Her Mafia Brothers

Confused

Rocco was sitting at the kitchen island eating a bag of Cheetos and doing something on his phone when I found him. He jumped when I talked to him; he obviously hadn't heard my footsteps. I suppressed a smile. It was funny, frightening my grumpiest brother.

"What's up with Logan and Nick?" I asked, and Rocco looked at me, confused.

"No idea," he said. "Why?"

"Because they were in the gym together and now Logan's hurt. I think Nick bashed him. But Alex was with them so why?"

Rocco didn't answer. Instead, he left both his phone and the half-eaten bag of Cheetos on the kitchen island in front of his stool and hurried out of the room presumably to investigate. Not wanting to be left behind, I scurried after him.

I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't, at the same time. I was curious, but I wasn't. After all, this was probably my fault, somehow.

I could hear Nick and Rocco talking in the hallway at the top of the stairs so I stopped exactly where I was, listening. I was afraid that if they saw me, they would stop talking, and I didn't want that. So I froze, every muscle in my body tight.

"I don't even fucking know, man." Nick's voice. It sounded strained. Like he was upset. Now I was even more curious. Had he not beaten Logan up on purpose?

"One second we were sparring, he was fighting really good, too. He's coming along really well. He was angry - yelling with each punch and kick. I had to concentrate to block them all. I landed a couple of hits, but he was doing a good job at blocking them. Then all of a sudden he just stopped defending himself and just stood there, with his hands down, letting me hit him. I didn't even realize. I think Alex noticed at the same time I did because he yelled at me to stop, but I'd already stopped by then and Logan was staggering, blood everywhere. Alex caught him before he fell and Logan was saying over and over again to hit him more, he deserved it, he felt guilty."

"And did you?" Rocco's voice was sharp - sharper than I'd ever heard before. I was half expecting him to fight Nick right there in the hallway outside the bedrooms. I pressed myself back against the wall. Trying to hide. Trying to make myself invisible, just as I'd done so many times in the past.

"Of course not!" Nick growled, sounding incredibly pissed off that Rocco had even asked. "Poor kid," I heard him mumble. "I don't know what's going through that head of his, but Damon needs to get to the bottom of it."

"Damon's got a Mafia to run," Rocco muttered. "You know more than me, but there's a war brewing. This petty bullshit has to stop. It's the last thing Damon needs."

I sucked in a breath. War? What did that mean?

"Well I don't know what to do, brother." Nick sounded weary, maybe a bit sad. Worried? It was hard to tell, eavesdropping as I was from my position on the stairs and unable to see his face. Not that it would have helped me any, seeing his face. My brothers were experts at keeping their expressions frozen in masks that hid their true feelings so well.

"I've got to get to work," Nick said briskly. "The club's not going to run itself."

Club? What club? I was momentarily confused, and then it dawned on me: my brothers owned a nightclub and a casino.

As I stayed hidden in the safety of the stairs, absorbing all this information, fury started to well up inside me, slowly threatening to overwhelm me. There were so many double standards in the house it was crazy!

When I got angry and kneed Logan in the balls, I got a spanking with my hairbrush.

When Logan got angry and attacked me, he got a whipping with Damon's belt.