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.
His new flame is a dancer at the club 'Strip', known as Hela on stage and is the most requested stripper.
Reading the article, it's clear an amateur has written this, or that this is the first time the writer has written.
I look at the post on Instagram and notice it has close to a million likes, which is weird because there are no other posts on the page.
Who the hell even cares about business owners and who they fuck? They're not exactly celebrities. Ugh.
I hear the door open downstairs and voices follow. I detect Nate's immediately, and after careful listening, I hear . . . Alessandro?
What?
Never in my life have I moved at the pace I just did, to make it to my living room, where Alessandro is talking to my younger siblings.
"Hey . . ." My acknowledgement of the people currently in my house sounds more like a question than an actual greeting.
"Hi, Angelica," his voice is its usual low pitch, and although I should be used to it, I feel flutters when I hear it like I do each time. I came to drop off Nate because he got in a situation with your car.'"
My head spins to Nathan immediately and I see the fear in his eyes, so I compose myself. I'm pissed - yes - but not to the point where he should be scared of me. That's the last thing I want.
"What happened?" I ask, and as soon as Alessandro starts explaining I stop him. "I want Nate to explain." The interrogatee leans against the wall behind him and begins.
"I got to the company perfectly fine and parked in what I thought was the parking lot of the firm. It wasn't, so, when I got there by the end of my day, your car wasn't there. It got towed. Alessandro helped me find it, and when we got there they said I needed to pay $350 to get it back."
I'm gonna kill this kid.
"Alessandro helped me pay it, and then he drove behind me with his car, to make sure I got here safe."
I look at Alessandro, "Thank you for helping him. Thank you so much. He's going to repay all that money," I stare at Nathan, "Right?"
Noticing I'm serious, he agrees, "Yes. I'll do it as soon as I can."
"You don't have to, it was no trouble."
"Oh, but Nathan wants to pay back every single dollar. You should let him."
From the corner of my eyes, I see my brother roll his eyes, and I look at him, just to do the same.
"Can I talk to you?" Alessandro addresses me, and I'm taken aback. "Me?"
After a nod, I lead him to my balcony. "There's an online magazine that exposed our . . . relationship, I guess. My team is looking at it right now and will release a statement in the morning to ensure it doesn't negatively affect my business. I'll make sure that whatever is said is run by me so that your name stays out of it."
"Okay." That's all I can bring myself to say.
"I'll see you, Hela." I watch his retracting frame leave the balcony and say bye to the twins.
•
This morning, Hanna's calls woke me up before I had to, just so she could get details on a relationship that doesn't exist.
"Are you sure you don't like him? He's hot, Angie! When you told me about him, you didn't mention that's who you were fucking." I continue applying my makeup while my friend continues to ramble on my phone.
She gets a call from her boss and tells me she'll call me again when she's done.
I manage to finish my makeup and wear my outfit of the day before she calls me back. Her whole demeanour has changed, so I know that a was not a good call.
"What happened? Han?"
"Angie, my boss just asked me to write an article on DeLuca Enterprise's response to yesterday's magazine." That doesn't explain why she's gone multiple shades paler.
A notification pops up on my screen and once again, it's a screenshot of an online magazine - this time, not a trashy one, but a more reputable one - and the headline makes explains why she looks like she's seen a ghost.
Hela's from Hell! Stripper begs CEO for relationship.
Once again,
What?!