Page 59 of The Enforcer

Tino quirked an eyebrow and then looked the other direction, to see if they were really talking to him.

“Are you stupid, guinea?”

Since Tino was the only Siciliano in hearing distance who was going to take personal offense to that, he closed his book and turned back to them. “For real? We’re doing this?”

The bigger one got in real close, too close, like he had missed the personal-bubble speech in kindergarten. Then he whispered in Tino’s ear. “I know who you are, piccolo succhiacazzi.”

“Who am I?” Tino didn’t flinch away from him. He just stayed in his face and made his voice sort of low and sultry in the same way this guy did. “Oh, please tell me. Who do you think I am?”

“I think you’re the puttana who’s gonna be licking my boots for the next four years. Do you want me to translate that for you?” He glanced down at Tino’s feet. “Nice cast. It suits you, princess.”

Tino laughed in his face.

Neither of them seemed to know how to reply to Tino’s level of amusement. Both boys were completely speechless. As if they actually expected Tino to go along with their bullshit.

“Preferirei mangiare merda piuttosto che leccare i tuoi stivali,” Tino said slowly and then raised his eyebrows when he saw neither of them fully understood him. “Do you want me to translate it for you,cretino?”

“Valentino.”

Tino looked at his brother, who was leaning against the other side of the desk. “Yeah?”

“They need you to take the placement tests.” Nova narrowed his eyes as he studied the larger blond, who was still all up in Tino’s personal space. “Making friends?”

“Yup.” Tino leaned down to grab his crutches, taking care not to bend his book, and then said in Italian, “For a school that’s supposed to be ninety percent Italian, the teacher must fucking suck. This bitch just called me a cocksucker. Badly. If he’s gonna toss it around, he should say it right.” He turned around and glared at the guy, studying him for a second, and then said to his brother, “I think he wants a date.”

“Come on.” Nova huffed. “Just leave ’em alone.”

“I’m serious. I think he wants a date,” he went on Italian. “He was all up in my grill. Did you see that? He called me a cocksucker twice.” Tino leaned into Nova over the counter and tried to imitate the husky pitch the blond used as he said, “His voice got all low when he said it.Like this.I think it was wishful thinking.”

Nova laughed at him and then glanced over at the two guys sitting in the chairs, who stiffened with insult.

“What are you laughing at? Fucking geek.”

Nova’s face fell slack for one second, and he looked behind him, as if searching for another student like Tino had. Then he turned back and asked them, “Are you talking to me?”

“Is there another chess club champion standing here?” The blond folded his thick, muscled arms over his chest, as if they were still new and he was enjoying the novelty of them. “You got a problem with it?”

“Did you—” Nova started, frowning at him. “You know what, no. We’re not doing this. I can’t be fucked with you. Valentino, come on.” He took the book out of Tino’s hand and opened the door to the back for him. Then he whispered to him in Italian, “I looked at your test.”

Thank God.

Tino was stressing about that test. He didn’t smoke before he came in, but he had an issue with timed tests on good days. Not that he was stupid, but focusing was a problem sometimes. Mix in being itchy, achy, generally uncomfortable, and more than a little twitchy about his life.

He’d fucking fail that thing with flying colors.

They’d worked out a code before they got here. So Tino spent most of the time tapping his pencil against the counter, giving Nova the number to the problem he was struggling with. Nova would click the ballpoint pen in his hand in response, and Tino would have to ignore the crazy noise in the office to hear how many clicks it was and then color in the right bubble.

He tried with most of the stuff, mainly because he didn’t trust Nova not to make him looktoosmart, but focusing in this office, with everyone coming in and out, was almost impossible.

He asked for more help than he should, and it was probably a mistake.

The last thing Tino needed was to get stuck in advanced calculus or some shit like that. Just because Nova had bargained Tino’s way into finishing high school didn’t mean he wanted to take his place in the math club.

This test was huge.

When they were finally done and walking to the parking lot, Tino asked, “Did you flake on your test?”

“Yeah, I flaked on it.” Nova shrugged. “It’s just easier. She was nagging me. If I did too well, she’d really bitch about college. Every brick in that place was put in with Cosa Nostra money. You’d think she’d be a little more aware of my situation.”