Her Mafia Brothers

Furious Rocco

"I knew it!" Rocco explodes from beside me, and I shrink closer to Jack in fear. Angry Rocco terrifies me, only right now he's not just angry, but absolutely furious. He's breathing heavily through his nose, like a charging bull, and I can feel the tension radiating off him. It's only his self-control that's preventing him from killing me right now. Well that, and my other brothers, although I don't know how much good they would be. Jack is injured, and Nick and Rocco I think are fairly evenly matched - although Rocco is slightly bigger. And Nick might not protect me anyway, not now that he's heard the truth. And Damon might be on the phone to us, but he's not here. If Rocco decides he's going to hurt me, there's probably not going to be anyone who is going to be able to stop him. But Jack wraps his good arm tightly around me and glares at Rocco fiercely over my head, and Rocco stays right where he is, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Jack and Nick are both silent. So is Damon, but I can see the fury written all over his face. The Adam's Apple in his throat bobs up and down as he swallows and his dark eyes are even darker than normal, and flashing with anger. They're going to kill me, I realize. I am in so much trouble.

Jack's arm is still around me, but he's angry at me too, I can tell. They all are.

"You do realize I can't let this go unpunished, don't you?" Damon says softly, his deep voice deep but quiet.

"But Nick already spanked me the whole way home!" I cry. "I've already been punished! He spanked me so hard! My butt is sore!"

Damon looks up at the side of the screen, obviously asking Nick for confirmation, and Nick moves the phone so his own face is visible on the screen and nods.

"It's true. I went pretty hard on her."

Pretty hard is an understatement, but I don't argue. I'm already in enough trouble; I don't need to draw any more attention to myself.

"How many times did you spank her?" Damon asks, and I want to sink through the floor. I'm right here! I want to scream. You can talk to me, you know! But, again, I keep quiet. They might be talking about me, but they're definitely not talking to me, and if I butt in now, Damon will probably consider it to be disrespect and punish me even more.

Nick shrugs. "38, 39, plus a few before we started walking. Maybe 45 all up."

Damon shakes his head. It's impossible to know what he's thinking. Does he disapprove of Nick's punishment?

"Where's Carrie? Put her back on."

Instantly, Nick holds the phone in front of me again and I swallow hard.

"I'm here," I whisper.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Carrie," Damon scolds. "I expected much better from you. I know this is hard for you - I get that - I really do. But you were kept home from school for your own safety. We've all told you over and over again how important it is that you do as you're told, and you blatantly disregarded that. You've earned yourself a wooden spoon spanking, Carrie-girl. On your bare butt, this time."

"No!" I gasp, terror and anger washing over me. "That's not fair!"

"You running away and putting yourself in danger is what's not fair, Carrie. It's not fair that your brothers had to risk their lives to rescue you, and it's not fair that Logan's ribs got injured again in the process. And while I'm very unhappy that he tried to slap you - and he will be punished for that - his reaction is understandable. You knew the rules, Carrie, and you chose to ignore them, and you endangered yourself and your brothers in the process."

"But Nick already spanked me!" I wailed, tears streaming down my cheeks once again.

"Yes, and now Jack will." Damon sounded firm. There's no chance he's going to change his mind.