"You little shit," Rocco growled. His eyes sparked with anger as he realized what I'd done. He wasn't just annoyed that I'd pretended to drown, but he was absolutely furious. He was even angrier now than he was the day I hid under Jack's bed, away from him.
I swallowed hard. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
"It was just a joke," I whispered.
"Pretending to drown is not a joke," Rocco snarled dangerously, dragging me to the edge of the pool and lifting me up onto the side. "Go and sit at the table with Jack. We need to have a chat."
I clambered to my feet. "Can I go and get dressed first?"
"No. Do as you're told."
Even though I was wet and cold, I was too scared to disobey my terrifyingly angry brother. He looked like he wanted to spank me, and my bruised butt couldn't take any more smacks.
As quick as I could, I scurried over to where Jack sat at the patio table and sat down, dripping wet, on a chair.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked me. "Why are you sitting there all wet?"
"Rocco told me to. I'm in trouble," I admitted sheepishly. "I pretended to drown. Rocco was not impressed."
I'm pretty sure Jack grinned, but if he did, it was only for a moment. Less than a second later, his face was stern.
"No, he wouldn't have been," Jack agreed. "That wasn't a very sensible thing to do, was it?"
I looked down at the table unhappily, confused.
"I don't understand why," I whispered.
"Well I think you're about to find out," Jack said, as Rocco stormed over to the table, dripping a trail of water behind him. Diving into the pool to 'rescue' me had washed away most of the flour and he didn't look like a wonky ghost anymore. Now, he just looked wet. Wet and grumpy. Very, very grumpy.
"What the hell were you doing, Carrie? Why the fuck would you pretend to drown?" Rocco bent down at the end of the table, resting his palms on it, glaring at me, his eyes blazing with fury. He looked so much like Damon, and every bit as dominant and dangerous.
"It was just a joke," I whispered again, and shrank back in fear.
Rocco slammed the palm of his hand down hard onto the glass-topped table, making the whole thing shake, and me jump in fright.
"Pretending to drown is not a joke," Rocco snarled. "Tell her Jack."
I shivered, cold. "Can I please go and get changed? I'm cold."
"No, we're not finished," Rocco snapped.
But Jack intervened. "Yes she can go and get changed," he stated firmly, glaring at Rocco. Then he turned to me. "But hurry sweetheart, go up quickly and come right back down.."
Rocco growled, but let me go.
"Will you come with me?" I asked Jack. "Please? I'm not ready to be alone yet."
Jack looked like he was about to stand up, but Rocco beat him to it. His scowling face softened and he held out his hand to me.
"Come on then, I need to go up and have a shower and get changed too."
I didn't want to go anywhere alone with Rocco right now. Not when he was so angry, and I froze in my chair. But I didn't want to refuse, either.
"Rocco's not going to hurt you, sweetheart," Jack said.
"How do you know?" I asked him hesitantly.
"Of course I'm not going to bloody hurt you!" Rocco exploded. "You're my little sister! I will never hurt you!"
He seemed sad, almost, and that sadness eclipsed his anger.
"But I'm in trouble," I said, as though that explained everything. "You're angry because I pretended to drown. You're going to spank me."
"I'm not going to spank you," Rocco insisted.
"So I'm not in trouble?" I asked hopefully.
Rocco's scowl returned, and Jack did his best, but failed, to hide his grin.
"Yes you're in trouble," Rocco said. "But Jack's right, you can have a shower and get changed first because you're cold."
Well that seemed to be just prolonging the inevitable, and I almost wished I hadn't suggested getting changed first so we could just get it all over and done with instead, but it was too late now. Rocco took my wrist and hauled me to my feet, leading me inside.
I was the teeniest bit scared as Rocco's huge hand engulfed mine and we walked up the stairs together. Although he'd promised he wasn't going to hurt me, and I believed him, I'd been hurt by people I was meant to be able to trust so many times in the past, that being suspicious and afraid was just a natural reaction for me.
Rocco didn't say a word until we got to my bedroom, when he pushed me gently inside.
"Take a shower and warm up," he said. "I need to wash this flour shit off me, so you've got time. I can tell Logan to come and wait for you until I'm done, if you want."
"Thank you." I shot him a grateful smile. Even when he was mad at me, he was still considerate of my needs, and my particular clinginess today.
"Don't look too happy, you're still in trouble."
Instantly, the smile wiped from my face. Damn. I was kinda hoping he was going to let it go. Surely it wasn't that big of a deal?
Rocco glared at me and stalked off, knocking on Logan's door before entering. It surprised me, that Rocco knocked on Logan's door. He didn't strike me as the type to knock first before entering his little brother's bedroom. The simple courtesy made me smile.
By the time I came out of my wardrobe with an armful of clothes, ready for my shower, Logan was sitting on my hanging chair, swinging back and forth gently, playing on his phone.
He heard my footsteps and turned to me. "What did you do to piss off Rocco?"
I grinned sheepishly. "Pretended to drown so he had to jump into the pool to save me."
Logan grinned back, then quickly wiped it away. "Oh."
"What will he do to me?" I asked, still a little bit afraid. After all, Logan seemed to be scared of Rocco, so maybe I should be quite a bit more worried than I was.
Logan shrugged. "Dunno. Not much I wouldn't think. Don't worry about it. Besides, Jack is there, isn't he? He will protect you."
Yeah that's not very helpful, my inner mind snarked, and I glared at him. Not that he noticed my feeble attempt.
"What does he do to you? When you piss him off?"
"He bashes me," Logan said simply, as if I was a bit daft.
I gasped, shocked, my mouth wide open.
"But you know he's not going to do that to you," Logan said. "He would never do that to you."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're our little sister. Bashing each other is what boys do. None of us would ever hit a girl, especially not a little one like you."
Logan pointed towards my bathroom. "Hurry up and go shower."
"And you'll wait for me?" I asked, panicking just slightly at the thought of being alone in my bathroom, completely naked, vulnerable.
"Yes sis, I'll wait."
"And you won't let anyone come in and hurt me?"
Logan frowned. "Of course not. Now hurry up."