“Can I come with you?” she asked.
I eyed Ariana’s outfit. She shouldn’t be dressed like that going anywhere near the Clark County Detention Center. Especially not with the kind of sleaze balls that usually hung out there. In addition, I’d be dropping David off at Ma’s house, and I didn’t want anyone to know where my family lived.
“Please. It’s been a shit day and I don’t want to go home and sit in my apartment alone.”
She sounded desperate, and I still needed to get Matt’s new number from her, so I took her with me. A couple assholes who were being booked looked at her sideways, but I flexed, and they backed off. We waited more than an hour before David was finally brought out.
Still in rare form, he smelled like he’d been marinated in booze. His eyes were glassy, and his walk was more of a wobble as an officer tugged him forward. I paid the bail and we headed out of the building without even a thank you from my little brother.
I laid into him the minute we were outside. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Heading to your Jeep so we can go home,” he said pointing. His finger swayed along with his body.
“Goddammit, David, you know that’s not what I mean. You probably have alcohol poisoning, you dumbass. Ma’s worried sick, and you have your schooling to think of. You’re smarter than this.”
“I was just having some fun with friends.”
“Yeah, well now your fun is going to land you in court, and possibly jail. Gonna be really hard to attend classes from your fuckin’ jail cell.”
He frowned, scratching his head. “They don’t throw people in jail for underage drinking, Franco. Hell, half of Vegas would be locked up if they did, and they don’t have room for that.”
I knew he was right, but kind of wished they’d make an exception for him. Maybe if he stayed in the lock up he’d learn a thing or two and stop acting like such an entitled little shithead.
“You mean to tell me you never drank before you were twenty-one?” he asked.
Drinking was the least of the shit I’d done. “No, dumbass. I’m saying I was never stupid enough to get caught. If you’re gonna do this shit, you’re gonna have to be smarter about it.” Shaking my head, I added, “Wonder if that college will give me a refund, because you’re obviously not learning shit there.”
He frowned at me, but kept his mouth shut as I led him to the Jeep and opened the back door for him. Confusion registered across his features as he watched Ariana climb into the passenger’s seat. “This your girl?” he asked, buckling his seat belt.
“This is myfriend, Ariana. Ari, meet my little brother, Dumbass.”
“Stop calling me that, Franco.”
“I will as soon as you stop acting like one.”
In my rearview mirror, I watched him clamp his mouth closed and turn to stare out the window.
***
Ma and David lived in a modest three-bedroom ranch-style home in North Vegas. Ma believed she won the house in some contest she’d entered, but Carlo had been taking mortgage payments out of my pay since I was twelve, when we’d supposedly “won” it. Carlo had bigger trust issues than I did, and he’d figured out early on exactly how to keep me in pocket.
I would do anything for Ma, and Carlo knew it. She was my one weakness, and I knew that if I ever betrayed the family, he’d kill her.
But I didn’t have to worry about that shit, because I’d never betray the family.
By the time I parked, Ma was standing on the front porch, waiting. I helped David out of the Jeep, and he promptly got sick on the side of the road. Motherfucker was lucky he didn’t do that in my car, or he’d be licking it up. Shaking my head, I righted him and tugged him toward the house.
“Look at you,” Ma tutted at David. “Drunker than a skunk. You’re lucky Franco didn’t have to take you to the hospital.”
“Franco brought a girl home,” David said, throwing me under the bus.
A smile stretched across Ma’s face as she looked from me and David to my Jeep, where Ariana was closing the door behind her. She gave a little wave and said, “Hi.”
Ma’s smile faltered for a moment as she took in Ariana’s revealing outfit, but she recovered quickly and moved to intercept her. “It’s so nice to meet you, dear. Come in and have something to eat. Franco, why didn’t you tell me you were bringing a girl home? I would have made some fresh raviolis.” She patted Ariana on the arm. “How long have you been seeing my Franco?”
Needing to derail this train before it left the station and ended in wedding bells, I stepped forward. “Ma, this is myfriend,Ariana. Ari, this is my mom, Marcella.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Leone,” Ariana said.
