Trouble

Playlist for this Chapter: Getaway Car by Taylor Swift, Breathin' by Ariana Grande.

* DOVE *

I was startled awake when I heard the clattering of pans. I groaned in frustration, burying my face in Nico's chest so drown out the noise and the light.

Wait, Nico's chest?

I looked up slowly and realized I was in Nico's arms, my back pressed against the back of the couch and my face buried in his chest. He was still asleep, his features more warm and relaxed. Like he wasn't a mafia leader. Yup, that was still quite unbelievable to me.

"Enjoying the view?" I heard someone's voice and looked at Nico. But he was still asleep so I looked up and saw Cole looking down at us with a smirk.

My eyes widened in realization as I sat up quickly, causing Nico to fall from the couch and onto the floor. He woke with a start, rubbing his shoulder at the impact.

"What the hell?" He said and glanced around the room and back at me.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" I got off the couch and helped him stand up, but he waved his hand in dismissal, then looked at me meaningfully, raising two fingers.

"Two times. I've been thrown off the couch by you." He said and shook his head while I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry." I whispered and shot him a smile he wouldn't be able to resist. And he couldn't because he turned around and I saw the smile tugging at his lips before he mumbled something in Italian.

"Solo tu hai l'audacia di buttarmi giù dal divano. E due volte adesso." (Only you have the audacity to throw me off the couch. And twice now.) He said and scrolled through his phone.

"Oh, so you're Italian?" My dad asked him in surprise as he came out from the kitchen holding a cup of coffee..

"Yes. I'm from Italy, but moved here with my family when I was a child." He told my dad who nodded. I took this opportunity to quickly slip away to my room and brushed my teeth then put on some jeans and a sweatshirt.

My gaze drifted off to a black sweatshirt in a corner and I took it out, my gaze sweeping over the large letters on the back. I inhaled its scent. It still smelled like him. Smiling, I put this one on and headed downstairs after pulling my hair into a ponytail.

When I reached down, Nico was already dressed up in a charcoal grey suit and tie, talking to someone on the phone in Italian. He seemed frustrated and angry, because he hung up and threw his phone on the couch, running his hands through his hair.

I went behind him and hugged his waist. He froze at first but then relaxed when he realized it was me, and turned.

"Everything okay?" I asked him and he kissed my forehead.

"Just some problems. It'll work out." He said and I pulled away, looking him up and down.

"You look all dressed up. Are you going somewhere?" I asked him and he nodded.

"I have some work to do with Jake." He said when my mom called us all to have breakfast. We walked into the dining room where breakfast had been laid out. I sat in my seat and Nico sat beside me, Liam sitting across me.

Ava and Dan came in a few seconds later and so did Cole and Abby. Nico poured some coffee for me and some for himself, and placed some toast in my plate along with eggs.

"Thank you." I smiled at him and he nodded. I looked up and saw everyone looking at us intently.

"What?" I said stuffing the toast in my mouth and Abby giggled.

"You two are adorable." She said and giggled again. I rolled my eyes at her but ended up eating with a big smile on my face.

"Do you want to come with me dear?" My dad asked me and I smiled at him.

"You study here?" Nico asked me before I could reply to my dad and I looked at him.

"Yeah I enrolled in the college my dad's in." I said and he nodded.

"You can go sir, I'll drop her." Nico said, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Is that okay Dove?" My dad asked and I nodded at him. He kissed the top of my head and left with his bag. I finished breakfast and got up, hoisting my bag over my shoulder.

"Are you leaving Dove?" My mom asked.

"Yeah. I'll be back at 2, okay?" I told her and she nodded. "Bye guys!" I waved to Cole and Abby who waved back.

"Stay safe!" She called out.

"I will!" I told her, putting my shoes on and stumbling out of the door with Nico close behind. Just as I was about to get in the passenger seat, someone called my name and both Nico and I turned around.

"Dove! Wait!" He said and I glanced at Nico who regarded Liam with a cold expression. I walked over to Nico and Liam slowed down his pace as he walked over to us.

"I can take you to college. I'm heading there anyway." He said and Nico tensed, before glancing at me.

"You both are in the same college?" He asked me and I nodded solemnly. He grunted in response and glared at Liam.

"I have no problem with taking her there. You can leave." He said firmly but Liam looked at me, his gaze moving down to my necklace and his face hardened.

"I don't think that's necessary. We've been going there together for the past year, so I'm sure there won't be problem." He smirked at Nico whose eyes became cold.

I took a deed breath knowing it wasn't going to end well if I didn't interrupt now.

"Guys, there's no need to fight over such a small thing." I said, hoping to relieve some tension but they didn't even spare me a glance, just stared at each other down.

"That's in the past. You are in the past. I can take her now. You don't need to worry about her anymore." Nico said through clenched teeth.

"I don't care if it's in the past. You ruined her. You don't get a second chance to do it all over again." Liam hissed.

"I apologized to her and we're working things out, not that it's any of your business but we're perfectly happy without you getting in between us." Nico glared at him.

"Guys, stop." I said desperately but they didn't seem to hear me.

"You're not good for her." Liam told him and Nico chuckled.

"And what? You are?" Nico asked him and Liam grinned.

"I am in fact, and I'll prove it." He said and Nico had emanated a threatening and powerful aura.

I was growing more and more displeased as the time passed. They didn't even regard me once.

"How?" Nico challenged him and Liam just glared.

"STOP!" I yelled. That got their attention as their heads whipped to my direction. I huffed in anger.

"I'm not going with either of you assholes!" I said and stormed away, running back into the house and coming out with my car keys, and drove off, leaving them both gaping behind me.

The nerve of these men!

I parked my car in the parking lot and ran to class. I was already five minutes late because those two idiots decided to fight like little children. I went over to my seat after apologizing to my professor. I saw Sienna already sitting in the seat next to mine.

We became good friends in my time here, and she was really helpful to me. We both smiled at each other when I sat down, and starting taking notes.

"Why were you late today? You're usually one of the first people to arrive." Sienna said while munching on to her sandwich. We were sitting in the cafeteria right now, and I noticed people eyeing me.

"There was a slight problem in the morning." I said and she nodded.

"He's here isn't he?" Sienna said and I stopped sipping my soda halfway and looked back up at her, nodding. Sienna was one of the few people who knew my background with Nico. She already new who Nico was since her dad was a business man too.

"From the shirt you're wearing and the signet around your neck I'm assuming things went well?" She said and I smiled up at her.

"Yeah." I thought for a moment before continuing. "He said he loved me." At that Sienna looked at me surprised.

"What? Nicholas King told you he loved you? The Nicholas King? Womanizer and playboy, dark and broody, roguishly handsome Nicholas King?" She asked me in one breath and I laughed at her shock.

"Yeah, that Nicholas King." I said but then sighed.

"But something else is the matter isn't it?" She asked me and I told her about the fight in the morning and about my talk with Liam last night.

She also wanted every single detail of Nico came back to me and I told her, describing everything from my birthday party to this morning. At the end, she just sat there paralyses before blinking a few times.

"Wow. This is insane." She gestured with her hands and I giggled.

"I know. I just wish the thing with Liam can be solved sooner rather than later."

"Yeah. And to think, Liam always liked you back when you thought he didn't. How do you feel about that?" She asked me and I placed my hands under my chin, resting my elbow on the table.

"All I know is that if Liam and I had confessed to each other, my life would have been very different. But for some reason, I don't regret it. Liam was a high school crush and my first love. Nico is... the love of my life. I've never loved anyone like I love Nico. The year I spent without him proved that." I said and Sienna nodded.

"I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him. They practically glow." She said and I chuckled, finishing the rest of my lunch.

At 2 pm, Sienna and I walked towards the parking lot. We had decided to have coffee at a café not far from here. But just as I was about to look for my car, I felt someone's gaze on the side of my face and glanced in that direction, and stiffened in my spot. Sienna noticed this and stopped, looking at what I was staring at and gasped.

"Is that?" She asked and I nodded my head at her, my eyes never leaving the intense blue ones in front of me, that seemed black from a distance.

Students looked at him and girls gasped when they passed him, but nobody dared to approach him.

"He's so handsome." Sienna whispered and I nodded, lost in a daze. But then I noticed the cold look on his face as he walked closer to me.

I stayed frozen on the spot before realizing he was walking over to me, I swiftly turned around to walk away, but not before someone caught my wrist and I was pulled back, landing into someone's arms. I gasped at the impact, staring at two very cold and furious eyes.

Shit.