Page 118 of The Enforcer

Lola pulled back. “Excuse me?”

“He said you were from East Harlem,” Tino went on and then took a bite of his French toast. He gestured to Nova. “We are too.”

“I, um—” She stabbed at her fruit salad distractedly. “I was homeschooled.”

“Ah.” Tino nodded. “That’s funny. Meilei was too. Weren’t you?”

Meilei looked up from her food with a knowing smile. “I was.”

“You’re not still in school?” Nova asked Meilei in surprise.

“No.” Meilei looked back to her pancakes. “I dropped out.”

“Hey, no judgment. I dropped out too,” Nova said earnestly. “If you wanted to take your GED, I could help you, and there’s plenty of financial aid for community college. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Mei’s not available,” Tino cut his brother off with a glare. “And she’s not interested in Nova Moretti’s financial-aid program.”

“You’re a dickhead tonight,” Nova said sharply in Italian. “Care to share with the table why?”

“Sure.” Tino looked back to Lola and arched an eyebrow despite the fact that he was speaking Italian. “I’m in a sharing mood.”

“If you’ll excuse me.” Lola pushed at Carlo’s shoulder. “I need to use the ladies’ room.”

Carlo let her out, and Tino watched her walk to the back of the room before he decided, “I need to take a leak too.”

“Classy, Valentino,” Nova chastised him and then looked to Meilei pointedly.

“Madonn’.” Tino rolled his eyes and nudged Meilei. “Lemme out, sweetheart.”

“Are you into her? I thought you were still crying over the BFF,” Nova said curiously in Italian as Tino handed him his backpack to watch. “And what was the deal with your feet in this one’s lap?” He gestured to Bobby and then put the backpack next to him. “You’re falling apart, Valentino.”

“Yeah, what was the deal with that?” Carlo jumped in. “I thought you said—”

Tino walked away before he had to listen to them finish. Lola had already disappeared into the ladies’ room, but Tino didn’t let that stop him. He walked in behind her, and the woman at the sink gasped in shock.

“Sorry. Looking for my girl,” Tino said as the woman hurried out. “Baby doll,” he called out in a singsong voice. “I know you’re in here.”

Lola didn’t answer, so he walked into the stall beside the one that was locked. He stood on the toilet and rested his arms on the partition as he looked down to find Lola sitting there, feet up on the seat with her head resting against her knees.

“What if I was taking a piss?” she snapped without looking up.

“It wouldn’t be the dirtiest thing I’ve seen you do,” Tino said dismissively in Italian.

“I didn’t know,” she mumbled against her knees. “I swear.”

Tino didn’t say anything. He just looked at her.

“He walked up to me in a coffee shop,” she went on when the silence in the bathroom clearly became too much. “I turned him down, but then he showed up the next day. And the next. He figured out my schedule. He wore me down.”

Tino snorted, because Carlo left that part out.

Lola finally lifted her head to look at him with eyes that were swimming pools of ice. The tears rolled down her cheeks. “He said so many nice things.”

“So what?” Tino shrugged. “They all say nice things. You’re not new. You know this shit better than anyone.”

“Yeah, but he was the first one who made me believe them.” She wiped at her cheeks and looked so lost in that stall as she admitted, “I love him, Tino.”

“Merda.” Tino groaned. If he had his choice, he’d rather Lola be doing some sort of reconnaissance for her father. A lovesick Lola was way more than he wanted to deal with. “He’s an enforcer, sweetheart.”