The Ones Who Saved Us

Chapter 9

Matteo's POV

Emilio, Ava, and I were in our tattoo parlor where I was tending to their wounds. Emilio only had a few bruises, and his knuckles were a bit raw, but Ava had a few more injuries. Her arms had some bruises, and then there was the head injury she endured after the Blade had knocked her down.

I was scared for her as soon as I saw that she would be fighting the Blade. Emilio and I had fought against him and knew how skilled he was. We had gotten close to beating him but were never able to finish it off. Nevertheless, Ava fought really well considering how long we've been training her, and I was extremely proud of her.

Emilio was laying down in one of the chairs we used to tattoo our clients, a bottle of beer in his hand. Ava was sitting next to him in the other recliner while I was in a regular chair cleaning Ava's head wound.

I held the cotton swab that was dipped in rubbing alcohol to Ava's forehead, causing her to wince. "Sorry, Aves," I muttered. "I'm almost done." I threw the cotton swab in the trash and bandaged Ava's forehead.

Once I was done, Ava turned to Emilio and pointed to the bottle of beer he was holding. "Can I have one, too?"

I looked to my twin who simply shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "I don't see why not," Emilio answered. Standing up, he walked over to the mini fridge in the corner of the room and grabbed a beer from it, handing it to Ava. A small smile tugged on his lips as he said, "Just drink in moderation. We don't want another Dad."

The hand Ava was using to open the bottle froze, her eyebrows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Oh, shit.

Dad is gonna kill us when he finds out what we said. But in our defense, we thought Ava knew already. The rest of us knew everything by the time we were ten years old, which is why I was confused as to why our family had delayed this with Ava.

"Sandro or Dad haven't given you the talk yet?" I asked

Ava opened the bottle and took a sip. "No. What talk?"

I reached for Ava's beer and said, "Maybe you shouldn't have this until they tell you."

"Matteo leave it," Emilio said, a smile on his face. "This is just a one-time thing. Right, Aves?"

Emilio smirked at Ava, which Ava returned as she said, "Exactly."

I leaned back in my chair, sighing. The three of us sat in silence, Emilio and Ava drinking their beers while I planned out a tattoo for Dad. He had asked me to sketch out a few ideas for him, something that represented our family. I had a few designs ready, but I had one more that I wanted to draw before showing them to Dad.

Ava finished her beer and threw the bottle away before walking to me. She looked over my shoulder, staring intently at the drawings. Pointing to the one I was working on, she said, "That one's my favorite. What's this for?"

"Dad," I answered. "He wants a tattoo and asked me to draw a few designs."

Ava pulled up a chair next to me and said, "I want a tattoo one day."

I turned to Ava, amusement causing me to smile. "You're not allowed to get one until you're eighteen, but let's say you could. Do you know what you would want?"

Ava shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm not really sure." Closing her eyes, she rested her hand on her ribs and said, "I just want something to cover this up. I can't look at myself in the mirror without being reminded of him. Sometimes it feels like he's still here. It's suffocating, Matty."