Her Mafia Brothers

Meeting Anna

"Have you met Anna?" I asked Logan later, when we were curled up on beanbags together in his room, watching Disney Plus. Ordinarily, we'd be watching in mine, but because Damon got grumpy and stole my TV power cord, we had to do things differently. We could have watched downstairs on the bigger screen, but I didn't feel like being around Jack right now, and he and Alex had some friends over, so we stayed up here, out of the way. I think Rocco had gone out and apparently, Nick was working. I think he was in charge of the nightclub my brothers owned and the weekends were the busiest times. But I didn't know for certain. I still wasn't really sure exactly what it was that my brothers did.

"Yeah, Jack's been dating her for ages," Logan told me casually, as though it was the most normal thing in the world and I shouldn't be at all bothered by it.

"What's she like?" I asked.

Logan shrugged. "She's alright. Is that what you're doing tomorrow? Meeting her?"

I nodded. I still didn't know how I really felt about it all, and I was determined not to like her. But at the same time, I knew I owed it to Jack to at least try. He was my favourite brother after all, and I wanted him to be happy. I just didn't want him to forget about me.

"I think you'll like her," Logan said. "She's nice enough. It will be good for you, to have a woman around. I mean, you live with all us men, having a woman to talk to will be good."

I pushed him playfully. "You're not a man!"

Logan pushed me back, almost knocking me sideways off my beanbag.

"Watch it, little sis," he growled playfully. "I'm man enough to lift you up and chuck you in the pool in your pajamas."

"You wouldn't," I smugly told him. "Damon wouldn't let you."

Logan just laughed. "That's what you think."

I was pretty sure he wasn't going to do anything, but I shut up anyway. I didn't want to test him, just in case. I didn't feel like getting wet tonight, I'd already had a shower.

At some stage that night I must have fallen asleep in front of the movie, probably sprawled out over Logan, because I woke up just as Damon placed me gently down in my bed and tucked me in, settling my teddy in bed next to me.

"I love you so much Carrie," I heard him whisper in my half-asleep state, and he pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. "Sleep well, Carrie-girl."

I quickly drifted back to sleep, smiling contentedly.

When I woke up the next morning there was a box with a brand new pair of pink ice skates in it and a note on the top: "You'll always be my best girl. Love Jack."

Awwww. So sweet!! I ran downstairs excitedly, still in my pajamas, to find him and when I did I ran up to him and leaped into his arms. He spun me around, laughing, before setting me down on the ground.

"You found your present, then?" he asked me.

"Yes thank you! I can't wait to go ice skating!"

"Even if it means sharing me with Anna?"

I scowled, but only for a moment. "Just as long as she knows I'm your best girl, we'll be fine," I said.

Jack smiled and nodded. "She knows," he assured me. "She's looking forward to meeting you."

None of my other brothers came ice skating, it was just me and Jack. He'd arranged for Anna to meet us there; he'd thought it would be easier for me. I knew we had security trailing us, but I was too nervous about meeting Anna to give Paul and his team any thought. Anyway, I was kinda used to it now. I still didn't much like it, but it didn't bother me as much as it did at first.

Jack rubbed my knee as he drove, I guess trying to reassure me. He let me play my music through the stereo and he even tried to sing along with me to my favourite songs, but it didn't really calm the churning sensation in my stomach.

We parked, and Jack jumped out immediately, but I stayed where I was. I wasn't good at meeting new people, and this was a very important new person. Well, important to Jack, anyway. At this point, I'd be perfectly happy not meeting her at all, but Jack wasn't giving me that option. He came around to my side of the car, opened my door, reached over me and unbuckled my seat belt and lifted me out.

I was half expecting him to carry me, but he didn't. He set me on my feet and took my hand instead, leading me over to a snazzy green convertible with the top down, with a stunning black haired woman dressed in black jeans and a red shirt leaning against it.

She smiled as we approached and as soon as we were close enough, they hugged and kissed. I made gagging sounds, and Jack laughed.

"Anna, meet my baby sister, Carrie. Carrie, meet my long-time girlfriend, Anna."

Anna smiled warmly at me, but I didn't smile back. Not yet. Instead, I looked her up and down and gripped Jack's hand tightly.

"I've heard so much about you," she gushed. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"

"Well I've heard nothing about you," I snapped. "Until last night, I didn't even know you existed."

Her smile faltered just a bit, and Jack squeezed my hand hard and raised an eyebrow in warning. I took the hint and extended my hand to her like I'd seen them do in the movies.

"But now that we're here, and I know you exist, it's nice to meet you, too." She smiled again, took my hand and shook it.

"As long as you know I'm Jack's best girl, we shouldn't have any problems," I told her.

Jack squeezed my hand in warning again. I obviously wasn't meant to say that. But Anna didn't seem bothered.

"Of course!" she said brightly. "You're Jack's sister. I don't ever want to take him away from you. But I'd love it if we could be friends, too."

I nodded, and finally smiled at her.

"Logan was right," I said. "He told me you were nice."

Jack let out his breath loudly, obviously relieved, and I giggled. So did Anna, just a bit.

She leaned into her car and pulled out her skates, then we went back to our Mercedes and got mine and Jack's.

"Ready, sweetheart?" Jack said to me. "Have you been ice skating before?"

I shook my head. "No."

"I can teach you," Anna offered. "I grew up in Canada and skated all the time. I taught Jack," she said to me, lowering her voice to a whisper, like she was telling me a secret. "He was terrible at first, he fell over all the time!"

I giggled, picturing my big, athletic brother flailing his arms madly as he wobbled precariously on the slippery ice seconds before crashing to the ground.

"Oh don't remind me," Jack groaned. "I had bruises for weeks!"