𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

When I wake up in the morning, I'm in a room by myself, still wearing Alessandro's shirt.

As expected, I have a headache and just opening my eyes to be met with light hurts.

Going home with Alessandro was a bad idea, and I knew it, but I needed some distraction from what happened and that's what he was.

I prop myself up by my elbows when someone knocks on the door. Alessandro walks in, holding a tray, "Hey, I'm glad you're up." His voice is soft, and his eyes continue to analyze me in detail, as he puts the breakfast on the nightstand. "I need to go to work, so I can drop you off or you can stay here, and I can drop you off at yours later." Knowing I can't stay here, I ask him to drop me off at home.

I decide to stay in his shirt and wear my jeans from last night.

The car ride to my house is quiet - I can tell he wants to ask questions, but he's stopping himself, which I'm thankful for because I don't want to explain yesterday night, right now.

When I get to my house, I notice Maia watching TV. "Oh my God! Thank God you're okay." As soon as she sees me, she gets off the sofa and approaches me. "Nate and I thought you were in trouble, especially because you didn't answer your phone. Where were you?"

The headache I've had since this morning seems to only be getting words with each passing minute, so I head to my cabinet and take a pill for it - Maia still on my tail.

"I didn't have my phone on me and I was with a friend, I'm sorry I scared you guys, but I'm going to need you to keep your voice down a little bit." She agrees with a nod, "Thank you." And after placing a kiss on her forehead, I start to leave.

"Where's Nate? Didn't he have his internship today?"

"Yes, he drove there with your car." What?!

"What?" I don't even have the strength to listen to Maia's full explanation. I'll deal with him when he gets home, right now I just need to sleep this headache away.

Around 4:00 pm I wake up to my phone ringing incessantly, and with a groan, I reach out to grab it. Hanna's name continues to appear on the screen, above Missed Call notifications and text notifications.

Look!! Someone just posted this on some Instagram page and everyone's reposting it. My boss wants to post it on our paper

The screenshot right under her text is a trashy Instagram gossip page and it's a picture of Alessandro and me, but I'm mostly covered by Alessandro as we leave the club.

I'd remain a mystery if the headlines weren't 'Alessandro DeLuca - CEO of DeLuca Enterprise - has been spotted with a stripper'

Well okay. . .

I keep reading the caption, and every passing second, I'm more and more overwhelmed by the need to throw my phone against a wall.

Alessandro DeLuca, owner of DeLuca Enterprise, an almost billion-dollar company, has been spotted with a stripper from the club Strip. He's been seen by workers and regular frequenters on multiple occasions and has been heard referring to the woman as his girlfriend.