Page 49 of The Enforcer's Revenge
“What the fuck?” Carlo mumbled as the bed shifted, and he sat up. “Okay. I’m up.I think.What am I supposed to be doing?”
“Eating the breakfast Carina made you.”
“But I don’t want to do that.” Carlo still sounded mystified, speaking only Italian because it was his first language. Carlo had spoken it almost exclusively at home until he went to school, andit was his default. “Why is she up this early when we all partied late?”
“’Causesomeonedecided to give her shit for taking benzos like her mother.” Nova was obviously looking at Tino. “I think she’s off weed, too. I didn’t see her smoking last night. Now she’s like Tino on speed.”
“Oh my God, why?” Carlo let out a pained moan as he rolled out of bed. “Tino, why would you do that? The world needs Carina to smoke weed.”
“Sorry.” Tino was still mostly asleep, but then Nova shoved his shoulder. “Stop.”
“If I’m up, you are too, bitch.” Nova pushed Tino again, and since Tino was already on the edge and wrapped up in the sheet, he couldn’t catch himself before he fell off the bed. Nova cursed, “Oh, merda.”
“Maledizione!”
Tino reached out, half blind, and grabbed Nova’s ankle. He jerked in a powerful, quick motion, and Nova must’ve been off his game, too, because he went down and landed on the tile. Then he kicked Tino, hard, catching him in the jaw so violently he tasted blood.
That woke him up.
Tino sprang out of the blankets and launched himself at Nova. Tino tried to punch him, but Nova was more awake than him and blocked the punch as he shouted, “That was a reflex!”
“Reflex this!” Tino punched Nova’s shoulder with one hand and used the other to catch Nova the second time. Tino hit his brother in the jaw and growled, “Feel good, motherfucker?”
“Lola never called me back last night,” Carlo mumbled as he ignored their fighting because it wasn’t anything new. “She always calls me before she goes to sleep.”
Carlo hated cell phones, but he had finally caved and gotten one for Lola. An old-school, pay-by-the-month, practicallyuntraceable burner phone exclusively for Lola to stay in touch. Even Tino didn’t call him on it. Carlo still had kids in the neighborhood sending Tino texts because of the Sicilian belief that a cell phone in your pocket was like carrying around the government. Plus, Tino was fairly certain Carlo wouldn’t be able to text even if he wanted to—especially on that thing.
“So call her,” Nova suggested, knocking Tino’s hand away when he reached down to mess up Nova’s hair. “Don’t you fucking dare. I just fixed it.”
Then Nova reached up and messed up Tino’s hair in retaliation, but what did Tino care? He’d just been sleeping, so he knocked Nova’s hand away and did it himself, running both hands through his hair quickly, making the coarse, thick strands stand up. Then he gave Nova a pointed look.
Nova started laughing. “Minchia, you should see yourself. I hope I don’t look like that.”
“You wish you looked this good.”
Tino crawled off his brother and got to his feet. Then he stared at his reflection in the mirror and winced. Nova wasn’t lying. Anyone who saw that would never give a Sicilian shit about using hair products. He ran his hands through his hair, this time trying to push it back into place, but it didn’t want to agree. He reached for the gel Carlo had on the dresser.
“No one gives a shit what your hair looks like. It’s just family. The party doesn’t start for another three hours.” Nova took the gel out of his hand and put it down again. “Fix it after breakfast. Your food’s getting cold.”
“Maybe that’ll improve it,” Tino grumbled and looked back to Carlo, who was tugging on a pair of jeans. “You coming?”
“Yeah.” Carlo held his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he buttoned his jeans. He looked at his reflection and winced like Tino had, but he obviously decided to ignore it. “She’s not answering.”
“It’s pretty fucking early,” Nova said as he walked down the hall. “Call her again. I guarantee you she’s sleeping.”
“Just don’t talk to me,” Carlo growled.
“Okay.” Tino held up his hands as they walked down the stairs. “Remind us never to wake you up at six-thirty in the morning.”
“Neverwake me up at six-thirty,” Carlo reminded them.
They got to the bottom of the stairs, and all three of them turned when they heard a phone ringing coming from the front door. It stopped just as Carlo lowered his phone with a grunt.
Nova walked across the foyer. “Gotta be the paper guy.”
“You want me to text her?” Tino asked Carlo in concern.
“Nah, I’ll just call her again. Better chance of her hearing it.”
