Page 111 of Star Crossed
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nova had gone from a social smoker to a chain smoker in the space of two days. He sat on the couch in Romeo’s apartment in New York after setting up camp there in the vain hope his brother and Jules Conner would show up. His laptop was on his lap. An ashtray rested on the coffee table. Romeo would have an absolute fit if he came home to an apartment that smelled like cigarettes, but that was the least of Nova’s problems.
Even if he’d bought time with Aldo on the Romeo issue, it still felt like the world was collapsing in around him. Aldo and Nova’d had a sit-down with Frankie this morning, and something about the twitch in his father’s eyes created a knot in Nova’s stomach. He wasn’t totally certain Frankie was going to listen to Aldo this time. Taking out Romeo after Aldo told him not to could start a war, but maybe that’s what Frankie wanted, to force the family to choose sides.
The spilt was starting to become obvious, and many agreed with Frankie. Nova shouldn’t have the position he did. He wasn’t even a legitimate son, and even if he was, overstepping his father was unheard of. Aldo had taken a risk by making Nova capo bastone, but he’d assured Nova that money would always inspire more loyalty than old rules and traditions.
Usually Nova agreed with him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was about to happen. Or it could just be Romeo taking off in the middle of the night. Things couldn’t get much worse than that.
He had a lot of reasons for sleepless nights, but losing Romeo was what kept Nova up for the past two days. Even when he’d tried to sleep, all he ended up doing was lying in Romeo’s bed, smelling the trace of his cologne still on the sheets and trying to imagine a life without his older brother around.
When Romeo had been in prison, Nova still knew he was coming home and the hell would stop. His family would be back together and that helped him get through, but what the fuck was he supposed to do with this? Romeo couldn’t be gone forever. That just didn’t happen. He wouldn’t leave them willingly, but it was starting to sink in that he had. Now it was driving Nova insane that he couldn’t locate him. The injustice of it burned in his gut and had him rubbing at his eyes to fight the sting in them.
He was able to find a solution to every problem except the most important one.
Now sick to his stomach, Nova reached for his phone and looked at it in vain for a call he might have missed even if he’d been carrying it like a lifeline for the past two days. He checked his texts, seeing a new one from Tino
Answer my calls, stronzo. People around here look at me like I just clipped their dog. Miss home.
He groaned, wondering which of them had it worse, Tino, who was stuck in Hicksville with a town full of people who blamed him for losing their local lawyer, or Nova, who was dealing with the start of a Moretti family civil war.
Even as he pondered it, his phone rang. Seeing who it was, Nova answered hopefully, “Hey, Conner.”
“Hear anything?”
“If I heard something, I would have told you.”
“Did you trace his phone?”
Only a million times.
“The phone’s off,” Nova reminded him. “Have you tried Jules’s phone again?”
“It’s still off.” Wyatt sighed, sounding as lost as Nova felt. “I should’ve told her ’bout the baby. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have left.”
“We all got shit to feel guilty about.” Nova lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out casually. “Hey, Garrett Shaw, how come your town’s treating my little brother like shit? I’m not too happy with Tino right now, but I don’t like your hick neighbors picking on him either.”
“What’d you just call me?” Wyatt asked, the raw shock reverberating through his voice.
“Nothing, it was an obscure jab,” Nova said with a wince. The exhaustion was making him forget himself. “ThoseHeroes of Sapphire Countybooks, they remind me of you.”
“How so?”
“The kid’s named Garrett Shaw. You’re named Wyatt Conner.”
“That comparison don’t make a lick of sense.”
“The comparison makes perfect sense. Pat Garrett’s a famous lawman just like Wyatt Earp.”
Wyatt was silent for a long moment, before he said in surprise, “I never thought of that.”
“Garrett’s father is the sheriff of Sapphire County. Your father was the sheriff. He’s got a twin sister and you got a twin sister,” Nova went on, sort of enjoying the distraction. “And it’s more than that—Sapphire County, the descriptions, they’re dead-on for your town. The author must have used Garnet as inspiration. I’m not even gonna get into her pen name, but I’m pretty sure she borrowed your life too. Only the guy in the books is a friggin’ superhero. You’re just an asshole.”
“Thanks, Moretti. The feeling’s mutual.”
“You should sue T.C. Rennoc for stealing your life,” Nova told him seriously. “The bitch has made a billion dollars off that series. They’d probably settle out of court just to shut you up.”
Wyatt laughed. “Don’t tell my sister that.”
