Page 127 of The Slayer
She stared at the open garage door into an empty space where a big black SUV was supposed to be resting.
Her heart jolted, and she hopped out of her car and ran up the stairs on the side of the garage. She tried the doorknob, finding that it was open, and burst in without knocking.
She looked to the couch, seeing a blanket and pillow, making it obvious this was where Chuito landed, but he wasn’t there now.
“What the hell!”
Alaine turned around, her eyes wide when she saw Tino standing at the doorway to the bedroom in nothing but his underwear.
“Are you crazy?” he shouted at her. “You don’t just burst into my house! I could’ve shot you! Chu could’ve shot you!” He gestured to the couch, looking confused when he stared at it. “Where is he?”
“You don’t know?” she asked him in surprise.
“I—” He paused, looking to the open door. “Oh fuck!”
He ran out the door so fast she couldn’t stop him. She wasn’t nearly as quick as Tino, so by the time she got down the stairs, he was just standing there in the cold autumn morning, wearing nothing but black boxer briefs as he stared at the open garage door.
“Motherfucker jacked my car,” he whispered as he looked to Alaine. “He jacked my car! Your boyfriend jacked my car!”
“I—” She looked at him and then pointed to the garage. “Are you saying that’s my fault?”
“Yes. I’m saying it’s your fault. This is all your fault. Pussy will ruin shit faster than anything. My brother was right about that. Motherfuckers will do the dumbest shit for pussy. Look at this.” He gestured to the garage. “He stole my car.”
“Pussyis a very derogatory term,” she couldn’t help but mention. “You’re sort of a pig. I cannot believe I have to give up my happy ending because he’s stuck working for your family.”
“I have to go,” he said as he turned and walked back up the stairs.
Alaine followed him, but he was in his bedroom when she got back to his apartment. She just stood there, listening to Tino having a conversation with himself.
Mostly in Italian.
Though occasionally he’d say something in English. Usually along the lines of, “I’m gonnabeat his ass.”
Tino reappeared faster than she expected, dressed in jeans and one of those black, long-sleeved, formfitting shirts that showed off his cut, muscular body and made him look like a supermodel. That wasn’t what was shocking; it was that he had a gun holster on, with an actual gun in it.
He had another gun tucked into the back of his jeans, shiny and silver against the black of his shirt.
He put on a leather coat, one that was probably worth more than her entire wardrobe combined.
“Why do you have guns?” she asked him in concern. “Where is Chu going? Is he in trouble?”
“Come on.” Tino grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door. “We’ll talk on the way.”
“On the way? Where are we going?”
“We’re going to get my car back,” he said as he gestured to the door. “Move.”
“I don’t…” She shook her head in denial. “I’m not going with you. Not when you have a gun and—”
“Sweetheart.” Tino pulled the gun out from the back of his jeans and pointed it at her. “Youarecoming with me.”
“Are you kidnapping me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yes.” He looked at the gun in his hand. “I guess I am.”
“You can’t kidnap me.” She shook her head. “Just no.”
“Yes.” Tino nodded. “I am.”
