Chapter 1:20 Three Men And A Baby, Kisses Nico 

With a quick message and a photo of our boy’s pouty face, just as a fuck you to my brother for leaving me out of the loop with the screaming ball of anger and stress who needs him. I pick up our bundle of joy and start what I’m sure will be a thousand trips around the living room tonight.

Since the fish bitch isn’t here, I’m not as pissy about it as I would be if she stuck around. We’ve moved buildings, and are still settling into the new environment. There may not be one mark on him after the accident, but even looking at an elevator has my poor guy pitching fits that are sure to wake every god in the heavens.

I cringe to yet another ear-piercing scream when I stop moving and bouncing. 

Unlike my twin, I wanted to be a Dad. Couldn’t wait to have kids and a big family. Even as his born twin flame and double, there were times I lost patience and faith with how alike Vinnie had been to our father.

Being identical twins with practically the same genetics and habits of sleeping around, there was no paternity test that could really say if Tio belonged to him or me. I know Vinnie believes that I don’t do women, but truth is that I have no taste for the walking skeletons he tries to bring me. 

Rourke isn’t a fan either, but is far more indulgent to my brother personally than I am.

I guess our roles in supporting Vinnie are opposite in that way. When it comes to business, and how to do it right, I’m as flexible as a rubber band. Which makes me put my foot down in our personal lives.

Rourke, on the other hand…… Not even Vinnie dares question the blonde giant as far as his orders on safety. It wasn’t until the moment TJ was in real danger that I got it. Understood why Vinnie refused to so much a hold him. 

For the past few weeks, my twin has done nothing but bitch about the fact that he double and triple wrapped just to ‘avoid this shit’. The second the building was under attack……The way my brother used his body to shield the baby, he said he never wanted……

I’d forgotten what it really meant. What being a Morretti brought on him. It was kindergarten all over again when the Nodes found us on the playground. Vinnie’s entire body crushing mine so that I couldn’t breathe as they set out to make an example of us……

There is no one more protective. More dedicated than my twin. It’s just not in a way that most people see or in a language that they understand. My brother wasn’t angry at our son. He was furious with himself for bringing such a helpless and innocent soul into our kill or be killed world.

For his inability to bring anything but corruption and difficult choices to the pure and perfect little boy that Vinnie looked at like life itself in that moment.

I figured I was soft enough and playful enough in nature that the three of us could get by without the arranged marriage I’d dreaded all my life, but Fabulous as I am, Frederico Morretti, was my father too.

Distant, cold, emotionless…..

My brother wears the crown of King with as much arrogance as he does conviction, but it wasn’t his choice. My being two minutes older never made a difference. Our father chose Vinnie, groomed him and named him before our balls dropped.

While I can’t say my father judged me, or said one bad word about my sexual preferences. I’ve always felt that was a part of it.

I’m not ashamed of liking men and women equally, any more than I am about my sense of style and expression. I just know that wouldn’t be possible without both Vinnie and Rourke knocking in everyone’s head who dared whisper about it.

The second I held little Mercutio Junior there was a pride, a joy and emotions that I scarcely knew I was capable of. Still, he is so fragile. So scared of everyone, and forlorn without the woman who abandoned him. 

I know that we need help, female help, but I still don’t think a Cartel fish bitch is the answer to that.

While Tio equally accepts the three of us, he shuts down or hides from everyone but Vinnie and Rourke, and I. For the three of us, our boy is more than happy to demand the world from the top of his tiny lungs. 

Said lungs continue to fuss as the dark clouds that aren’t just in my mind give to a light drizzle.

I know that my head cannot take bloody murder screaming, so I settle for whatever source of sugar and caffeine is within walking distance of our condo. So we, me, Tio, and the security team, courtesy of his third Daddy, trudge to the café around the corner where the most interesting person happens to be.

Coming into the small and cozy bakery that I’m shocked is open at this hour. An empty pastry case and counter greet me with a rather annoyed little growl attached to one of the nicest asses I’ve ever seen up in the air beneath a table.

I guess the entry bell is broken, and it takes Tio’s fussing to get her attention.

A bang and a whimper with her hitting her head, a purple haired female with wide sky blue eyes scrambles from beneath the table. It’s a little after two a.m. A safe neighborhood, but still something about the five and a half foot, buck thirty soaking wet female alone here raises those protective instincts.

“Hi,” She says, screwdriver in hand, still on her knees in a sub pose that makes me forget what I’m supposed to be doing. I step closer and those marveled kitten eyes go wide on me. The blush of her neck and ears joins her cheeks as she all but jumps to her feet, a bundle of nervous energy.

“Hi,” She gulps, probably forgetting that she greeted me with my too intense and interested stare down at the petite and adorably gorgeous girl, biting her pouty lower lip.

“Good Evening,” I look at her chest, which is as delicious as her ass even in the black barista apron. “Ryan?” I question the obviously male name, though I guess it could be feminine. She looks down at the name tag, blushing even more fiercely.