Brianna.
So that had seriously fucked Tino up.
He spent a week on a beach in Miami trying to recover from it all.
Confession certainly hadn’t helped.
It would take a while before he found something to smile about again. For the images to fade. It was the first time he’d killed since giving up blow, and he was starting to wonder why the hell he went off cocaine to begin with.
’Cause Nova felt guilty.
Fuck Nova.
He should feel guilty.
Tino was done fighting the good fight that had allowed him to suppress the fury, and now it was rising up after all these years, nearly stealing his breath with the force of it.
“Are you okay?” Brianna asked softly next to him.
Tino turned back to her, still feeling dirty, as if he didn’t deserve to be sitting there next to her, let alone thinking about touching her again.
Even if he had spent the past four years slowly dying without her.
But Tino didn’t tell her any of that.
He didn’t even know how, and the young, in-love part of him didn’t want to tell her. He wanted her to look at him like she had before, when he was pulling his shirt off, and he didn’t want to give her anything to be disgusted about.
And that was when he realized out of everyone, he was angriest with Brianna.
For falling in love with him.
And ruining her life.
Maybe ending it.
There was this very juvenile, very confused part of him that wanted to yell at her for touching someone like him. Someone dirty.
But the only way he could put that into words was to say in a cold, distant voice, “I need a shower.”
“We’ll get a room.” Brianna’s voice was soft, endearing, making him realize too late that he had said that to her one too many times before. “You can have a shower.”
She said it like she knew exactly why he needed one.
She knew why he was dirty.
Somehow she knew what happened in Miami. She always knew.
But she touched him anyway.
Because Brianna made bad life choices.
He was mad at her for it, irrationally furious, but he was going to take a shower and fuck her anyway, ’cause he loved her so much more than he was mad at her.
Chapter Six
“Who are we hiding from?” Brianna asked as she tossed her bag on the chair by the bed.
“Everyone,” Tino said as he locked the door behind them.
He had a briefcase with him, but there were no clothes in it. Just cash and firearms, neither of which she’d been surprised by when he pulled it out of the trunk.
“Like the feds?” she asked as she stared down at the tank top she was wearing under the jacket Carina had loaned her. She glanced back to Tino as he took off the camouflage hat and set it on the desk by the door. He pulled off his jacket, tossed it over the chair, and stood there in that blue University of Kentucky shirt that was too tight across his broad, muscular chest and clung to his thick biceps. He was way too sexy for her sanity, so she quickly turned away and asked, “Is that why you’re using an ID with your father’s name on it?”
“I’m using that ID ’cause the credit cards in my father’s name are the only ones I have that Nova doesn’t know about, and nice hotels need a credit card for incidentals. The feds are the least of our problems. Where we stand right now, the feds would be doing us a favor to pick us up.”
“We didn’t have to stay somewhere this nice,” she argued. “We should’ve just gone somewhere that takes cash.”
“I’m not staying in a shithole. It bothers me, and you know why it bothers me,” he said with a glare. “If you knew where I landed when I first got to Miami last week, you wouldn’t give me merda about the hotel.”
“For a wedding?” She arched an eyebrow skeptically, ’cause Miami was clearly an issue. “Did something happen in Miami? Obviously you’re not as out as we all thought. Did you piss Don Moretti off?”
“The don pissed me off,” Tino growled at her. “And he knows it. That’s why he attacked you. His plan didn’t work, and
So that had seriously fucked Tino up.
He spent a week on a beach in Miami trying to recover from it all.
Confession certainly hadn’t helped.
It would take a while before he found something to smile about again. For the images to fade. It was the first time he’d killed since giving up blow, and he was starting to wonder why the hell he went off cocaine to begin with.
’Cause Nova felt guilty.
Fuck Nova.
He should feel guilty.
Tino was done fighting the good fight that had allowed him to suppress the fury, and now it was rising up after all these years, nearly stealing his breath with the force of it.
“Are you okay?” Brianna asked softly next to him.
Tino turned back to her, still feeling dirty, as if he didn’t deserve to be sitting there next to her, let alone thinking about touching her again.
Even if he had spent the past four years slowly dying without her.
But Tino didn’t tell her any of that.
He didn’t even know how, and the young, in-love part of him didn’t want to tell her. He wanted her to look at him like she had before, when he was pulling his shirt off, and he didn’t want to give her anything to be disgusted about.
And that was when he realized out of everyone, he was angriest with Brianna.
For falling in love with him.
And ruining her life.
Maybe ending it.
There was this very juvenile, very confused part of him that wanted to yell at her for touching someone like him. Someone dirty.
But the only way he could put that into words was to say in a cold, distant voice, “I need a shower.”
“We’ll get a room.” Brianna’s voice was soft, endearing, making him realize too late that he had said that to her one too many times before. “You can have a shower.”
She said it like she knew exactly why he needed one.
She knew why he was dirty.
Somehow she knew what happened in Miami. She always knew.
But she touched him anyway.
Because Brianna made bad life choices.
He was mad at her for it, irrationally furious, but he was going to take a shower and fuck her anyway, ’cause he loved her so much more than he was mad at her.
Chapter Six
“Who are we hiding from?” Brianna asked as she tossed her bag on the chair by the bed.
“Everyone,” Tino said as he locked the door behind them.
He had a briefcase with him, but there were no clothes in it. Just cash and firearms, neither of which she’d been surprised by when he pulled it out of the trunk.
“Like the feds?” she asked as she stared down at the tank top she was wearing under the jacket Carina had loaned her. She glanced back to Tino as he took off the camouflage hat and set it on the desk by the door. He pulled off his jacket, tossed it over the chair, and stood there in that blue University of Kentucky shirt that was too tight across his broad, muscular chest and clung to his thick biceps. He was way too sexy for her sanity, so she quickly turned away and asked, “Is that why you’re using an ID with your father’s name on it?”
“I’m using that ID ’cause the credit cards in my father’s name are the only ones I have that Nova doesn’t know about, and nice hotels need a credit card for incidentals. The feds are the least of our problems. Where we stand right now, the feds would be doing us a favor to pick us up.”
“We didn’t have to stay somewhere this nice,” she argued. “We should’ve just gone somewhere that takes cash.”
“I’m not staying in a shithole. It bothers me, and you know why it bothers me,” he said with a glare. “If you knew where I landed when I first got to Miami last week, you wouldn’t give me merda about the hotel.”
“For a wedding?” She arched an eyebrow skeptically, ’cause Miami was clearly an issue. “Did something happen in Miami? Obviously you’re not as out as we all thought. Did you piss Don Moretti off?”
“The don pissed me off,” Tino growled at her. “And he knows it. That’s why he attacked you. His plan didn’t work, and
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