Thanks to @Rddudd for the idea! I hope I did it justice :)
As you might have noticed, I've removed the negativity, and that's my plan moving forward: deleting and blocking it all. There's only so many hours in the day, and I want to spend mine with positivity.
A reminder: as the haters have no doubt reported this story in the hopes of getting it removed, if it does get taken down, I WILL publish it and make it available for sale and for free through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program. So if you're enjoying this story, make a note of my name and this book title and keep an eye out soon. But for as long as Wattpad lets me, I'll keep writing it for free on here.
I didn't freeze for long, though. I was having too much fun and giggling too much to be truly afraid. Besides, Logan had started it. If Rocco was going to hurt us for having a water fight Logan wouldn't have started it, right? I mean, if Rocco was dangerous, Logan would know that, and would have acted accordingly.
I looked at Rocco. He was scowling, but that seemed to be normal for him. Behind the scowl, I was pretty sure I could see a glint of amusement in his eyes. He might have been trying to hide it, but it was there all the same.
Logan's sheepish grin gave me confidence. After all, he clearly wasn't afraid. So I dipped both hands into the bubbles then skated across the wet, slippery floor in my socks, straight into Rocco. With perfect aim, I smooshed the bubbles against his jaw as I slid into him, giving him an impressive bubble beard. I'd skated too fast and the floor was wetter than I thought and as I bounced off Rocco my feet slid out from under me. I shrieked, flailing my arms madly, trying to keep from falling, but I could feel myself going down. Behind me, I could hear Logan laughing. Well at least one of us finds this funny, I thought bitterly, anticipating how much it was going to hurt when I hit the floor. But before I did, Rocco caught me, his hands gripping first my bicep then wrapping around my waist, stopping me from falling, holding me still. He put me back on my feet and waited until I was standing steady before he let go.
"Do you want to join us?" I asked, giving him my best puppy dog eyes.
"Nice beard bro," Logan snickered.
"Shut up," Rocco growled, stepping forward and smacking Logan on the back of the head. Logan yelped, but kept grinning, but I flinched away in fear. While it was kinda amusing to see my brother get a smack in the head after he got me so drenched with bubbles, raised hands still frightened me. I braced myself for a slap as well, but it never came.
Instead, Rocco reached past me and snatched the tea towel off the counter behind me, swiped it across his face destroying all evidence of my handiwork and glared fiercely at me, before softening his features just briefly, and winked. I looked at him in utter confusion. Was he annoyed, or wasn't he? Was his grumpy guy persona just an act? Or was he actually grumpy all the time and my puppy-dog eyes had charmed him?
Having gotten rid of his bubble beard, Rocco thrust the tea towel at Logan and glared ferociously at each of us in turn. His glare lingered on me slightly longer than it did Logan and this time, there was no softening of his expression and certainly no wink, leaving me more confused than ever. I didn't know what to make of this scary-looking, tattooed, grumpy-but-winky big brother.
"Clean this mess up," he snarled, before stomping away.
Logan and I both looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief, then burst out laughing.
"I can't believe you did that," he said, still laughing. "I don't think anybody's ever put bubbles on Rocco, even when we were kids."
I grinned smugly and shrugged, but inwardly I was relieved. That could have gone so, so wrong.
Together, we dried the floor by dropping clean tea towels down on it, standing on them, and skating around. Then we wiped the cupboards dry, before loading the dishwasher. As I'd expected, it took about five minutes.
"Why did Rocco wink at me when he was glaring at me?" I asked Logan. I still hadn't been able to figure out what was going on with him and hoped Logan might be able to shed some light on it.
Logan shrugged. "No idea," he said. "Maybe he could see you were frightened and wanted to reassure you. He's not always as grumpy as he makes out. Sometimes it's about keeping up appearances. It's important, in our line of work."
Once again, I wondered what my brothers did for work. What kind of job could possibly need someone who pretended to be grumpy and intimidating but really wasn't? I had no idea. I thought back to what Damon had told me about their businesses. Being grumpy and intimidating could be handy for a nightclub, I supposed. Although I didn't really know exactly what owning a nightclub entailed. I'd never been in one. We'd lived above one once, and the booming beat of the bass dance music had kept me awake all night, and I'd kept myself entertained for hours peering out the window at the people all dressed up, lining the street below, waiting to get inside. But I had no idea what happened inside those doors. And after a few months, just like every other place we'd lived in, my mother missed the rent payment and we got evicted and had to move on.
Just as Logan put the powder into the dishwasher and turned it on and we were about to leave the kitchen, Jack appeared in the doorway. I wished the sink full of bubbles was still there - Jack would no doubt we much more amenable to a bubble fight than Rocco was.
He reached out his hand to me. "The doctor is here to see you now Sweetheart," he said. "Are you happy for just me to come with you, or would you like some of your other brothers to come as well? Or would you rather be alone?"
I felt my breath hitch in my throat, the beginning of panic. It rose up inside me but I frantically pushed it back.
"No," I whispered. I was talking to the rising panic that threatened to overwhelm me, but Jack thought I was talking to him.
"So just me and you then?" he asked, seemingly oblivious to my freaking out.
I couldn't talk, so I just nodded instead and fortunately, he didn't demand a proper reply. At that moment, I couldn't have given him one. I could feel his eyes on me as he looked me up and down, taking in my wet clothes, my anxious state, my ragged breathing.
"Calm down darling girl," he said softly, tracing his fingers gently up and down my spine, soothing me. "Deep breaths," he reminded me. "Just relax. You're safe."
While I was standing there trying to get my breathing under control, Jack looked over my head at Logan. "Why are you both saturated?" he asked, scanning the now-spotless kitchen that we'd cleaned and dried so no trace of our bubbly mischief remained.
Logan grinned. "Ask our brother," he said. "Rocco looked good with a bubble beard."
He left the kitchen, presumably to put some dry clothes on, because he was as wet as I was.
"Go and get changed out of those wet clothes," Jack told me. "I'll get you another one of Logan's hoodies. And then together, we'll go and see the doctor. All right?" He smiled gently at me, but it was clear by his tone that he wasn't actually giving me an option. It was an order, and I was pretty sure he didn't want to be disobeyed.
I took a deep breath, forcing away the last of the panic the thought of seeing a doctor brought on. Jack will be with me, it will be okay, I repeated in my head, like a mantra. Jack will take care of me. He won't let anything happen to me. Over and over I told myself that, until I was almost able to believe it.
"Okay?" Jack asked, giving me a gentle push in the direction of the stairs.
"Okay," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.