The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3) by Kele Moon Page A

the window farther up. He took in a huge gulp of night air and made a move to crawl onto the landing, when Nova caught his arm.
    “Hey, Tino!” his friend Paco called from the street despite it being past midnight. He had a basketball under his arm and held up his hand impatiently. Paco and Nova were the same age and had been in the same classes since kindergarten, but like most of the kids in their area, he got along better with Tino. “You wanna play a quick game?”
    “Fuck off, Paco. It’s midnight,” Nova called out, but Tino was already halfway out the window.
    Feeling the getaway in his bones, Tino used Nova’s distraction to punch him. It was mostly playful. They were both still in their karate pants from class earlier, so Tino thought it didn’t really count, except Nova’d been taking a drag when Tino hit him.
    “Motherfucker!” Nova brushed at the spray of glowing ashes that hit his bare chest and then dived for the cigarette when it landed inside on the carpet.
    “ Ay carajo ,” Paco said from below, and Tino agreed.
    He cleared the window, nearly losing his pants when Nova tried to grab his ankle. Tino kicked back on instinct, catching Nova in the face.
    Yeah, he hadn’t planned on that either.
    “Oh, merda,” Tino cursed when Nova wiped at his face, coming away with a handful of blood.
    “Run, avanza, pendejo !” Paco shouted.
    Tino didn’t need to be told twice. He was already dashing down the stairs. When he hit the third-floor landing, he saw Nova was behind him.
    A few other teenagers came out when Paco kept yelling his encouragement. It was summer. They all had the inclination to stay up late. Some just to hang out and play ball like Paco, others for more sinister reasons. Tino heard Jorgie say, “ Que estúpido. He’s dead.”
    That was predictable. Nova had a notoriously bad attitude since their mother died, and no one wanted to fuck with him in their neighborhood.
    There was also the little matter of the parent who should not be named. Tino and Nova didn’t even talk about their father anymore. They didn’t know him too well, and they didn’t miss him, but he had left them with a last name that made people very nervous.
    Kids didn’t fuck with Tino too terribly much either.
    Even the gang members steered clear.
    Plus, Tino could hold his own, and everyone knew it, but he’d rather not get into a fight with his brother on the landing at midnight.
    Over fucking chess.
    They were supposed to be playing nice in case of a surprise social-worker visit, so he flew down the stairs and shouted up to his brother in Italian so no one else understood him. “I’m going to dime on you about the smoking, Casanova! I’m telling Romeo when he gets home tonight!”
    “Do it, bitch! Dime me out! I’ll tell him I forged his name on the last three notes you brought home before school ended.”
    “Go for it,” Tino announced in English. “He’ll kick your ass first.”
    “And I’ll stop doing your math for you.” Nova was still speaking Italian, so close behind Tino could practically feel Nova at his heels as he went on, “You can help Romeo explain to the social worker why you’re failing it like a fucking champion next year.”
    Well, fuck.
    There was no way he was passing prealgebra without Nova.
    He also wasn’t getting the ladder to the street down before Nova caught him, so he made a split-second, very stupid decision to crawl over the railing of the first-floor landing.
    “Merda, no, no, no!” Nova’s tone changed from pissed off to frantic. “Valentino, don’t!”
    “I dare you!” Paco called up as a whole group of kids stood there, eyes wide. “You don’t got the balls, cabrón !”
    “Fuck!” Nova slid down the last flight and fell to his knees as he dived for Tino, but it was too late.
    Tino jumped.
    He made sure to make his knees soft when he landed, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he hadn’t really stopped to consider just how far a fall it was and how hard a