Her Mafia Brothers

Sick

Over the next two weeks I settled in well at school and Frankie, Kate, Lily, Petra and I became close friends. Aside from the ride to and from school, I barely saw Logan at school, although I knew I could call him if I ever needed to. But he had his friends and now, so did I. I'd never really had friends much before because we moved so much, and I didn't always go. It wasn't that I had trouble making friends; I didn't. I just ended up losing touch with most of them.

My brothers all worked really hard to give me as normal a life as possible, even letting my friends come around to hang out on the weekend, and I'd almost forgotten my brothers were in the Mafia. My friends were from rich families too, so they didn't question the big, flash house, the pool, the household staff or even the bodyguard my brothers forced on me when we went to the diner after school for ice-cream sundaes. Nor did they question my status as an orphan.

I'd even managed to stay out of trouble! Rocco had scolded me for swearing once or twice and Damon had told me to adjust my attitude before he adjusted it for me, but that was it. No lectures. No spankings.

I was truly happy, and felt secure and relaxed.

Until one Tuesday during science. Chemistry had never interested me much, and at first, I thought my headache was from the gas of the Bunsen burners and the chemicals we were using to make some kind of reaction. The teacher gave me a pass so I could get some fresh air, but it wasn't enough. Just before the end of the period I ran to the bathroom and vomited, before lying, dizzy, in a heap on the cold floor. Frankie came and found me when I didn't return to class and helped me to the office, and I lay down in the sickbay, dizzy, nauseous and feverish.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Alex was squatting beside me, with his hand on my forehead, trying to wake me up. I just groaned and rolled over. No way was I budging.

If I hadn't been feeling so awful, I would have been embarrassed when Alex picked me up and carried me out to the car, my backpack slung over his shoulder. He strapped me in and took me home and I slept the whole way there. Once in the underground parking garage, he once again lifted me into his strong arms and carried me upstairs to my room. I didn't see any of my other brothers. They were all working, I guess.

"Gonna be sick," I croaked the words out, and quickly, Alex carried me into the bathroom, crouching beside me and holding my hair out of the way as I vomited. He sat with me and rubbed my back for a bit, then filled a glass with water from my sink for me to rinse my mouth.

"I'm sick," I told him, a bit unnecessarily.

He just smiled and ruffled my hair. "I know you are. Let's get you all tucked up into bed with a movie, yeah?"

I buried my head in his shoulder.

"Don't leave me," I mumbled.

"I'm not going to," he assured me. "I will go and get my laptop and work from your desk."

"Where's Jack?"

"He's in court today. It's just me and you here, sis. Everyone else is at work or school."

"Okay."

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he picked me up and carried me back to my bed, propping me up with pillows behind my back. He switched on my TV then sat back on my bed with the remote.

"What do you want to watch?"

He flicked through a few movies and when I didn't answer him because I felt too sick he put the remote on the table beside me.

"I'll get my laptop and be back soon."

I had drifted back to sleep by the time he returned, and when I woke an hour or so later, Alex was sitting at my desk tapping away on his laptop, looking deeply engrossed in his work.