Her Mafia Brothers

Snuggles

I was quite content, lying there on the lounger with Rocco, with my head on his chest. His strong arm stayed wrapped around me and I felt safe, listening to the steady drum of his heart against my ear. He was doing something on his phone, but he only needed one hand to do that. His other hand rested on my back, playing with my hair, relaxing me, comforting me.

Alex and Damon were both out on the patio too, both at the table, both on their laptops. Working, probably. They always seemed to be working, those boys. I guess they had to, to fund our expensive lifestyles. And I didn't know for sure, but I guessed there was quite a lot of work involved in running a Mafia and all the businesses my brothers had.

Before long, Nick came outside too, his hair still wet from his shower.

"Nick!" I said, scrambling to my feet. I wanted to show my gratitude to the brother who had rescued me; the one who'd killed my attacker.

"Hey sis," he said, opening his arms to me, wrapping me up in a big hug.

I clung to him tightly.

"You rescued me," I breathed against his shirt, still pretty shocked from the events of last night. I still couldn't really believe what had happened. Nick had actually beaten someone to death.

He didn't say anything, just held me tighter.

"How did you know?" I asked him, lifting my head to look up at him.

"Logan told me," Nick said softly. "His mate saw someone going up the stairs, thought it looked a bit off, so told Logan. And Logan told me."

"Oh." I nodded. That sounded simple enough. Then it occurred to me. Did Logan tell Nick because he was the most volatile, the most dangerous? And if he was, was I safe with him? Was he going to hurt me?

I stiffened in his arms, freaking out just for a second.

"I'm not going to hurt you sis," he said gently. "I promise. I will never, ever hurt you."

It was bizarre, the way all my brothers could do that. Even now, after all this time, I still wasn't used to it. I'd probably never get used to it.

"I know," I said. And I did know, when I thought about it. Nick had literally just killed for me. He was my big brother - he wasn't going to hurt me. None of them were.

"Why did Logan tell you, though? Instead of Damon or Alex, I mean."

Nick shrugged. "Dunno. I was probably the closest."

"Nah, it's because you're the best fighter," Rocco said from his spot on the lounger. "Nobody else would have bashed him to death like you did."

From the table beside us, Alex cleared his throat. He obviously didn't like our topic of conversation. Or maybe he was objecting to Rocco's statement. Would Alex have killed him? I wasn't sure. He killed Dominic..... my inner voice reminded me. Or did he? All I know for sure that Alex did was knock him out and drag him away. What happened after that was anyone's guess, really.

"He deserved it," I said smugly, nestling my cheek against Nick's chest again.

Nick poked his fingers into my sides, tickling me, making me squeal.

"That's not very nice Carrie," he scolded lightly, grinning widely. "Wishing people dead like that."

I looked up at him and grinned back. "I'm not the one who killed him!" I reminded him. Seriously. Was Nick's memory really that bad?

Nick tightened his hold on me as the memory of last night came flooding back.

"He did deserve it," I insisted, my voice quivering. "He was going to hurt me. He said...." my voice trailed off. I couldn't repeat what he said. I wanted to, but I couldn't do it. My lips refused to form the words. But I needn't have worried. Nick put his fingers to my lips as I choked on my tears.