Her Mafia Brothers

Confession

"A dog? What kind of dog?" Jack didn't look very keen on the idea. "Why do you want a dog?"

Beside me, Anna looked slightly guilty, as though she knew it was her stories of her childhood that had me wanting a dog, just like she had. Which was weird, because I didn't even really like dogs. I mean, I had nothing against them, but I'd never had much to do with them, either. But Anna had made having a dog sound like fun.

I shrugged. "I dunno. I just want one."

"Is it because of what I said?" Anna asked. "About Rupert?"

I nodded. "Partly."

James gave Anna a strange look, I had no idea what it meant, but she gave him a sheepish smile back. "I was telling her about my childhood," she explained.

"You can probably get a pet of some sort," Jack said. "But I'm not sure about a dog. It's a lot of work to look after a dog. You'll have to talk to Damon about it, and run it by the other boys. You might have more luck trying to get a kitten."

I was going to pout, and complain, but when I thought about it, I probably wanted a kitten more than a dog, anyway. And a kitten would be much easier to care for. It didn't need daily walks, for one thing. And I didn't know anything about dogs anyway. So instead, I smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I'll ask Damon. Kittens are cute."

Because I'd hurt my knee and couldn't skate any more, we left the rink.

Jack carried me out to the car as I clutched my hot chocolate and Anna carried our skates. For such a glamorous woman, she was pretty down-to-earth. I liked her, even though it pained me to admit it. I'd been fully ready to not like her, and to even go out of my way to not like her if need be, but she truly was nice. It was a bit annoying, really. It meant I had to be nice to her and accept her into Jack's life, because he would punish me if I didn't. I didn't like getting in trouble with my Jacky. It was so much worse than getting in trouble with Damon.

"So, what did you think of Anna?" Jack asked me, once we were in the car driving home. I'd sat in the seat and made gagging noises out the window as they'd kissed goodbye, but I don't know why they bothered, seeing as she was coming over tonight. Now that Jack didn't have to hide her away anymore, they were obviously going to make the most of it.

"She's nice," I admitted grudgingly. "I like her a lot. She's not allowed to steal you away from me though," I warned him.

Jack grinned and patted my knee. The not-sore one.

"You already know that's not going to happen. You probably won't see her very much, she's flying out to New York on Monday for work. I'll be joining her for a few days."

Jack looked at me briefly to gauge my reaction before turning his attention back to the road.

I pushed back the jealousy that welled up inside me.

"Do you usually travel with her?"

"No." Jack shook his head. "But there's some business in New York that needs to be taken care of, so I can do that at the same time. She'll be back late Friday night - the pool party is next weekend. Remember? She doesn't want to miss that. You'll be able to invite your friends, too."

Successfully distracted, I forgot that Jack was leaving me, and started thinking about the pool party. Logan had told me a little bit about it - they were huge affairs, with dozens of people invited. Damon hired wait staff to walk around with trays of food and drinks, and he and Alex manned the BBQ themselves.

"That will be fun. Will we be able to swim?"

"Of course you will."

I leaned back against my seat and smiled, planning to invite my friends over group chat as soon as I got home.