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I’m already on my feet, my mind racing to come up with an alternative.
Zoe hurries through the door, her eyes round with concern as they land on me, and Rocco shuts us in.
“Is something wrong?” Zoe asks nervously, and I want to tell her that everything is okay, but it’s fucking not.
“Zoe,” Rocco snaps, “I’ve let Alana’s involvement in your escape go unpunished for long enough.”
“She didn’t help me,” Zoe lies, and I clench my teeth knowing Rocco fucking hates liars.
“Don’t even bother trying to lie to me, Miss Miller. We have video footage of what happened.” Rocco deadpans and Zoe’s eyes drop to the floor momentarily.
“But she was just following Mama’s orders.” She tries to fight for her friend, but I already know it’s no use.
I may not like it, but Rocco is right. Alana’s involvement can’t go unpunished, and with Zoe as their new chosen leader, she is now responsible for handing out the punishments to her girls, or anyone else Rocco demands her to.
“Rules are rules.” Rocco waves a dismissive hand at Zoe’s attempt to change his mind and a sneer forms on her face.
“Rules can be broken. They aren’t the law.”
Zoe’s words make Rocco chuckle, and he shakes his head, before picking up a book behind him on the shelf, and slamming it on the desktop with a loud thud.
“The rules are our laws. We don’t follow society’s laws. We follow our own.” He aggressively stabs his finger onto the cover of the thick notebook used to draft and create the Cruz Kings rules from the beginning. Rules he and Cara wrote up. “They are listed in here. Drawn up by Cara herself, which fucking states, that if one of her girls does something that goes against the club rules, that the offending Cruz Cunt must be publicly punished in a manner to be chosen by the Cruz King President.” Rocco flips open the book, spinning it on the surface to face Zoe, as he stabs his finger to the words written in Cara’s handwriting.
Zoe’s eyes fall to the rules written on the paper as she worries her lip, her brows tugging in, and all I want to do is punch my leader.
“You will also see here,” Rocco points aggressively to another paragraph and I lean forward to get a better look. “The Mama is the one that will deliver the punishment to one of her girls, and in the case that the Mama is not available to enforce the punishment, the President or Vice President must ensure the act is completed in its entirety.”
Those blue concerned eyes dart to me as Zoe realizes we take the rules very fucking seriously here, before she turns them back to Rocco.
“I don’t see why you feel the need to tell me this. Is it to make me feel bad for running? Is that it? Because I do already. I hate that you sent Cara away. And I hate that you’re hurting because you had to do that. But if you think I don’t already deep-down blame myself for this, then rest assured, I do.”
The frown on Rocco’s face smooths out, and he takes his seat, leaning back in it casually while I stand to the side of his desk, wondering if he might choose to override the rules just this once.
“We are all hurting because of what happened,” Rocco admits quietly, but the moment his eyes turn stoney, I know he’s not going to let this go. “Cara accepted her punishment with grace. She knew the rules, and she accepted the consequences. It’s time for Alana to do the same.”
Zoe’s mouth drops open, closing and opening as she tries to figure out what to say, but Rocco beats her to it.
“Since you are the new leader for the girls, it’s your responsibility to ensure the punishment is carried out.”
She jerks back at his words and quickly shakes her head.
“No. No. I can’t.” She looks to me for help, but I remain quiet, wishing I had stopped the Cruz Cunts from making her their leader.
Even as I think that I know I don’t mean it. I’m fucking proud of how she’s stepped up. How she’s fair and not on a fucking power trip. She brainstormed and came up with a game plan and stood before everyone to pitch her ideas.
I want to protect Zoe. That much is true. But if I’m to keep her in my world, I have to let her learn how it works, and unfortunately, as hard as it is to accept, she has to step up and abide by our ways.
“You have no choice,” Rocco declares, and Zoe’s eyes turn to a glare, aimed in my direction before she trains them back on him. “You are their leader.”
“But I never asked to be. I’m not really their leader. More like a stand in to help them figure things out.”
“They chose you as their leader, Zoe. And as such, you must suck it the fuck up and do your duty.”
Zoe’s nostrils flare, and her lips thinning, and with the way her chest rises and falls rapidly, I can tell she’s trying really fucking hard not to fly off the handle at my Prez. Her Prez.
“You can’t make me.”
Jesus.
