Her Mafia Brothers

Swimming

I took a deep breath and looked up at my two brothers, seeing the concern on their faces.

"Are you okay now sweetheart?" Jack asked me.

I nodded. "How did .... How did you know? About ... That I was ...." I let my voice trail off, I didn't know how to articulate my thoughts. But it seemed that Jack did.

"That you were having a panic attack?" he asked me.

"Yes," I whispered, looking down, embarrassed. I felt so stupid.

"Rocco called me"

"Oh." Now I was even more embarrassed. I must have been so out of control that Rocco didn't know what to do, so he had to bring in reinforcements. "I'm sorry." My mumbled apology was meant for Rocco, but I was still staring at the tiles beneath my feet, so he probably didn't even hear it.

But I was wrong.

"You don't need to apologise," he told me, his rough voice slightly softer than it was before. "I didn't know how to help you. I just seemed to be scaring you more." He sounded sad, and when I slowly raised my head and looked at him, I could see pain in his eyes, not quite hidden by his trademark scowl.

He took a step towards me and I forced myself not to flinch when he put his hand on my shoulder. Despite wanting to believe my brothers' assurances that I was safe here, there was a tiny little part of me that was still scared of my big, tattooed brother.

"I don't want you to be scared of me Carrie," he told me softly. "Is that what triggered it? Me?"

I shook my head. "No that wasn't it." Rocco's sigh of relief was audible. "I'm not completely sure, but I think it was seeing my burns and scars like this, and knowing you would see them, and you might think I deserved them. I keep them hidden, normally. And I felt so exposed ..." I let my voice trail off because I didn't know what else to say. I'd already said more than I wanted to, but the haunted look in my scary brother's eyes compelled me to tell the truth.

Rocco took his hand off my shoulder and clenched his fists, his entire body going rigid with tension. "What kind of monster do you think I am?" he growled. "I would never think you deserved to be abused, Carrie. Never!"

I froze in fear and Jack put his arm around me and pulled me in close to his chest, a protective embrace that made me feel safe, secure, protected.

"Calm down brother," Jack commanded, his voice quiet but authoritative. "Carrie has been living with monsters. She doesn't know what sort of men we are yet."

I kept close to Jack, but watched as Rocco took a deep breath and visibly relaxed, unclenching his fists.

"I won't hurt you Carrie, I promise." Rocco's voice was rough, hoarse with emotion. His customary scowl had been replaced with a tortured expression. It was obvious he genuinely cared about me, despite his tough exterior. Warmth flooded me. I looked up at him and tried to smile, almost succeeding.

"I know," I told him. And it was true. I believed him. He might not be affectionate and kind like Jack or thoughtfully take care of me like Damon, but in his own way, he cared.

A commotion in the doorway made me turn around. Logan was running towards the pool with Nick after him. Both were laughing.

Laughing.

There had been no place for laughter in my old life but apparently here, it was just part of life. I watched as Logan stripped off his shirt, still running, and dove straight into the pool, sending a spray of water splashing over us.

Nick stopped in front of us, shirtless, wearing only a pair of red board shorts. "Carrie," he said, looking at me. "You coming swimming?"

Without waiting for an answer he picked me up in his arms, cradling me against his body, and ran for the pool. I shrieked and wrapped my arms around his neck, scared he was going to drop me. I've never been carried while someone ran, before, and it was scary, but not in a frightening way. More of a thrilling way. I could feel my brother's muscles flexing beneath me and I could feel how strong he was. I knew then that I was safe in his arms, he wasn't going to drop me. I didn't need to fear. But still, I tightened my grip.

It only took seconds for us to reach the pool but Nick didn't put me down as I expected. Instead, he leapt into the pool, still holding onto me, and we sank under the water together before breaching the surface, both of us laughing.

It felt so good to laugh. To play. Uninhibited. Without fear.

Nick lifted me onto his shoulders and raced after Logan, helping me splash-attack him, then dumping me into the water when I shrieked too loudly in his ear.

My first impression of Nick at the airport had been that he was a dangerous man, as well as smoking hot, but as he chased me around the pool, playing with me and Logan, he seemed anything but. He just seemed like a normal older brother, and for a moment, I felt like a normal girl.

I scrambled up onto the edge of the pool for a bit, to sit and catch my breath, and to just stare at my brothers. Rocco was sitting at the table tapping away on his phone, but Jack was nowhere to be seen. I ogled Nick and Logan. I was awed that I had such good looking brothers. I bet all the girls lusted after them, drooling at their feet, and I had to remind myself to settle down, to stop ogling. They are your brothers! I reminded myself, but I still hadn't quite got my head around that yet. I was getting there, but right now, they were just two hot guys in a pool.

Logan swam up beside me and pushed me in, so I tried to pull him under. I grabbed his head and tugged, leaning on him with all my weight, but he was too strong. I was tiny for my age and he was huge for his, and he obviously worked out at the gym regularly with the rest of my brothers because instead of me sinking his head under the water, all that happened was he twisted his body and somehow, I ended up on his shoulders. They weren't as wide as Nicks', but I tightened my thighs around his neck and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Go over there to Rocco, I want to splash him. I want him to come in here too."

Beneath me, Logan chuckled. "You got a death wish, do you? Rocco is the grumpiest out of all your brothers yet he's the one you want to splash?"

I hesitated for a moment, squinted at Rocco who was glaring at us suspiciously, and changed my mind.

"Actually, let's go and splash Nick instead. I want to dunk him."

So that's what we did.

I jumped off Logan's shoulders and pushed my weight down on Nick's head instead, doing my best to push him under. He let me, then he came up underneath me and threw me high in the air, like a ball. I landed with a splash and disappeared beneath the surface of the water, swimming along near the bottom of the pool, where I grabbed someone's legs - Logan's I think - and dragged him under with me.

We played like that for ages, my two brothers and me. I alternated between riding on Nick's shoulders and swimming myself, splashing Logan, and trying to dunk Nick. It was the most fun I could remember having in, probably, ever. Since mom's last boyfriend had come on the scene, anyway. That's when "fun" had become a banned word for me.

We would have been in the pool for more than an hour, and I was starting to get cold.

The worst of my burns were really stinging from the chlorine in the water and I was starting to shiver, so I was grateful when Alex appeared at the edge of the pool holding out a fluffy towel for me.

Nick lifted me out and Alex wrapped the towel tightly around me, then picked me up securely in his arms.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you smiling, Carrie. When I took your clothes off you before and saw all those marks from your abuse, I feared you would never smile again."