Caio left me alone all night, right until the morning when I got up, and came out to the kitchen. He pushed his coffee towards me, and the bottle of pills for my foot. I looked at the coffee and pushed it back at him. Getting up, I walked on my foot to the sink, grabbing a cup and filling it full of tap water before coming back to the table. 

Sitting down, tossed the pill into my mouth and took a sip of water. From there, I got up again to make food. I was starving. Opening the fridge, I stood there just looking. 

“There’s breaded pork chops I made last night in the plastic container with the red lid.”

I heard him loud and clear, but I ignored him. Closing the fridge door, I grabbed the bread and just made two pieces of toast with butter. I set them on a paper towel and walked back to the table. I ate them in silence. Caio was sipping his coffee with a scowl on his face, and normally I would be pretty amused. But today, I didn’t have the energy to be amused. 

Finishing the last bit of my toast. I looked at my watch and sighed. I was going to need a new one, but that required being able to leave the complex and having someone else leave for me.  

“Are you busy today?” I asked. 

“Oh, you’ve decided to speak to me.” Caio said, looking right at me. 

“I don’t have the energy to fight with you today Caio, if you’re not going to answer the question, I will just see if Alessio is busy.”

“Alessio has your little brother. They are probably busy.”

“Right. Our little brother.” 

“The answer to your question is no. I am not busy today. Did you need something?”

“No. I will ask someone else. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“Matteo, I asked you what you needed.”

“Could you please take me to the store? My watch broke after my tango with Alessio. I would like to replace it.” I said. 

“Yes, I can do that. Let me get changed and that will give you time to get a sweater, and your shoes—shoe on.”

“My shoe is at Alessio’s.”

“He brought it back here last night after you went to bed.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.” I muttered, standing up and heading towards the bedroom. Inside the spare bedroom, I sat on the bed and let out a deep breath. I got the velcro on the boot undone and pulled my foot out. It was nice to let my foot breathe for a moment. 

“Should you have your foot out of that boot?”

I looked up, and Caio had got changed and was standing in the open door. I shrugged before sticking my foot back in the boot and doing the velcro back up. My sweater was on the floor on the other side of the bed. Laying back, I rolled onto my stomach and reached for it. 

“Caio, I don’t want to go anymore. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“Get up. You need a new watch. I don’t know what happened last night, but wallowing in your feelings isn’t going to help.”

“My mother happened.” I muttered into the blanket. 

“What? I didn’t hear what you said, Matteo.”

“Forget it. It wasn’t important. You wouldn’t get it. You hold the ground she walks on higher than the rest.”

“This is something to do with your mother?” He asked. 

“It could never be something to do with her. That would imply she caused some kind of problem and she just never does that.” I said sarcastically as I rolled over and sat up. Standing up, I pulled on my sweater and tucked my phone and wallet into my sweater pocket. 

“Let’s go then.”

I followed Caio out of the spare bedroom, and as he slipped his shoes on, I slipped my one on and he spoke. “Do you need to ask Alessio before you leave if you’re allowed?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. If you get in trouble, blame me.” I muttered, stepping around him and heading out into the hall. He was quick to join me out in the hall, waiting for the lock to click before walking. 

“Do you need a specialty store for your watch, or a regular one?”

“The regular store will work. I’m just going to buy whatever is compatible with my phone that is similar to this one.”

“Alright.”

Outside, the sun was bright, and I fished my phone out of my pocket to check the time. I looked at the time before speaking. 

“Why did you let me sleep in so late?”

“Was I supposed to wake you up?”

“No. I just, it’s almost the afternoon.” I said. 

“You asked me to leave you alone last night. I did that.” 

“Last night went horribly. She hasn’t changed.”

“She’s your mother and—--”

“And she’s horrible. I don’t see what you do in her, so I have no reason to mince my words or feelings about her.” I said. Looking up at the sun, closing my eyes and letting it warm my face for a few minutes. 

“She is your mother, Matteo. Whether you like it or not, you will always be her son, a carbon copy of her.”

“But still not enough to please you.” I muttered, without considering my words.

“Matteo, don’t.”

Sighing, I followed Caio to his truck. Getting up inside after he unlocked it, it was clean and neat on the inside. Just like the one he had in Italy. Buckling in, I checked my phone and opened my bank account. My personal account looked pretty sad, compared to my other account, the one with my inheritance. 

Spending money out of my inheritance was the plan today. Since I no longer had to worry about Alessio hunting me down. Caio backed out of the spot he was parked and stopped as we got to Maddox’s complex. Lev and Alessio were just pulling in, their fancy SUV making me roll my eyes. 

“Where are you guys headed?” Alessio asked. 

“Your brother wants to replace the watch on his arm. It broke when you two—-”

“Hold on, I’ll send you the money to replace that. I don’t have your bank info, so I’m sending money to Caio. I sent extra for anything else you might need.” Alessio said. 

Our kid brother was pressing his face to the glass, waving like a psycho. Lev rolled the window down the smallest crack and I could hear him yelling.

“Let me out! I want to see Matteo. Sio, please!”

“You can see Matteo when they come back, and you’re not covered in dirt and whatever crap you got glued to you.”

“I’ll see you when we get back. You have my word!” I hollered out Caio’s window, basically right in his ear.

“See you then.” Alessio said. “Caio, you have a weapon with you?”

“Yes, always.”

“Good.”

Alessio waved before Lev drove off back to their complex. Caio rolled up his window and turned the AC on. I understood why he suggested the sweater now. He had every intention of freezing us both with the AC. 

“Is it that dangerous that you need to have a weapon with you, always?”

“We have a minor problem with gangs. They come and go. But Alessio and Maddox like to make sure we all have a weapon when we leave the property for safety.”

“I see. I left mine in Italy. I didn’t know how to smuggle it here, and I wasn’t getting caught.”

“If you want it, I can relay it to Vito to bring it for you.”

“Please do. Emilio knows where I put it for safekeeping.” I said.

“Do you still remember how to use a weapon?”

“I’ll try not to be offended by that, Caio.”

“It was a serious question.”

“Of course I do. I wasn’t useless in Italy. I went on all the different supply runs, and—--”

“And we are keeping that information away from your brother. He won’t like knowing that you were fucking around with the henchmen there.”

“I will have you know that I was doing Emilio’s solo tasks as well.”

“Of course you did. Alessio isn’t going to be happy when he finds that out.”

“Oh well. I had to make money and such somehow.”

“What do you intend to use those skills for?”

“Helping Alessio here. I know he has Lev and the rest of you, but I want to be useful to him. I don’t even care if I don’t have a position.”

“That’s a very you answer.” Caio said. 

“I suppose so.” I muttered. 

I looked at Caio, really studying him again. Stopping when I remembered he didn’t like it. I didn’t understand how my mom didn’t want him. He was a good guy. 

“Caio?”

“Yes.”

“Have you and my mother ever hooked up?”

“No. Your mother has shut me down as every pass.”

“Hmm.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Curiosity.”

I wanted to know why mom kept refusing Caio. I texted Alessio and told him to ask mom why she wasn’t interested in Caio. He was quick to respond. His text just read that he knew why and that he would tell me when I came by later. 

He pulled into the parking lot of the store. He shut off the truck and unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door. 

He looked at me and spoke. “Let’s go find your watch.”

“Alright.”