Page 104 of Star Crossed
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tino’s eyes darted from Clay to Wyatt. “This shit actually happens? Redneck pigs. It’s like the laws are a friggin’ suggestion. How do you guys walk with the big-ass elephant balls you got hanging between your legs?”
Clay snorted, and Wyatt couldn’t blame him. The gall of this kid was awe inspiring.
Wyatt glared. “Your mouth is ’bout to get you in a whole heap of trouble.”
“You just busted into my house without a warrant.” Tino huffed, holding up his hands in disbelief. “You’re gonna have to deal with my mouth.”
“Sit down. We’re having a talk.”
“Nah.” Tino shook his head. “I got nervous leg syndrome. Sitting makes me twitch.”
Wyatt gaped in disbelief. “I’m ’bout to haul this kid in.”
“Moretti.” Clay stepped forward as if tired of the back-and-forth between them. “We’re not attacking you. Stop acting like we are.”
“I feel fucking attacked,” Tino assured him. “If my brother Nova was here, he’d tell you the forty-seven different ways we could sue your ass for this shit.”
“We’re worried ’bout Jules,” Clay went on evenly. “We just wanna know what you know.”
“I know nothin’ about nothin’.”
“I’m not a cop,” Clay reminded him. “I’m Jules’s friend. I’m Romeo’s friend too.”
“Great friend. Thanks for stepping in and helping him out yesterday.” Tino glared at Clay before he pointed to Wyatt. “This guy kicked the shit outta him for no damn reason. I lost my friggin’ brother ’cause of that shit. You can shove a probe up my ass. I got nothing to say to you guys.”
Wyatt stepped forward, looking down at Tino furiously. “I had a reason.”
“What? Balling your sister?” Tino snorted. “Fuck you, Conner.”
Wyatt ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He knew he couldn’t arrest Tino when he’d just muscled into his house, but it wasverytempting.
Knowing intimidation was not going to work on Tino when he was so angry and defensive, Wyatt changed course out of desperation. “Look, I’m gonna give you the short version of why I had a moment yesterday. My mother died—”
“Cry me a fucking river. You think you’re the only one with a sad story? My mother died too. You don’t see me going bat shit for no reason.” Tino folded his arms over his chest. “There’s a couch with your name on it.”
“If you would shut your trap for two damn seconds, I could get to the part where Jules is pregnant!” Wyatt yelled, completely fed up. “I’m not saying that was a good excuse to do what I did, but I got real issues with it. My mother died having us, and Jules has this long history of female problems. I know this pregnancy won’t be easy on her, and even if it goes well, she’s still not married. The whole damn town’s gonna be talking ’bout it forever. There’s a lot of reasons why putting my fist in your brother’s face felt good, okay?”
For the first time Tino was silent, just looking at Wyatt with stunned disbelief. In that moment there was an innocence to Tino that was missing when he was on the defensive, and Wyatt felt a little bit guilty because he could see how young this kid really was.
“My brother’s having a baby?” Tino finally whispered.
“No, my sister’s having a baby,” Wyatt clarified, still mad enough to have an edge in his voice. “Your brother’s just the cause of it.”
Tino took a shuddering breath, those soulful eyes brimming with emotion. “I’m gonna be an uncle?”
Something hit Wyatt in the chest. Tino wasn’t the only one who was going to be an uncle. In that moment Jules’s pregnancy became something besides a problem. Wyatt felt more than the fear for his sister’s health and panic over the gossip that was going to be fierce. Their tiny family was about to increase. All that emptiness that was left by their father’s death seemed a little less suffocating.
Wyatt swallowed against the rush of emotion and nodded. “Yeah, I guess you are.”
“That makes us like—” Tino’s gaze ran over Wyatt with uncertainty. “We’re like family now, right?”
Wyatt grimaced. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“We’ll be at the same birthdays and shit,” Tino said as if it made perfect sense to him. “Christmas and Easter and baseball games. I’m not missing that. Are you?”
“I don’t want to miss it.” Wyatt gave Tino a pointed look and reminded him, “But we’ll both be left out if we don’t find them. My sister’s health could be in jeopardy. She needs to come home.”
Tino let those words sink in for a few seconds before he announced, “I need to make a phone call.”
