Read Five Boroughs 01 - Sutphin Boulevard for Free Online Page B

twenty-five going on sixteen because no one ever expects him to be anything else.”
    “Regardless, the damage is done. I can’t rely on him, and I definitely can’t rely on my father, especially now that he’s claiming to be sick.”
    I launched into the whole explanation, repeating Joseph’s story about his short and failed stint in rehab, and the discovery that he had advanced liver disease. I tried and failed to omit the parts about the promise I’d made to my mother and how my resentment over the situation still didn’t smother my fear that Joseph was not exaggerating. By the time I stopped talking my voice had a ragged edge and Nunzio was rubbing my back, his strong hand an anchor that kept me from sliding off the barstool and succumbing to weariness and resignation. I wished I’d just waited for Nunzio in his apartment where I could bask in his affection without an audience.
    I pillowed my head on my folded arms, sighing when he squeezed my shoulder. He could unwind me with very little effort, but it wouldn’t last. It couldn’t.
    I looked up. “Nunzio, I can’t go.”
    “Can’t go where?”
    I fought the urge to bury my face in my arms again. “I can’t go to Italy. Not with all of this going on.”
    He stared at me, wide-eyed.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Michael, we’re leaving in like a week.”
    “I know. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
    Nunzio dropped his arm, expression disbelieving. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
    “I wish I were, niño.” I covered his hand with my own, squeezing it. “Leaving them in this situation is a bad idea. I can’t do it. It would be on my mind the whole time we’re over there, and I won’t be able to commun—”
    “You don’t even have insurance on your fucking ticket. There’s no way in hell we’re canceling this trip because your pops decided now is a good time to make an appearance.”
    “We’re not canceling anything. You’re still going.”
    “Michael….”
    The storm brewing on his face was so evident that my stomach started to do backflips. “Nunzio, I’m not going to change my mind. I can’t do it. Not like this. Just go and have fun.”
    “I don’t want to go by myself. I want to go with you ! What part of that is—” Nunzio’s barstool scraped the floor with a screech. “What’s the point of me going without you?” He clenched both hands in his hair.
    “Now who’s being ridiculous? What kind of question is that?”
    “Ridiculous? Really? You fucking—you really have no idea what the hell—” He broke off, his jaw clenching. We stared at each other as everyone in the bar likely stared at us. Nunzio broke the standoff by taking out his phone. “Fuck this, I’m calling Raymond.”
    I slid off the stool and grabbed his wrist. “Stop.”
    “I think he should know you’re going to eat fifteen hundred bucks because you completely lack faith in his ability to function.”
    “Because he has no ability to function.” I twisted the phone out of his hand. “Do you think this is easy for me, man? Do you think I’m happy?”
    “I think you’re an idiot!”
    Miranda cleared her throat. I shot her a wild-eyed look.
    “Maybe take it outside, gentlemen?”
    I opened my mouth to apologize, but Nunzio was already storming out the door. I swore under my breath and fumbled for my wallet, but Miranda shooed me away, telling me to come back to pay later. I tried to force a grateful smile, failed, and hurried out the door after Nunzio. He was pacing the sidewalk outside the bar but spun on his heel and jabbed a finger into my chest as soon as I stepped out of the door.
    “It’s not your responsibility to take care of them. They’re grown people, and you don’t always have to fix everything. When are you going to get that through your head?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s not a decision I’m going to make on the fly with my brother threatening to kill my father, and him supposedly on the verge of death. Ay Dios mío,