Once the water warms, I lift my shoulders a few times and twist my head back and forth to loosen the tense muscles. I stay that way for a while, until the throbbing in my head lessens. The pain in my chest is still there, but that too has tapered slightly.
Turning the water off, I step out and grab a towel. Wrapping it around my waist without drying off, I leave the bathroom and go to my closet, where I find a pair of jogging pants. After slipping them on, I head toward the kitchen and the coffeepot on the counter, knowing there will be no more sleep for me.
I step to the window with my coffee cup in hand and look out into the darkness. The streetlights a couple houses down give just enough light to see littered and overgrown yards. The houses aren’t much better with their peeling paint, dilapidated porches, and cracked windows.
I turn my head to the side and look at the bookshelf that has my collection of books and CDs. Further to the left is my flat-screen TV. It’s not huge, but it’s not small either by any standards. Beneath it is my Xbox console and games. Behind me is my brown suede couch and love seat, with a recliner between the two. There’re tables at the end of the love seat and couch. It wasn’t an expensive set, but it’s still a nice one. My kitchen has matching dishes and pots and pans that I bought at an outlet store. My bedroom set matches too, but again, it’s another department store purchase, nothing fancy.
I’ve worked my ass off on changing this house from a two-bedroom, two-bathroom dump into a decent-looking home. My yard has green grass, and I cut it weekly. The outside was freshly painted two years ago, and my porch is level.
My parents worked hard all their life to ensure my brother, sister, and I had everything we needed. We may have not gotten the stuff we wanted, but we always had food on our table and clean clothes on our backs.
As an adult, I may not have the finest things in life, but I live comfortably, even if I am surrounded by shady shit all day long. I’m happy where I am, and I’m happy knowing I’m in a situation where if my family needs something, I can more than likely get it for them.
I turn away from the window and chug down the rest of my coffee before putting the cup in the sink. Leaving the kitchen, I walk to the garage where I have a weight bench. Lying back, I grip the bar, blow out a breath, and push upward. Straining sure as hell doesn’t help my head, but it feels fucking great on my muscles.
It also pushes away the vision of a woman with sorrow in her amber eyes.
I SLIP MY WALLET IN my jeans and have just swiped my keys off the bar when there’s a knock at the door. Irritation has me stalking over and yanking it open. As soon as I see the small person on the other side, my snarled words die in my throat and something warm fills my chest.
“Hey, Uncle Luca,” Aria, my six-year-old niece, chirps as she bounces past me into the living room. I turn and watch as she beelines it to the kitchen where I know she’ll ransack my cabinets for any sweets.
I turn back to the door just as my twin brother hits the bottom of the steps.
“What are you doing here, Theo?” I glance down at the phone in my hand. “The shop opens in thirty minutes.”
He blows out a breath as he takes the last couple of steps.
“I know,” he answers. “We won’t be long. I haven’t had a chance to go to the grocery store in the last week, and we ran out of bread for her lunch today.”
I clench my jaw and push back my need to growl. This isn’t the first time he’s had to come to mine, Ella’s, or our parents’ to get food for Aria. Theo tries, but he’s just never been a good single dad. Sure, he loves Aria; you can see it in his eyes when he looks at her, but when it comes to caring for her and providing her the things she needs, he does a shit job. I can’t count how many times we’ve had to get groceries for them or buy her clothes that actually fit her. Lord knows what would happen to the girl if we weren’t around.
“Fine,” I bite out, then spin on my heel to make sure Aria grabs herself something healthy.
“Why isn’t she in school already?” I ask over my shoulder. “It started a couple of hours ago.”
“His alarm didn’t go off.” Aria supplies the answer before Theo can.
Again, I have to force back a nasty remark. I’ve had many conversations with Theo about the terrible job he’s doing raising his daughter, but I refuse to do it in front of Aria.
I walk over and grab a loaf of bread and the peanut butter before going to the fridge for the jelly. I step beside Aria at the counter to make her sandwich as she pulls grapes from their vines and stuffs them in a baggy; every few she plops one in her mouth. With a father like Theo, she’s been forced to grow up faster than her almost seven years.
“Gimme,” I tell her, and bend over with my mouth open.
Her smile is big as she tosses one into my mouth, then giggles when I catch it and chomp down.
“Listen,” Theo says, leaning on the counter and not even attempting to help his daughter make her lunch. “I need you to watch Aria for me this weekend. I would ask Mom, but she watched her last weekend.”
“Why?”
He wiggles his eyebrows. “Got a hot date.”
“Yeah, a hot date with a ho,” Aria mutters quietly beside me.
I bump my elbow against Aria. “Watch the language.”
Another thing about Theo is, he’s a manwhore, and sometimes brings his girls home with him. Luckily, he either waits until Aria is in bed before he fucks them, or asks someone in the family to watch her. I’m not against him dating by any means, but having them around Aria, even if it is innocent in front of her, still pisses me off. Aria’s mom disappeared days after she was born. Theo says their relationship wasn’t serious, so he never brought her around to meet us. Having so many women in the house has to be confusing to her.
“What night?” I grunt the question.
“Friday. I’ve already checked with Ella and she says you get off at seven. I was thinking I could drop her off at six and she could ride home with you.”
And fuck all if I had plans for the evening. As the boss man, I don’t get many Friday nights off. Theo and I may be twins, but we couldn’t be more different. Whereas I prefer to be more selective on who I take to bed, excluding Cora and my major fuckup in judgement, Theo loves the attention and will take it from any female. I went through a short partying stage in my early twenties, but Theo is still smack dab in the middle of his, despite having a daughter he’s responsible for. Our looks are different as well. I keep my body in shape by running, working out, and regular visits to Abe’s. Theo’s body is firm with muscles, but he’s more slender. His workouts come in the form of fucking women. Up until a few years ago, we both wore the same hairstyle, long enough to touch our shoulders. Now mine is cut shorter but still long on the top. Over half my body is covered in tattoos, and I have piercings in my left eyebrow, my tongue, nipples, dick, and have gauges in my ears. Other than a couple of small tattoos, Theo’s body is clean and piercing free.
Our eyes are the same though. Electric blue, or so I’m told. For some reason women go fucking crazy over them. Theo is also the charmer of us two. He’s always cheerily in a good mood. I’ve always had a short and volatile temper.
“Please, please, Uncle Luca!” Aria begs, reminding me of Theo’s question. “I don’t want to be stuck at the house with them. I can help make dinner.”
I look down into her eyes. Eyes that she got from Theo. It’s different seeing the color on her. When I look into the mirror, all I see is a blue, but on her, they seem brighter, more explosive. They look stunning on her. There’s no damn way I’d make her stay at home with Theo and one of his girls.
I yank one of her pigtails, ones I know she did herself because her dad never even attempts to do her hair.
“You can stay with me Friday night, boo,” I tell her. She squeals and jumps up and down, knocking several grapes to the floor.