The Sister Between Them

Chapter 2

Sun City, Illington

"Rocco, for the love of god, wake up and shut off that damn alarm already!"

A cold voice roughly pulled Rocco Romano out of his peaceful dreams. He groaned and rolled over as he turned off the alarm, and then begrudgingly crawled out of bed. He stood and stretched out his long, lean, muscular body before crossing the room to the dresser to grab clothes.

"Could you be any louder," Alyssa whined as she pulled the blankets over her head.

"Not my fault you were out till three am, Lys," he snapped.

"It was work related!"

"Sure," he refrained from rolling his eyes.

"It was, and I have a casting call at noon." Alyssa sat up, and her imploring cat-like eyes bored into his intensely. He wondered where she got the energy this early; it was as if she woke up prepared for war.

"You do recall that Mary's gone, right?" Rocco felt that frustration grow. How could she be booking things before they had childcare?

"Didn't you hire another nanny?" Alyssa asked with an annoyed look crossing her face. 

"No, I didn't hire another nanny; it's only been two days, and you're not working." He almost laughed; he would if it didn't piss him off so much.

"I am modeling Rocco!" she yelled, her dark brown eyes flashing angrily.

When was the last time you booked a job then? He refrained from saying it out loud.

When he met Alyssa, she was an up-and-coming model, not a surprise; she was gorgeous and loved the camera as much as it loved her. She was booking many jobs, and everyone wanted her; she loved it, but she also started acting like she was much bigger than she was. She was flighty, was often late, and was rude to anyone she deemed beneath her. That kind of reputation haunts you, and Rocco had tried to warn her.

She took a hiatus during her pregnancy, and after Gavin was born and got back to it recently, but her hype faded while she was gone. But it wasn't just that she took a break; a lot of it had to do with attitude following her, just like he told her, though she denied that.

Rocco wanted to empathize with her anyway. It was too hard to fall from grace, but she learned nothing from it and blamed him and, worse, Gavin for her failure instead.

"Can't you just take lunch at that time and watch him? I can even take him to your office first. This is so important. " Alyssa pouted and batted her eyes at Rocco. Her smudged-up red lips did nothing for him, and he almost laughed again.

"How long is the casting call going to be? We have a huge case going on right now."

"I don't know. An hour."

"Which is at least two. I can't; you're going to have to skip this one."

"You're an asshole Rocco. This is my career. I can't miss any of these things, and you know it!".

"It's one casting call. You went to three parties and at least four auditions this week."

"You've been working extra hours on your case all week," she spat instantly.

"We're a team; we don't have a nanny right now. We need to work together here," he said instead.

"Fix it. Get a nanny ASAP. I still can't believe she gave us so little notice!"

"Lys," he sighed. "She found out she was pregnant and moved up her wedding; come on. Besides, I was never a big fan of Mary being here all day with him. I know you said your mom isn't motherly and wanted help when he was a baby, but he's three now. Maybe we can hire a nanny or just a few trusted sitters on call or part-time. That way, they can come when you have an appointment."