Walk of Shame

Playlist for this Chapter: All Too Well (Ten-minute version) by Taylor Swift.

* DOVE *

Both Cole and Abby choked on their juice when I told them last night's events.

"You made out with him and were interrupted by his uncle, his best friend and his cousin?" Abby looked at me and I nodded.

"Then you wore his sweatshirt and fell asleep in his bed and found yourself tangled up with him the next morning?" I nodded.

"And then you both had pancakes while you sat in his lap?" I nodded again, sipping my apple juice.

"Wow." Cole said, staring off into space then grinning at me.

"You're one lucky girl.." He said and I sighed.

"Yeah..." I said, munching on my sandwich, when I heard a high pitched squeal behind me. I turned around and saw Emma Winfred behind me with her minions.

"Oh look, it's Nicholas King's whore!" She said and I rolled my eyes, my hands balling into fists.

"Don't give in Dove. She's only riling you up." Cole whispered and I nodded, going back to my juice.

"Ignoring me whore? I thought a break up would set your mind straight, but you just jumped on the next handsome and rich man you could find. You really are the slut they call you." She said and I snapped at that moment, turning to face her.

"Oh Emma, I pity you, really... Taking out your frustrations on me because it's obvious you can't have what I do." I smirked at her and her smirk fell from her face and Cole and Abby chuckled behind me.

"You are worthless you whore, don't compare yourself to me." She said and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"First of all, sweetheart, I'm not his whore, I'm his girlfriend. And second, you don't compare yourself to me. I mean jeez, that's just low." I told her and she huffed, and one of the girls beside her whispered in her ear and I swear she paled when she looked at the shirt I was wearing and then the ring in my finger.

"Where'd you get that shirt? And that ring?" She looked at me and I showed her the silver signet ring Nico gave me this morning, and I smiled.

"Oh this? Nico gave it to me. Told me it meant I was his. And this shirt too. It's nice, isn't it?" I said, twirling and saw the shocked looks of everyone in the cafeteria.

Maybe I took it too far. Eh, who cares.

"Nico?" She said in disbelief and I smirked.

"Yeah he even let me call him Nico.." I smiled at her sweetly and she just huffed and left the cafeteria stomping her feet, with her minion army following behind her.

"Ugh. She acts like a teenager." Abby said and both Cole and I agreed with her.

"So you're a King now, huh?" I heard someone say and looked around and saw Lauren heading towards me.

"Hey Lauren." I said and she smiled, sitting beside me with her lunch tray.

"What do you mean by that?" Abby asked her and she pointed to my shirt.

"This is Mr. King's, isn't it?" She said and I nodded. "I knew it."

"How do you know?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"My dad's friends and business partners with his family. I know his cousin Stuart King, we met at a party. Do you know him?" She asked and I nodded.

"Yeah. I met him last night." She nodded, taking a sip of her soda.

"Yeah well he got these customized shirts made for everyone of the King family with 'king' written behind it. But only Nicholas' shirt has King written in all caps, the others were small letters." She said and I nodded.

"So what exactly is the fuss about?" I asked and she pointed to my ring.

"This shirt... and more importantly that ring... shows that you're part of the king family. The shirt literally screams king but the ring, no outsider can wear it... So basically, it's like you're part of the King family... Or you're going to be part of it." She said and my eyes widened.

"What? Why?" I gasped.

"There's this rumor that this man once stole the King signet ring and took advantage of it. You know, getting access to things normal people wouldn't And he was shot dead... And guess who shot him." She said and I raised my eyebrows.

"Nicholas King." She deadpanned and Cole and Abby whipped their heads to me, shocked.

"That's... that's not possible." I said and Lauren shook her head.

"Well it's a rumor so obviously I'm not sure.. So you're engaged to him?" Lauren asked me and I choked on my juice.

"What? No! We literally just got together yesterday and he only gave me this ring to show people that..." And then it hit me. "Oh for crying out loud!" I exclaimed, running a hand over my face.

I see what you did there asshole.

The rest of the day went by in a blur and at 2 p.m., I walked out of the college building and saw Nico leaning against his car. He flashed me a smile when he saw me and I glanced around, watching the other people looking at us like hawks.

I walked to him with my head down and stopped right in front of him. He made me look up at him by lifting my face with his finger under my chin and leaned down to kiss me but I turned my head and he ended up kissing my cheek.

He pulled away frowning and I averted my gaze.

"We should go.. People are watching..." I said and he frowned, but opened the door for me and I got in quietly and so did he. He stopped in front of a restaurant and I looked at him.

"Why are we here?" I asked him.

"To have lunch. I haven't eaten anything except those pancakes in the morning." He said and I nodded but then glanced at my outfit and then the upscale restaurant.

"But I'm not dressed for a place like this." I said and he frowned.

"You're perfect to me. Now come on." He got out and I followed him in the restaurant, where he put a hand on my waist as we were led to our table by a manager.

"Mr. King, this way please and Mrs. King." The manager said and my eyes shot up to the manager who was glancing at the ring on my finger. Nico didn't even correct him.

I could see the dirty looks being thrown my way but I only snuggled closer into Nico's side to avoid their dirty stares.

"What would you like?" He asked me an I shrugged.

"I'm not really hungry." I said, mindlessly drawing patterns on my hand and he nodded, glancing at me suspiciously, he gestured to the waiter.

"Pasta Alfredo to share and red wine for me and..." He looked at me. "What would you like sweetheart?" He asked me and I shrugged.

"Water." I said, pulling out my phone and telling Abby and Cole I'd be home in a while and had to sort dome shit out. They told me it was fine and I closed my phone, looking at everything and anything but Nico, but I felt his gaze burning a hole on my face.

The pasta soon came and Nico brought his chair closer to mine, he took my right hand and kissed the ring on my finger. He the took a fork and put some pasta in his mouth and nodding. He then held out a fork of pasta to me and I shook my head.

"I'm not hungry Nicholas." I said.

"Eat. Now." He said firmly and I thought better of my rebellious attitude and complied, eating the pasta he fed me.

People saw him feeding me and himself and gave me evil looks but I looked down, drinking my water to avoid talking.

When we were done, he paid and we went back to his penthouse. He looked over at me as he handed his keys to the valet and reached for my hand but I folded my arms across my chest. He retracted his hand away and we took the elevator to his penthouse in silence.

Walking inside, I trailed behind him as he took his coat off and threw it on the couch and looked at me. But I didn't look at him, instead I walked forward with my head still down and bumped into him. He held onto my waist, pulling me closer and nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck and taking a deep breath.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" He whispered, placing a kiss on my neck and I sighed deeply, placing a hand on his chest.

"Nothing Nicholas." I said and he pulled away suddenly when he realized I said his full name.

"Look at me." He said but I didn't.

"Look. At. Me." He said again, angrier now and I forced myself to look up into his eyes, the tears threatening to fall.

"There. I looked at you. Anything more? Perhaps a ring for my left hand no?" I asked him, my voice getting louder and he looked taken aback as his hands left my waist and he moved back a step.

"Wh-... What do you mean?" He asked me and I scoffed.

"Tell me something. Do you enjoy it? Giving rings to random girls so that they think they're the only one for you but then the harsh reality of life comes crashing down on them. Tell me, do you enjoy it when people look at me with their dirty looks or when they stare at me like I'm an object or a sex toy for you to fuck and throw away? Do you like it when people call me Nicholas' King's whore? His slut? Do you? DO YOU?" I shouted at him and he moved back a step, his face faltering when he saw the tears falling from my eyes.

"Who said this to you? Tell me and I'll deal with them." he said and I looked at him.

"You don't get it do you? It doesn't matter who said it. What matters is that it's been said now. And just like you wanted, people now know that I'm you're whore and the next Mrs. King." I spat and he frowned.

"You're not my whore Dove." He said, desperation in his voice as he reached forward to grab hold of me back I backed away.

"Don't fucking touch me!" I said, and he retracted his hand.

"Okay, alright, calm down sweetheart, let's sit and talk about this, alright?" He tried to calm me down but I shook my head, just as the elevators dinged and in walked a stylish woman with blonde hair in a tight white dress and high heels.

Both Nico and I looked at her as she walked in swaying her hips and stopped beside Nico, placing a kiss on his cheek. He froze when she hugged him, and my heart panged suddenly.

"Ah Ace I've missed you so much..." She said trailing a hand down his arm but Nico only looked at me. She noticed this and glanced at me.

"Oh hello dear, I didn't see you there." She glanced at my tear stained face and frowned before clicking her tongue.

"Another one of those clingy ones." She mumbled and both Nico and I looked at her in disbelief.

"Look dear, I'm going to give it to you straight. It was only a one night stand and Nicholas doesn't do the whole dating thing, he's more of a fuck and dump kind of guy, so do everyone a favor and walk out with the little shame you have left." She said with poison laced in her voice and my eyes widened in shock.

"Sofia. Stop." Nico warned her and she glanced at him briefly.

"Don't worry Ace I'll take care of this for you. I've dealt with all your one nights stands before, this one is no different." She glanced at me briefly and eyed me. "This one's prettier though."

"I said stop." Nicholas warned her and she rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"I know the walk of shame isn't easy dear, but I'm his real girlfriend, actually fiancé now, so you can leave now and we'd prefer it if you didn't come here again." She fake smiled at me and I scoffed.

"Oh I'm walking out. And I won't come back again. Don't you worry about that. I was another conquest on his list anyway." I said through clenched teeth, ignoring the growing pain in my heart and turned around when Nico's hand caught mine.

"No. I'm not going to let you leave." He said and I snatched my hand away from his.

"Enjoy fucking her." I said. "And tell her to wear it." I flung the silver ring at his chest and turned around and walked away, the tears falling down once again.

And I looked at the building once again as I drove away in the cab.

I fell, but you didn't catch me.