Page 108 of The Slayer
“Did you fuck her?” Tino asked.
“What?” Nova turned back to him with a glare. “No, I didn’t fuck her. Why is it always about fucking with you? She did something for me when I was a kid. She used to live in New York. She gave me a hundred bucks once. I almost fell on my face when I saw her at the hospital.”
“Tabitha is the chick who gave you a hundred bucks at the bar? Even I remember that,” Tino said in surprise. “That was her? No shit?”
“Yeah.” Nova smiled at his brother. “How friggin’ weird is that?”
“Thatisweird,” Tino agreed. “Let me whack these fuckers. Chuito doesn’t need to get his hands dirty.”
“No, I’ll do it,” Chuito said before Nova could answer. “I want to do it.”
“I’ll pay you,” Nova said as he took a deep breath of relief. “I’ll pay you well.”
“I’m sure you would.” Chuito raised his eyebrows, almost curious what the price tag would be on it if he got a quarter of a million just for letting Tino crash at his place. “But I’d prefer if you didn’t.”
“I don’t want to owe any favors,” Nova said with another hard glare at Chuito. “As you can see, debts are bad for my health. I’m stuck helping a cop because of a debt.”
“No favors. I promise,” Chuito assured him. “Wyatt is part of the reason why I’m not dead or in prison right now. He took a chance on me when it was more than a risky gamble for him. I was a strung-out gangster when I moved here. I have a good life now. I have a lot of legal green in my bank account because of the Conners and Clay. I can take care of a problem for Wyatt.”
Nova shook his head, not swayed. “Garcia—”
“I don’t like motherfuckers who rape women,” Chuito cut him off. “I don’t like ones who sell their sisters for drugs either. You’d be doing me a favor by letting me take them out. Help me cleanse my soul a little.”
“I don’t understand,” Nova said, as if he picked up something in the undercurrent of Chuito’s threat. “I mean, no one likes motherfuckers who rape women, but—”
“My mother was raped,” Chuito admitted to the two brothers something no one save his cousin knew. “I take that shit personally.”
“What happened to the guy who raped her?” Tino asked with a frown. “No teeth?”
Chuito looked at the table. “She’s never told me who it was. She knows, but she won’t give me a name.”
Nova snorted in disbelief. “Why the fuck not?”
“Probably because he was my father.” Chuito shrugged. “I mean, obviously, it was a long time ago. The pendejo’s likely dead, but I sure wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Puerto Rico if he wasn’t. My mother wasfifteen. She’s got a whole fucking lifetime of issues from that shit. She’s never been able to commit to a man. She doesn’t trust them. Any of ’em. She just uses them and throws them away before they can hurt her. I know it’s his fault. If I can’t find him, I can sure take it out on someone else.”
He glanced up when he sensed a silent communication between the brothers. Their eyes were wide as they stared at each other, and then Tino looked back to him.
“You can take ’em out,” Tino agreed, because the Italians were nothing if not great at understanding his mentality. “Cleanse your soul, brother.”
“Yeah, okay, Garcia.” Nova nodded as he met his brother’s gaze again and then turned back to Chuito. “You want to take them out for free, that works for me, but you gotta do it my way. I’m sorry; they gotta keep their teeth.”
Chuito shrugged again as he gave Nova a smile. “Your hit. I’ll do it how you want.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Those babies are so cute,” Alaine said as she sat across from him at his kitchen table, because tonight was his night to cook. She took a bite of rice and grinned. “Are you coming with me to the hospital tonight?”
“Um.” Chuito stared at his own food, not feeling hungry. Instead his mind was on the issue with Wyatt, and the commitment he’d made to Nova the day before. “Nah, she probably doesn’t want me there.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “She’s still recovering from surgery and—”
“Since when does Jules care ’bout things like that,” Alaine said with a laugh. “Come to the hospital with me. You want to see the babies again. So tiny. I just wanna cuddle ’em forever.”
“Ay carajo.” He groaned and glanced up at Alaine, who was practically glowing with excitement over Jules and Romeo’s new twins. She looked so pleased; he couldn’t help but agree. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Okay.” She gave him a wide smile. “Are you gonna hold one of ’em?”
