Star-Crossed(37)

“Hey,” Nova said, coming up next to Romeo. “You’re looking very hot this evening, Pia.”

Pia beamed. “You remembered me?”

“I do,” Nova said, giving her a smile. “You must’ve made an impression.”

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Romeo snorted at that line of bullshit. Nova remembered the name of every person he’d met since he was old enough to talk.

“You wanna hook up later?” she asked Nova hopefully. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

Nova tilted his head, studying Pia for one long moment before he said, “Maybe.

Come find me after the ball drops.”

“Okay.” Pia beamed, running painted red fingernails over Nova’s black leather jacket as she walked past him. “Later, Romeo.”

“Later,” Romeo said, giving Nova a look when Pia walked inside. “You know she was with Tino.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s an open bar party. She won’t even remember her own name by midnight,” Nova said as he leaned back against the wall and handed Romeo his drink.

“Hold this for me.”

“Pigs are gonna nail you.” Romeo put his hand behind his back to hide Nova’s drink because public drinking was illegal in New York. “You can’t walk five feet without seeing one.”

Nova looked unconcerned as he leaned down to light a cigarette. He was a social smoker, one of those guys who could smoke a few on New Year’s and not light another cigarette for two months. Though Romeo had noticed he’d been smoking more lately, and it bothered him enough that saying something was on the tip of his tongue. Instead he studied Nova. Bruises showed on his face from the fight earlier in the day, and his bottom lip was noticeably swollen. He bit his tongue rather than complain about the smoking. Nova had bigger problems.

Nova blew out the smoke and then took his drink back. “NYPD can’t touch us, especially for something stupid like public drinking. FBI’s tagging the place,” Nova observed drily. He took a drink of the amber liquid in his glass and tilted his head, looking across the street. “Don’t they got a better use for their time on New Year’s?” 96



“Obviously not.” Romeo sighed, wanting out of this life so much he could hardly stand it. “Don’t you ever get sick of it, Casanova?”

“No, I fucking love it,” Nova said sarcastically, keen eyes taking in their surroundings.

Romeo realized the reason Nova had started smoking more had nothing to do with stress and everything to do with the excuse it gave him to go outside and watch what was going on. Just standing there without distractions, Nova could gather a shitload of information.

Romeo let him do what he needed to do and pulled out his phone to text Jules.

 What’re you doing?

“If you really liked that girl, you’d stop talking to her,” Nova said, gaze still across the street. He took a long drag of his cigarette and turned his head to blow out the smoke, looking to the other bars down the way. “There’s more of ’em.” Romeo turned to Nova curiously. “Watching?”

“Yeah,” Nova said solemnly, taking another drink and mumbling against the rim of his glass. “Same guys linger outside the apartment. Outside the dojo. They’re everywhere.”

Romeo shifted and turned to Nova, hiding his face from whoever was watching.

“What’s that mean?”

Nova shrugged. “It means they’re getting desperate.”

“You don’t sound too upset about that.”

“They’re desperate because they can’t get anything on me,” Nova said simply, turning his head once more, blowing out smoke and looking across the street. “Not a bad thing.”

Romeo considered Nova, who was still smoking and drinking and looking to all the world like any other guy partying on New Year’s Eve. But Romeo knew him better.

He could see his mind working, his eyes taking in everything. The FBI would never get

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anything on Nova. How could they compete? Geniuses like Nova didn’t come along every day, and when they did, they weren’t working for the government for pennies.

If Nova had no weaknesses, he’d be invincible—but he did have weaknesses.

“Are they tagging Tino and me?” Romeo asked, unable to help the flare of anger.

“I’d stop talking with that Conner chick,” Nova said in response. “You gotta date, make it someone who can deal with our shit.”

Romeo looked away, knowing Nova was talking about women like Cara and Pia.

He was trapped in the circle as deeply as they were, and it pissed him off. This wasn’t supposed to be his life, and it shouldn’t have been Nova’s or Tino’s either.