The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (59 page)

Then he jumped forward in that same quick-footed way Tino was apt to. Carina screamed, and Alaine stepped back before Nova got to her, using herself as a human shield for this woman she didn’t know.

She nearly lost her footing when Nova caught one of her arms and tried to pull her away from his sister.

“HEY!” Chuito shouted as he grabbed Nova, because it was obvious to anyone Nova was almost in a violent rage. “I
know
you didn’t just call Alaine a cunt.”

“No, I called her a cunt!” Nova fought Chuito’s hold and pointed to Carina. “Did you bring her to him? There are two phones on the ground!”

“Where else could I bring her?” Carina shouted back. “Who else could protect her but Tino?”

“Why didn’t you call me if she was in trouble?”

She let out an incredulous laugh. “Are you friggin’ kidding me?”

“I told you to forget Tino existed!”

“He’s my brother too. He’s been calling me, by the way. He has a burner phone. We don’t all do what you tell us to.”

“Her brother?” Chuito loosened his hold on Nova. “What?”

“This is Carina Moretti,” Alaine said lamely as she gestured to Carina behind her. “She’s Nova and Tino’s sister.”

“Carajo,” Chuito whispered in shock and then pulled Nova back. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“I don’t have a sister,” Nova said in a cold, furious voice. “I have a pain in the ass who just happened to come out of the same set of balls I did.”

“You’re disgusting, Nova,” Carina announced haughtily. “I’d rather eat a bullet than stay here with you.”

“That can be arranged,” Nova assured her.

“Hey, okay, come on.” Chuito shoved Nova back so that Alaine and Chuito stood there facing each other, with an angry Moretti behind each of them. Chuito looked to Alaine and asked, “What happened?”

“She brought Tino’s dancer to him,” Alaine said quickly. “Tino left. He said he had to go take care of something. Their grandfather tried to have her killed. I think it was her husband who was going to kill her. Brianna said something about her husband working for their grandfather and—”

“Madonn’,” Nova whispered and ran a hand through his hair, as if the full force of the situation just hit him. “You played right into his hands, Carina. You played Tino into their hands, and I can’t call him. Did he take the CL?”

“Yes,” Alaine whispered.

Nova leaned down and rested his hands on his knees as if he was on the verge of passing out. “Where did he say he was going?”

Alaine hesitated, because she didn’t really want to give the answer to that.

“Alaine—” Chuito urged. “We need to know where he went.”

She shrugged. “He said he was going to get Patrón.”

“Oh my God.” Nova sat down on the asphalt and buried his face against his knees. “It’s a trap.” Nova lifted his head and looked around the parking lot. “He’s going back to New York. We’ve got to try and catch him, ’cause if we don’t—” Nova shook his head and looked back to his sister. “I hate you, Carina. I need to just state that once and for all. I officially hate you.”

“Are y’all okay?”

They all turned to look toward the Cellar, seeing that Wyatt had walked out. None of them really had an answer for his question, so Alaine glanced from Carina to Nova, sitting on the pavement and looking so much alike they were like Italian versions of Wyatt and Jules…if they hated each other’s guts.

“We have to go,” Chuito said to Wyatt when he came walking up. “Right now.”

“No,” Wyatt growled as if he knew what that meant. “I’m not gonna let y’all take off again.”

“Wyatt—” Chuito let out a bark of laughter. “We just discussed this. You need to let it go. If you owe Nova, then you’ll help him.”

Nova turned to look back at Wyatt and then glared at Chuito. “Chu—”

“Hey, he said he owes you.” Chuito shrugged, giving Nova a cryptic look. “If that’s true, the least he can do is help with Jules.”

“I need more details,” Wyatt cut in. “Who is this?”

“Yeah, what the fuck are we gonna do with you?” Nova gestured to Carina as an afterthought, as if the fear over Tino made him forget about the issue of his sister. “The old man is gonna know you betrayed him and—”

“We’re leaving her with Romeo,” Alaine said.

“Oh, he’s gonna love you for that,” Nova said bitterly. “Good, you know what, leave her with Romeo. They can commiserate together about how much they both hate me. Great plan.”

“I don’t really know Romeo,” Carina argued. “Staying with him would be awkward.”

“We could always bury her instead,” Nova suggested.

“Who is she?” Wyatt repeated.

Alaine pointed to Carina. “This is Nova’s sister.”

Wyatt gaped. “You have a sister?”

“She’s gonna help Jules in the office while we go get Tino. She can take my place and—”

Nova burst out laughing.

“What?” Carina snapped at him.

“I’m just thinking that I would pay several million dollars to see you try to be Jules’s assistant,” Nova said with a dark smile. “Seriously, Carina, I’ll double your inheritance if you agree to set up a webcam in that office. Seeing the original mafia princess try to do that job would be the highlight of my life.”

Carina flipped him off in response, really enthusiastically.

“They got a place over the garage for you to stay too,” Nova added with a hard, ugly glare at his sister. “Tables turn so quickly. Hopefully they won’t beat you when they’re having a bad day.”

“I never wanted that,” Carina whispered with a catch in her voice. “He’s my brother too.”

“Is Tino in trouble?” Wyatt asked all of them.

“Yes,” Chuito and Alaine answered together, before Chuito added, “A lot of trouble. Let us go get him. Trust us.”

Wyatt stood there, looking conflicted.

“Fuck,” he groaned after a long moment, as if it went against everything in him. “Fine. Leave her. I’ll take care of her.”

“Tino wanted her to stay with Romeo,” Alaine warned. “He said—”

“Her father tried to kill Jules and Romeo,” Wyatt reminded them.

“Awkward,” Carina repeated from her spot on the ground.  “I can rent a place or—”

“Is it true that she can protect the twins?” Alaine asked Nova.

Nova shrugged. “Well, considering our grandfather thinks the sun rises and sets on her ass—”

“I hate you too. That also needs to be stated,” Carina announced in the same icy, furious tone Nova used. “You took away the one thing that gave him a reason to be truly happy. You took away Brianna’s only reason too.”

“Better than setting them up to be tortured as bait. If she’s with him when they catch him, they’re both going down, and it’ll be your fault,” Nova countered with a glare. “Congratulations, Carina. You always seem to be just one step above me. Still the golden child. Your nonno is gonna be so pleased.”

Carina let out a sob. “Why do you always do this? You always make me feel so stupid.”

“That’s not really a challenge,” Nova said with the sharp, angry sarcasm of a genius. “You do it all on your own, princess.”

“Y’all need to go,” Wyatt said firmly. “Go get Tino back. I’ll deal with Jules.”

“Thanks, Wyatt,” Chuito said as he grabbed Alaine’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Alaine promised Carina, realizing in that one strange moment that she was trading places with this woman. “Jules is kind. Romeo is too. You’ll be fine staying in Tino’s place over the garage. They certainly aren’t going to beat you.”

“Come on.” Chuito kicked Nova. “Get your shit together, Moretti. Stop sulking. We’ll get him back. You’ll figure out something. You always do. We’ll take my car. Do we need supplies?”

“Not if we’re going to New York,” Nova said as he got to his feet. “I have plenty of supplies.”

“Okay,” Chuito said, and then he hugged Alaine, picking her off her feet so that she was forced to wrap her arms around him. “You sure you wanna come, mami? You can stay here.”

“You better take me,” she said as she pressed her lips to him. “I have a tattoo that says we’re in this together.”

Chuito ran his hand up to the back of her neck, sweeping his thumb over the small, ornate Omertá tattoo at the base of her hairline. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She hugged Chuito tighter, trusting him with every ounce of her being. Knowing there were only two outcomes from trying to take down Nova’s grandfather, she gave him a smile and said, “Let’s go be gods.”

Because she
still
believed in happily ever afters.

And she was willing to fight for theirs.

~ * ~

Marcos Rivera’s Boricua Guide to Spanish and Street Slang Version 2.0

Spanish, Boricua style

Note from Marcos: Some of these are the same from the first book, some are altered to fit this book, but a lot are new, and I’m sorta traumatized after translating them. Can you believe Chuito has the cojones to say I’m the dirty one? Yeah. Okay. You be the judge. Also, motherfucker gets his Spanglish on in this book (usually when he was doing something I never wanted to read about). So if he was talking and mixing up English and Spanish, I’m cramming all the Spanish together in one translation, or I’ll be here all day alphabetizing this shit, and you’ll be here all day trying to decipher it.

Ahora si que te voy a matar, cabrón
—Now I’m really going to kill you, motherfucker. (If that doesn’t set the tone, I’m not sure what does. This might as well be the theme for Chu’s life. Also, if you ever hear my cousin say this, I’d recommend running. He’s not really one to joke around about shit like that.)

Amigos
—Friends.

Ay, bendito
—Oh, poor thing.
Bendito
means blessed. It’s a Puerto Rican catchall term of affection. Will often be used when we feel sorry for someone. Can be shortened to
dito
too.

Ay carajo, esa boca. Sí, chúpalo, mami. Coño, así. Que rico, mi amor, me vas a matar
—Oh shit, that mouth. Yes, suck it, mami. Fuck, yes. So good, my love, you’re going to kill me. (Note, score one for the Boricuas. I thought Katie was the only gringa who did that with enthusiasm. These gringas, not as uptight as we thought, huh?)

Ay carajo, Mamá, que rico
—Oh hell, Mom, so delicious. (It probably WAS delicious. My tía can cook!)

Ay Dios mio
—Oh my God.

¿Lo mataron? No lo digas, Marc. Por favor no lo digas. ¿Está muerto mi hijo?
—They killed him? Don’t say it, Marc. Please don’t say it. Is my son dead? (Note, this isn’t the first time my tía has said this to me. Hopefully it’s the last, but I’m not holding my breath. Chu lives life a little too close to the edge for comfort.)

Boricuas
—The sexiest motherfuckers on the face of this planet. Not that it needs to be stated after that, but
Boricua
is another term for
Puerto Rican
. (Still true one book later. Also, see
chulo
.)

Bueno, asi mismo
—Good, just like that. (Way to go, Chu; tell her she’s doing it right…
in Spanish
. I swear, I tried to help him with his game. Honest.)

Cabrón
—Sorta lost in translation, but
asshole
or
motherfucker
is close enough. Usually an insult, but is sometimes used affectionately between my friends, because really, calling each other cabrón is about as affectionate as two thugs ever plan to be with each other. It’s not like we’re the fucking Italians, okay? It technically means your chica is cheating on you. In other words, a huge insult. Naturally, we use it to fuck with one another.

Café Americano
—American coffee, or better translated, weak-ass coffee! In Miami, they literally water down Cuban coffee to make café Americano. No joke.

Café Cubano
—Cuban coffee. Highly reccomended. My mother used to make coffee Puerto Rican style on the stove, but fuck it, the Cubans do all right with their coffee. We all use
Café Bustelo
, so yeah, close enough to what Mamá used to make.

Cálmese, tiá
—Calm down, auntie.

Calor
—Heat.

Carajo
—Crap. Shit. Hell. Actual translation is sorta lost, but you get the point.

Chica
—Girl. I’m a big fan of the chicas.

Chico
—Boy. Almost always pendejos.

Chulo
—Handsome and sexy. Can be used as
cute
or
sweet
, but I prefer
handsome
and
sexy
, as I’ve heard it directed at me quite a few times, and I don’t like to be put in the cute-and-sweet catogory…for anything.

Cojones
—Balls.

Colada
—A large serving of Cuban espresso usually served in a Styrofoam cup with a lid because it’s almost always a takeout order. It’s supposed to be shared. The café will give you some plastic demi cups with it ’cause they assume you’re going to be handing out shots at the office at around two thirty when everyone’s crashing from their morning caffeine rush. (Confession, I don’t share mine. I drink the whole fucking thing, but I do buy more for the muchachos at the shop to stop their bitching. In case you haven’t noticed, Puerto Ricans like coffee. A lot.)

Coño
—Damn. Shit. Fuck. We love this phrase. It technically translates to
cunt
but isn’t used like that. Depending on how you say it depicts the level of frustration you’re trying to express.

Coño, que rico
—Fuck, so good.

Coño, te lo voy a meter tan duro
—Fuck, I’m going to give it to you so hard.

Cortadito
—It’s the same as a colada only with steamed milk. About 70/30 espresso-to-milk ratio at the café where I buy it for Katie and my
tiá
, but other places make it with more milk. Still meant to be shared and comes with the little plastic demi cups no one in my family ever uses. (Side note, Katie will cut someone faster than anyone for a
café con leche
. You just can’t live in Miami and not get hooked on the stuff. I like to think it’s not my fault, but we all know it probably is.)

Diablo
—Devil.

De nada
—It’s nothing. Is used to say, “You’re welcome.”

De veras—
For real. Truly. Honestly.

Dios mio
—My God.