The Sinister Silhouette

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.

“Can I bring Goodie with me?”

I ball my hand into a fist, feeling a phantom pain in the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. Goodie is Aria’s hamster, and his bite hurts like a bitch. Ella got him for her when Aria was three years old because she had one when she was little and now thinks every child should have one. The minute Aria saw him, she clapped her hands and yelled, “Goodie.” The word stuck and became his name. He’s never bitten Aria, but if anyone else’s hand comes near him he chomps down. I think I still have a scar from when the little fucker took a chunk out of me.

“Yes.” Before she gets too excited, I add, “But he sleeps in the living room.”

I already have enough trouble sleeping; no way am I letting a rodent who likes to chew on his cage at night disturb even more of my sleep. The little shit is going as far from my bedroom as possible

“Okay,” she agrees with a big grin.

We finish her lunch, and by the time I’m locking up the door behind us, I know I’m going to be late opening the shop. Watching Aria, brown lunch bag in hand, skip to Theo’s beat-up car in her girly bubbly way, I know it’s worth it.

CHAPTER THREE

Luca