Triplets

018

RYAN'S POV

I watched as my eldest brother stepped out from behind the line of trees, his face almost unreadable.

I have yet to meet one person I couldn't read.

Besides Arlo.

"Nice observation skills. Now I have quite a few questions for you, dear sister." Alessandro said from all the way across the meadow. He may have come out of the tree line, but he hasn't actually moved much closer to me, and the moment he did come from behind the tree line, the wolf dogs noticed him.

I smirk in his direction. "Sure. But you must come closer. I can't hear you all the way over there." 

He glares in my direction, which honestly just makes my smirk wider, and glances pointedly at the dogs who are currently fighting for my attention. "Could you be sure they won't hurt me?"

I look towards Ace, to see him glancing between my brother and I. "Ace." Now I have his full attention. "Friend." I say pointing to my brother. "Be nice to my friend. He is family, hm? So be nice." I am unsure he actually understands, but from what I can tell, I think he does. I mean he put his head down after maintaining eye contact for a couple of seconds and closed his eyes for a nap. 

"I think you good now, Alessandro." I say over my shoulder while keeping an eye on the other dogs. I soon ear his footsteps coming closer to me. 

Alessandro sits down next to me, closer, honestly, then I had thought he would have. "First question-"

I cut him off, because I know mafia dons hate to be cut off mid-sentence. Also, because I felt it was appropriate to. "How about instead we play twenty questions, but different then how you are usually meant to play? You ask a question, I answer. I ask a new question, you answer. How does that sound? And if you want, you can skip some questions too." 

My brother lets out a dad sigh, and then says, "Fine." 

We sit in silence for a couple of seconds. "You can go first."

"Alright then, first question, how did you know I was following you? And how long did you know?" He asks right away. Easy questions first, I see.

"Well, number one, that is two questions." I reply with more sass than was really necessary. "To answer your question, you stomp around terribly loudly, and you do a terrible job of avoiding dried sticks and leaves. I knew you were following me the whole time." I let that settle in before I ask my question. "What do you think I should name that dog right there?" I then point to the other male dog that wasn't Ace.

He seems startled by the question, for reasons I don't know as I literally asked him if he could help me name the dogs, and then seems to compose himself. "What is the other one's name?"

"Ace."

"Okay so I would name him something like... I don't know... Jagger or something."

I look at him incredulously. "Jagger? Out of everything you may want to name a dog, you choose Jagger?" 

He looks at me in as much mock offense his stone-cold face allowed him to show. "Why not Jagger?"

"... Fine the dog's name is Jagger." I say reluctantly. But at least when everyone else meets them I can tell them that it was Ale that named him Jagger, not me. 

"Next question. Where did you learn to walk so silently and quietly?" He asks peering at me.

I fight the urge to stiffen my shoulders and instead force myself to relax. "That's an interesting question. Why do you carry a gun around you all the time?"