When she still didn’t get in, he opened his door and got out to go to the other side. Amused, he opened the passenger door for her. “I’m a lot harder to kill than that.”
Her lips turned up in a smile, and she was finally able to get in the car. “I can see that.”
Watching him close her door before getting back in, she could see by his slow movements that he still wasn’t back to normal, and looking at his profile now, she could see why he was wearing the big shades—his face was still bruised.
Still staring at the bruises, she actually hurt for him. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” he answered truthfully. “Pain isn’t really an issue for me.”
Looking at his inky hands as he turned the steering wheel, she knew he had to be a freak. “I bet not with that many tattoos.”
“I enjoy getting tatted,” he admitted with a half-sinister smile.
I knew it.
“How many do you have?”
“Too many to count.”
Her brow rose as she became too curious for her own good. “How covered are you?”
He was silent a moment before he answered, “Almost completely.”
That didn’t help her imagination. It only made her want to know how much of a freak he was. However, she figured it wouldn’t be polite to ask if his ass or dick was tatted, too, so she asked a reasonable question instead. “How old were you when you got your first one?”
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen? Is that even legal?” No wonder he was already covered in tattoos.
Smiling, he laughed. “With a parent’s permission, yes. But in my case, it was illegal. I have a great tattoo artist, though, so it came out good.”
“Did you get in trouble?”
“No. Tattoos aren’t a big deal in our family. Almost everyone has them.”
“Oh.” The Lucianos were a lot different than the Carusos; that was for sure.
With silence filling the car and now that her shock at seeing him had worn off, she realized that he alone was taking her to school.
“No one else came with you?”
He looked in the rearview mirror at the cars following behind him. “Lucca’s agreed to trust me, but I assume I’m still being watched.”
Lucca’s agreed to trust him? “So, what does that mean?”
“He asked me to work for him legitimately while I’m here.” Well, here as in forced to be here.
“Really?” She almost couldn’t believe it. It was unheard of.
Angel nodded as he pulled into the parking spot beside the Escalade.
“So, it’s like you’re kinda a Caruso?”
Looking at the girls’ and the Carusos’ faces that were a mixture of disbelief and disgust said it all. “No, I am and always will bleed Luciano blood.”
Eighteen
Shit That Only Happens in Romance Novels
Lake and Adalyn looked at each other when Angel didn’t stay outside the door but instead followed them into their classroom.
“What are you doing?” Adalyn asked when he ended up taking a seat behind them.
Angel reclined back in his seat, getting comfortable. “I don’t want to stand outside like a dog. I can watch you both better from here, can’t I?”
“He’s right,” Lake said, agreeing too easily with him.
Narrowing her eyes, she stared at her friend. You just want to look at him. “I’m not sure if he’s allowed.”
The end of his lip tilted up. “It’s a big class in a big college, sweetness; no one’s gonna notice an extra person.”
Lake practically swooned when she heard him say sweetness. “Yeah, no one will notice.”
Adalyn had to contain herself from rolling her eyes at her friend and at Angel, who seemed to be getting a kick out of Lake agreeing with him.
Looking toward the front, she could see the girls glancing back to get a look at him as well. He was hard not to fucking miss, considering he stood out like a sore thumb with all his tats. Her friend was one of those girls, too, who couldn’t look away and hadn’t turned her head back toward the front to mind her own fucking business.
“Are you not in pain?” Lake asked, concerned about his bruises and his condition.
Angel made a slight wince behind his shades. “A litt—”
“He’s fine,” Adalyn sharply cut off his charades while glaring at them both.
“Adalyn, quit being so rude! Look at him. He’s clearly in pain.” Lake tried to get closer to see the bruises on his face when he raised his sunglasses.
“Oh, he’ll be hurting when I get Lucca to take a baseball bat to his ass,” she muttered angrily to herself under her breath.
“Did you say something?” Lake asked her when Angel had abruptly placed the shades back on his face.
Giving a fake-ass smile, she silently murdered them both in her head. “Yeah, I said poor baby.”
“Who would do that to you?” Lake asked in a nurturing voice.
I wish I did.
“I don’t know, Lake. Maybe you should ask your boyfriend,” Adalyn emphasized with another fake-ass, million-dollar smile to, you know, remind her that she had a fucking boyfriend!