their first time together like this. They all looked incredibly comfortable as Nova tossed his head against the back of his chair. His hand was in her hair, and there was something about the look on his face as she kissed Nova’s neck that made Brianna feel beyond hot.
