Page 197 of The Slayer
“The twins asked for Tino every day that he was gone.” Jules shook her head and looked to the door. “I don’t understand why Tino has to go. I don’t understand why you have to go either. Can’t Chuito leave you here if he has to—”
“I don’t want him to leave me here,” Alaine cut her off. “Would you want Romeo to leave you behind?” That really ripped Jules up. She just started sobbing, and all Alaine could do was hug her and say, “I love you.”
“No,” Jules snapped at her. “You’re leaving. What am I going to do with the office? You’re abandoning me.”
“Don’t. Please.” Alaine didn’t let her go; she just hugged her tighter because she knew Jules was angry and grasping at straws. “We need to make this day good. Somehow, Jules, try and make this day good.”
“Romeo’s not even speaking to Nova,” Jules choked out. “They got into a horrible fight last night when y’all got back. It was bad. Really bad. It’s like Nova’s taking his other child from him. We got Tino out, and now—”
“Hey.” Alaine pulled away from Jules and squeezed her shoulders. “You do know that Tino can take care of himself, don’t you? And it’s not Nova making him go. It’s the other way around. He didn’t really give Nova a choice in the matter. I know because I listened to them argue about it at every pit stop between Miami and Garnet. We finally had to separate them and take Tino in the GL with us.”
Jules shook her head. “No, he doesn’t belong in that life. He’s like my baby too and—”
Alaine couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Jules, Tino does just fine. He’s—” She shrugged, not knowing how else to put it. “He’s actually a lot more than any of you give him credit for. He lets you baby him so you won’t see that he’s the very last man in the world who needs to be protected. He’s been protecting you instead. Honor it. Let him do what he feels like he needs to do.”
Jules took a shuddering breath and asked, “What if he doesn’t come back? What if none of you come back?”
Alaine wanted to promise her that they would, but instead she just repeated, “Make this day good, Jules.”
Jules let out a horrible wail of agony and stood there shaking and crying because her family was being ripped apart, and she couldn’t even know the reason why.
Alaine was really glad she’d had the party in Miami, because if this had been her real wedding party, it would be horrible. People there knew how to live in the moment. They enjoyed the good times, because they didn’t know when it was all going to fall apart.
Jules didn’t understand.
No one here did.
“You’re gonna clean up,” Alaine said as she grabbed paper towels and handed them to Jules. “Then we’re going out there, and you are going to treat Tino like a brother you trust will come back and know he will bring Nova back with him. He isnotyour baby. He is a man who will do everything he can to come back to those twins. That, Iwillpromise you.”
“How can I know that?” Jules wiped at her face with a paper towel. “I have no way of knowing.”
“’Cause I am telling you,” Alaine assured her, because Chuito had eventually told her the details of what happened in the house while she was upstairs. “I have seen him in action, Jules, and he is awe-inspiring.”
Jules paused at that and lowered her hand, looking to Alaine with tear-filled eyes. “Can we fix this? Can Wyatt fix it?”
Alaine shook her head. “No.”
“Maybe if you told me why. I don’t understand why you have to be involved. I don’t understand why Chuito is either, and—”
Alaine huffed and looked to the ceiling, searching for a lie. “’Cause Nova paid me five million dollars to be his lawyer. So consider me shallow enough to accept it, and consider Chuito shallow enough to decide that he was tired of concussions and bruises. That’s a lot of money.”
“I don’t believe it,” Jules announced with the conviction of a woman who knew Alaine too well.
“I can show you the receipt,” Alaine countered. “You have to get over your shit, Jules. Have you ever once stopped to think that maybe the reason Nova agreed to take Tino is to protect you? Has Romeo stopped to think about that when he was tearing into Nova? Did he stop to think what it must be like for Nova to choose between which brother he gets to protect? Maybe your real babies are safer with them gone, and they know it. I’m going to leave you in here to think about that, but I will be praying that you find a way to enjoy your day with them at some point. I’m gonna pray you talk Romeo into it too, because Tino and Nova love you enough to make sure there is no reason for anyone to come looking for them in Garnet.”
Then Alaine walked away. She found Chuito sitting at a table despite the music and most of the people at the party having no idea how truly depressing it was. Next to him was Wyatt, holding his daughter, whose hair was such a bright shade of red it glowed copper under the fluorescent lights.
Despite the baby in his arms, Wyatt seemed to be having a heated conversation with Chuito, who was looking at the ceiling like Alaine had done in the bathroom.
“I have a vested interest in your success,” Wyatt was barking at Chuito. “Do you know how much money I’ve put into your career, and you’re just gonna walk away from it?”
“Oh, now it’s about money when you got a perfectly good replacement for me in Javier. Maybe abetterreplacement, because he is younger and the titles still mean something to him,” Chuito snapped as if he’d lost his patience. “Do you want money? Do you want me to pay you back even though we both know you’ve made a hundred times your investment off me?”
“No, I want you to stay,” Wyatt shot back, his eyes as glassy as Jules’s had been in the bathroom. “I want you to talk Tino into staying. I don’t want my sister to lose her family. I don’t want my nephews to lose their uncle, and I don’t want my friend to go off and do God knows what in New York. Why did this happen? You promised me you’d keep out of trouble. I trusted you.”
“Am I in trouble?” Chuito asked, doing a much more effective job of lying than Alaine had, before he turned to Alaine. “Are we in trouble, mami?”
Alaine shook her head. “No.”
