No!” Aiden started to struggle immediately, but he was no match for Steve, and Rob quickly came forward to help too. Between them, they pulled his clothes off in about thirty seconds, leaving him naked on the floor.

“Stay there,” Rob growled as Steve started going through the pockets of his jeans.

“What the fuck is this?” The snarl came from behind him, close to his ear.

Aiden didn't have to look to know what Steve had in his hand. A little white baggie.

“You know what it is.”

“Have you used?”

“No!” Aiden exclaimed. “I didn't get a chance to before you came running in here.”

Truth was, he'd had lots of time. He'd bought the stuff and then kind of not actually felt like it, which was weird as hell. He hadn't even bothered to hide it, which he easily could have done if he'd wanted to keep it.

Steve was pissed, but Rob was looking at him with a knowing sort of gaze.

“You wanted us to find that, huh?”

“What? No!” Aiden protested hotly.

“Wanted to find out what would happen if you ran out and brought drugs back here?”

“No!”

He didn't sound convincing, even to himself.

Rob was shaking his head. “Boy, you messed up badly. If you wanted us to deal with you, you should have just said. Either one of us would have been happy to discipline you. You might have even enjoyed it. I promise you that you won't enjoy this.”

“I didn't want that!”

Steve walked past, going to the bathroom. A second or two later, Aiden heard a flush.

“You don't even care, do you,” Rob observed. “I'd be surprised if that was anything harder than powdered sugar.”

“Oh fuck off,” Aiden growled. He didn't like being accused of playing games, especially when he was playing games.

“Now is NOT the time to be cursing at us, boy,” Steve thundered as he returned. “You're in trouble, get it?”

“Yeah, got it, Muscles.”

Steve glowered at him and made to come toward him, but an arm shot out in front of his chest.

“You know what, Steve? Let me handle this,” Rob said. He walked over to where Aiden was still kneeling on the floor, grabbed a handful of his blonde mop of hair and just kept walking, forcing Aiden to scramble naked in his wake.

It was absolutely humiliating for Aiden to be on his hands and knees, arms and legs pumping back and forth to keep up with Rob's long legs as the older man walked him around the room several times just to make the point. There was no resisting. The roots of his hair were burning in Rob's tight grasp already, and if he pulled back it just hurt like hell.

“You wanted to get a reaction?” Rob stopped and looked down at Aiden, his hazel eyes lit with green determination. “You got it, kid. Oh god do you got it.” His accent had gone full Jersey, revealing a significant part of his heritage.

Keeping his grasp on Aiden's hair, he pulled Aiden up and over the arm of the couch, leaving his ass raised over the highest point. Rob's palm came down across Aiden's ass in a hard slap that was followed by a dozen more, meaty whacks of his muscular hand making Aiden cry out with each and every one.

“I've been keeping Steve off your ass,” he said. “I've been telling him you're just a fragile little boy who needs to be looked after. But you're not, are you, Aiden. You're a brat, and you don't behave yourself unless someone has just taken to you with whatever comes to hand.”

Steve had already thrashed him with a belt, so this shouldn't really have hurt any more than that, but it did, and not because Rob's hand was harder than Steve's belt, or because he was any stronger. It hurt because there was disappointment just dripping from every word. Rob wasn't just angry, he was disappointed. Aiden had never cared in his life what people thought of him, but for some reason, Rob's judgment and anger really stung. Maybe because Rob had been on his side since he woke up in this dump. Maybe because he'd just lost his only ally, the one who comforted him when he was sick.

Aiden tried his damnedest not to cry, but under the onslaught of damn near paternal discipline, he couldn't help it. His breathing was ragged as he let out a sob, which did nothing to stop Rob.

“You need a reminder of who is in charge here, you come to either one of us,” Rob lectured, his palm still beating a fast tattoo across Aiden's cheeks. “We'll have you on your knees quicker than you can say please, boy. But don't you dare EVER put yourself or us in deliberate danger again. Got it?”

Wanting to crawl up into a little ball, Aiden gasped an affirmative.

It was true. He'd been a brat all his life. He'd gotten away with damn near everything. The real truth of this situation was that of all the people he'd pissed off, crossed and generally fucked with, Bobby Cornoli was the only one who ever responded in kind.

Aiden had figured he was untouchable, that he could skim whatever he wanted and not even a budding mob boss would come for him. He'd been dead wrong about Bobby, and he'd been just as wrong about Rob and Steve. Suddenly, every man he knew was a fucking immovable wall of consequences. He was just lucky that unlike Bobby, Rob and Steve didn't want to kill him. They were on his side – well, at least until Mason's money ran out.

With his ass burning, Aiden sobbed into the couch, pulling the blanket that had been left on it toward him so he could hide his face. Rob stopped smacking him, but left him there with his red butt high for all the world to see.

“You stay there,” Rob said. “We've got work to do. You don't move until I tell you otherwise, got it?”

Aiden nodded into the blanket and then was left alone. For what felt like an eternity, he lay there over the arm of the couch, his naked ass on display. Behind him, Steve and Rob were working, murmuring to one another softly. He figured they were organizing the move.

It was pathetic, but Aiden found himself craving some kind of comfort. Anything, even a kind word would have been better than just being left there and ignored. On any other hour of any other day, he would have just gotten up, but Rob had made an impact on him and frankly, he didn't know if he could stand disappointing him again.

What seemed like an eternity later, he heard Rob's voice.

“Come here, Aiden.”

Aiden slipped off the couch and walked over to Rob, his head hung low in shame. He braced himself for more lecturing, but as he got closer, Rob reached out and pulled him into a tight, warm hug.

“You can be a good boy,” he murmured against Aiden's ear. “You don't have to taunt people anymore to get what you need. I know exactly what you want.”

That was good, because Aiden had no fucking clue. Being held by Rob felt right though, like something he'd been missing his entire life.

Aiden's father hadn't been the disciplinary sort. Hadn't really been the fatherly sort either. With him, it was all about the money, and he'd cut the flow of that off almost a year ago. Aiden had been running on empty since then. Now, in Rob's arms, he felt like he might be starting to fill back up again.

“I'm sorry,” Aiden mumbled, the words uncomfortable in his mouth.

“This is over as far as I'm concerned,” Rob said. “You paid my price.”

Aiden rubbed his eyes. “But Steve?”

“Steve's pissed,” Rob said bluntly, taking the edge off by brushing the hair out of Aiden's eyes and pressing an unexpected kiss to his forehead. “You've got some making up to do there.”