27. Sharing is caring
Chapter 27
Sharing is caring
Luca
I follow Ariana out of her room. I’d follow that girl anywhere and not just to stare at her ass.
That’s one hell of a perk, though.
At dinner, Marco and I are vague about the business we attended to since Mia doesn’t want to know details. I wonder if Ariana cares one way or another.
Ariana cuts her steak into bites first and puts some onto a separate plate. “What’s this?” I point to it with my steak knife.
“That’s the stuff Ari can’t eat. The fat and all the good bits,” Lil says.
Ariana cringes. “God. The texture. Can’t do it.”
“So, is it up for grabs?” I ask. Ariana nods. I stab a piece off the plate and pop it in my mouth.
“Hey, no fair, that’s mine!” Lil lunges across the table to stab her own piece.
Mia shakes her head. “You have to learn to share, Lil.”
“You told me that when I was five, and I learned to share with Ariana. I’m too old to learn to share with anyone else now.” She growls at me when I move the plate further away from her. “Luca… Something… DeVille! Hey, what the hell is your middle name?”
“I’m never telling.”
“Oh, I’ll find out. And then you’ll be sorry, asshole.”
Ariana grins, her eyes sparkling. I missed seeing that grin and those eyes all damn day long.
After dinner, Marco says, “Luca, let’s head downstairs to the gun range.” He pauses for a second. “Anyone else want to join us?”
Ariana and Lil share a look and do that silent communication thing again.
“Sure. But only if we keep score, and only if it’s boys vs girls,” Lil demands.
“Fuck, I’m gonna lose,” Ariana says, a slight chuckle in her voice.
“Mia, my love?”
“Not me, babe. I think I’ll go read a book in the tub.” She kisses him and heads upstairs.
In the basement, Marco opens the armory, selects four matching handguns, and sets up the paper targets. Ariana writes our names on a whiteboard while Lil explains the point system.
“Six shots each per round. Headshots are worth fifty for bullseyes, twenty-five otherwise. Center mass is twenty, and anywhere else on the body is ten. White paper is zero, missing completely is negative ten. Perfect score is 300 points. Any questions?” Lil asks me.
“Yes. Who came up with this point system?” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Ariana did. How old were we?” She turns to Ariana.
“Twelve, I think.”
I look at Marco, and he just shrugs with that proud look he gets about his girls, saying, “Luca, you’re up first. ”
We put on our hearing protection and I step up to the line. I take aim and fire my six shots. Before coming here two weeks ago, I’d only ever held, loaded, or shot BB guns, but I’ve practiced down here a few times with Marco and Ford in the last couple of weeks. All my shots at least hit within the target, and I make 95 points. Not great, but Marco nods like I did alright.
All of Lil’s shots cancel each other out. She frowns as Ariana writes a zero next to her name. “Sorry, Ari.”
“Well, I know what we’re doing this summer,” Ari replies.
Marco pinches the bridge of his nose, then steps up to take his turn and earns 195 points, bringing our total to 290.
Ariana mutters to herself as she takes her place at the line. She aims and then shoots all six shots in one breath. As the paper comes close, I see there’s one big hole in the center of the bullseye in the head.
“Holy fuck,” I say as we take off our ear protection again. I knew she could shoot. I didn’t know she could do that .
She grins at me and then adds her score to the board. Round one, girls.
“What are we shooting with next?”
We go through five rounds, each with a different gun. Marco and I win the second and third rounds, and Ariana wins the last two. Lil… well, she’s technically on the winning team, and she gloats like she actually contributed points.
“Next time, we’ll switch up the point system,” Marco tells me when we’re back upstairs.
“Will Ariana still win?”
He smiles. “Always. That one took to guns like a damn duck takes to water.” Then he turns toward where Ariana and Lil are grabbing snacks from the fridge.“Girls, I would like you to start training with Luca a few times a week after classes are finished.”
All three of us stop and stare at him. He looks at Ariana, making a point to zero in on her mostly healed but still visible injuries. “You’ve both stopped doing any real self-defense training, and I haven’t fought you on it. But that was a mistake. There’s worse things than random back alley assholes out there.”
Ariana’s eyes dart to mine and then quickly look away. She nods her head.
Lil rolls her eyes and purses her lips. “Fine.”
I follow them up to the living room, wondering what Marco was referring to.
Lil flops down onto the couch. “Ugh.”
“He’s right, though.” Ariana sits and picks up the remote.
“I know. But I’m not happy about it. I hate sweating.”
“Come on, it might be fun.” I keep a straight face as they both turn to glare at me. “You need to get some muscles on those arms.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know I dragged passed-out Ariana away from a burning car once. I really thought the Porsche was going to explode.”
“My head ping-ponged a bunch of times, it was kind of hard to stay conscious after that,” Ari says. I stare at her until she stares back. “Hey, there’s a reason I don’t let her drive anymore.”
I try to get the image of the car wreck out of my head and move back to the topic of self-defense. “Anyway, neither of you works out. And you don’t even have to leave the house. The gym is right here. I can draw you a map if you’ve never been there.” I tease.
“Holy shit, did you just make a joke?” Lil looks shocked.
“Well, joke’s on you, Luca,” Ariana says with a smirk. “We worked out really hard one time last year. And we looked so cute in our activewear.”
“Whatever happened to those cute clothes?” Lil asks.
“They got ruined,” Ariana replies.
“Ruined? What the fuck happened?” I ask, imagining some kind of equipment malfunction or fall .
Ariana shrugs a shoulder. “Nacho cheese and popcorn butter may have been involved.”
I lose it. I finally lose my shit and laugh. A big belly laugh, complete with tears at the corners of my eyes.
When I finally calm down, both girls are grinning at me.
Ariana’s smile makes my heart feel full.
“I didn’t know you had dimples.” Her smile somehow gets even brighter.
“Me, neither,” I shrug.
“They look good on you,” she declares, winking at me. God, I love her. There’s no way I’m ever going to be able to live without this girl.