Page 2 of Valentino

I blink, surprised.

He raises an eyebrow. “Well?”

I smile, and in that very moment I know we were going to be friends.

Aged 15.

Saturday night.

Drinking wine out of the bottle, smoking cigarettes, and chasing older girls, all the while pretending to sleep over at each other’s houses.

We sneak into clubs, crash parties, and pretend that we’re twenty…. But man, do we laugh.

Carlo Bernetti is wild and fun, he’s the brother that I never had.

My closest friend.

Sometimes he’s a little too big for his boots, and I have to rescue him from being beaten to a pulp. He steals the girls, and starts the fights, but I’m always the one that finishes them. Once I step in, his opponents back off. Nobody beats me, so they don’t even try.

“You see her.” Carlo points to a blond girl as he takes a drag of his cigarette. “Bet you ten dollars I can get her naked.”

My eyes linger on the woman and her long legs. “She’s at least twenty-five.”

“All the better.” He drags his cigarette and blows a thin stream of smoke into the air. “That means she’s going to be great at sucking cock.” He looks her up and down. “I’m sick of young bitches who have no idea what they’re doing.”

I chuckle as I sip my beer and he saunters over to the group of hot girls. “Ladies.” He smiles. “I hear you’re after a stallion for the night.” He holds his arms out and bows before them.

The girls all laugh and he begins his pickup spiel, laying out his sexual prowess.

I sip my beer and smirk as I listen in, in awe, sometimes in shock…. But always in admiration.

That’s the thing I love about Carlo Bernetti, he doesn’t give a fuck.

If someone tells him no, it just makes him want it more.

Aged 18.

I sit on the brick wall and watch the Porsche drive by.

“Look,” Carlo says. “Can you imagine driving that?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “A little too well.”

“I’d rob a bank if I had a car that fast,” he replies.

I smile as I imagine him robbing a bank, wouldn’t surprise me actually.

We’re waiting for our friend, Giuliano. He’s sneaking around with a girl in the library and meets her here a few times a week.

“Just how bad is her older brother?” Carlo asks.

“Supposed to be tapped.” I shrug. “Like…real bad. Probably going to kill him kind of thing.”

“Fuck….” He thinks for a bit. “You reckon we can take him?”

“Giuliano must.” I shrug. “Why else would he make us come with him and wait out the front like losers?”

“Do they fuck in there?”