When Aiden brought me back to reality, which wasn't as harsh as my mind had made it out to be, we sat on the dried out grass on the side of the highway and just talked. I told him everything while he was holding my hand tightly in his; that it wasn't the first panic attack in two years and that the nightmares were back as well.

If he felt disappointed in me for not telling him earlier, he didn't show it. Instead, Aiden assured me that he would be with me through everything. By everything, he meant therapy. I was hesitant on starting my therapy sessions again, but after some thinking I made my decision, even if it might've took me a whole week to do so. But here I am walking out of my therapist's office. Out of my first therapy session after two whole years of not going.

After our talk, we decided on going back to Aiden's place to eat dinner and spend the rest of the afternoon. Our shopping spirit was understandably gone after the whole ordeal and Aiden's knuckles needed to get cleaned up immediately if he wanted to avoid an infection.

I suppose that Jason's face got pretty messed up, because he didn't show up for the rest of the week and neither did he show up today, a week after he got beaten up.

As expected Aiden got away with it and I found out that money can do wonders. Turns out my brothers paid the cops to arrest Jason after he assaulted me, without me having to make an official statement against him. That got of on his record which caused him to lose the football scholarship to UTK.

I know I shouldn't, but I almost felt bad for him. Almost. I knew how much he wanted the scholarship and how hard he had worked for it and that was probably the reason why I felt that way.

But it served him right.

The fight was obviously the hot topic of the week. Along with Taylor Willer's new hairstyle. The attention that girl gets is like the attention the Jordyn-Tristan-Khloe topic had gotten.

Luckily these two topics were talked amongst everyone on the senior and junior wing, so that made the chances of Parker or Ashton finding out about it less to none existent.

Zach was also sick at home and on bed arrest for the whole week and with him missing school, probably meant that he missed all of the hot gossip.

It was the first time I didn't feel bad for him being sick. But then I felt bad because I didn't feel bad.

But even if he did hear about it, I doubt he would figure out that Aiden was in fact Aiden, as in our older brothers' best friend.

Everyone gossiping about what happened thought that Aiden was one of my older brothers. They even referred him as 'Avery's older brother.' Some of the more socially involved girls even came up to me and asked something along the lines of, 'can you give me your hot brother's phone number?' or 'is your hot brother single?'

To say it pissed me off is an understatement. I couldn't exactly tell them that my supposed brother is my boyfriend so it earned me many disappointed pouts when the only answer they got was that the guy who fought Jason was getting married in June.

Ethan started it but it eventually became my regular answer to everyone.

Aiden laughed when I told him. He kept on teasing me about wedding plans and how I pictured my dream wedding to be.

The elevator door slides open and I step out in the elegant looking lobby. A chandelier hangs in the middle of the ceiling and sitting areas are set around.

Sending a small smile to the kind receptionist, I follow a group of men and women out of the building and into the busy sidewalk.

The first thing I see when my cheeks meet the crisp air of New York, is Aiden's black Lamborghini parked up front.

A smile spreads across my face, knowing that I'll be seeing him in the matter of a few seconds. My heart starts beating faster as I approach the car, butterflies filling my belly.

He opens the door from inside and I take a seat.

"Hi," I lean over and press a kiss to his cheek before strapping my seatbelt on.

"You missed." Aiden deadpans, not starting the car as he looks at me with an emotionless expression.

Before I get a chance to question him, he has my face between his big hands and his mouth on my own.

"That's a proper kiss." I mumble and pull away, with one last peck, not having had enough of her sweet taste. Fuck, if I could keep my lips locked with hers for the rest of my life, I would.

Avery grabs my face in her small hands, squishing my cheeks. My lips forming a pout as she kisses me deeply, leaving me breathless.

"Like that?" She gives me a lopsided smile, her head tilting a little.

"You'll be the death of me."I shake my head playfully in her direction and pull out of the parking spot. A comfortable silence settles itself in the car, with Avery's soft him to the song playing.

I want to ask her how it went, but I won't. She'll tell me when she wants, if she wants. I would never pressure her into telling me something she's neither ready nor comfortable with.

"I love you, you know that?" I question all of a sudden as I look at her. The car in front of us have stopped and it'll for sure take a while until the traffic moves on.

"I know that." Avery smiles and pecks my lips before putting her hand on top of mine, that's on top of her Jean clad thigh.

"Good." Smiling, I look back out the windscreen. I would be disappointed on myself if I didn't show her all the affection and love I could. I still haven't figured out why she's still with me.

I'm a fuck up. Involved with fucked up stuff, that she should definitely keep a fair distance from. As much of a distance she can keep anyway, considering she's related to a don, but being with me means she just keeps bringing herself deeper into all the criminalities and dangers my world consists off.

There's still a part of me that awaits the day she'll finally realise that I'm the only thing in her life keeping her back from stuff and dreams. That I'm the only thing in her life that brings her more danger than already surrounds her and then she'll leave me.

It's fucked up to be thinking that way, but I can't help it. Deep down I know that she's too good for a life this shitty and I know that our relationship has an exaggeration date.

At the same time I pray that she keeps living in this fairy tale like moment forever. That she never realised all of the above and stays with me, because I don't know what I would do without her, who I would be without her.

Forty minutes of my dark thoughts consuming my mind and a silent car ride, I set the car at park near Fifth Avenue.

Avery turns in her seat, her mouth dropped open as she looks at me. "I was fine with target and Forever 21, you know?"

"I wasn't." I shake my head softly and avoid eye contact. I need to get my shit together, I don't want to set her mood down.

"Aiden are you okay?" She asks, gently cupping my face, turning it so I can face her.

"I'm fine, princess." I peck her lips. Reaching into the glove department of my car, I pull out the handgun I always keep in there and tuck it inside the waistband of my jeans. Ry's eyes widen but she doesn't question me. "Let's go, I want you to model for me."

........

I'm sitting uncomfortably on the black cushion in front of the changing room, Ry's inside at, regretting my decision of not changing into some casual clothes before I picked her up. We've been out shopping for three hours already and the dress shirt I'm wearing underneath my suit jacket is way too tight, along with my pants. I'm not wearing this fucking shit ever again.

The sound of the black curtain getting swinged open catches my attention. Long gone are the thoughts about my uncomfortable suit, as soon as my eyes fall on her.

Dressed in a white sundress, Avery stands in front of me with an impatient look on her face. This might or might not be the fifth dress I made her try in this store. The thin material caresses the curve of her chest and abdomen before it flows out beneath her belly button. The whole material adding to her innocence.

She looks so pure.

"Can we go get food now?" She asks after a twirl.

I bite my lip, my eyes travelling up and down her body hungrily. Instead of answering, I spread my arms and legs. Taking the hint, she stands in front of me, with her hands grasping my wide shoulders gently, my own laying dangerously low on her hips.

"Can we go lingerie shopping after we get food?" Her eyes widen at my question, a light blush making her cheeks turn baby pink. I just smile innocently, my head tilting to the side as I wait for her answer.

"I'll think about it." She smirks and turns around. Before she gets inside the changing room, I get the chance to land a firm slap on her ass. Fuck. Avery glares at me when the sound of skin slapping on skin echoes through the quiet changing area.

With a smug grin directed at Ry, she swings the dark curtain closed. I look down at all the shopping bags scattered across my legs. Dresses, pants, shirts, everything she returned after she tried it on that I bought without her knowledge. We bought fucking everything except lingerie.

Fuck.

"Aiden?" A hand waves itself in front of my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. Ry stands in front of me dressed in her normal clothes with her arms empty.

"Where's the clothes?" I ask, despite knowing the answer. This is probably the hundredth time I'm asking this today.

"Aiden, you're not buying me five dresses, I won't even get a chance to wear all of the other clothes you bought." She grabs a few bags from the floor, me doing the same before entwining our hands together, walking out to the main part of the store.

"Pack all the clothes in the changing room and put them on my account, my driver will get them." I order the smiling employee, my eyes never leaving Avery's. I internally smirk.

"Of course, Mr. De Rossi."

She glares at me once outside the store."Aiden, please stop buying me things." She pleads, looking at me with big eyes. I peck her forehead.

"No. Now pick a place to eat, I'm hungry."

We ended up at an American urestaurant, since Ry craved burgers and fries and since that was what my girl wanted, that's what she would get.

I smile as I think about the way her eyes lit up as soon as the triple cheeseburgers were served in front of us. The rest of the dinner went by with random conversation about random things. As crazy as it might sound, that fluttering feeling in my stomach was back. Butterflies?

After our dinner, Ry agreed on lingerie shopping so I called my driver and had him come pick all of Ry's shopping bags up so we wouldn't have to carry them around. We then decided to walk to the Victoria's Secret store and to say I was excited would be an understatement.

You can imagine the disappointment I felt when we arrived in front of the black glass doors and saw the hot pink CLOSED sign up front.

We didn't buy any fucking lingerie.

Ry's laughter still echoes in my head. She was amused by how pissed off I got. Of all the fucking stores in Manhattan Victoria's Secret had to be the only fucking one closed.

Instead of more shopping, because Ry got tiered of trying on clothes, we'd decided on walking around for a while before heading back home.

I dropped her off at Summer's and after making sure that she would get her home safely, I drove back to my office, which is where I am now.

I slump back in my seat with a long sigh as I eye all of the paperwork in front of me. I need to get all of this done within the next three days, because once we're back from Italy, it'll all be doubled.

My phone rings loudly, bringing me out of my thoughts. I straighten my back as I answer it.

"Are you coming to the strip?" Is the first thing Tristan says.

"What strip?"

"My strip club, there's two new girls man and you haven't been here for so long." He whines from the other end. I roll my eyes. It's true. Since getting with Ry, all the other girls are like passing shadows in my eyes. Despite that, I think it would be unfaithful and completely unnecessary to pay money and watch other girls, who aren't her, dance half naked or completely nude just to entertain myself. Especially when I have my own girl, the most gorgeous one at that, waiting for me at home. It would also be very hypocritical of me if I went to a strip club, I know for a fact that I would be pissed the fuck off if Ry went to a male one.

I clench my fists at the thought of her close to other males in an intimate way.

"I know that and I'm not going to yours or any other strip club again. So don't ask." I reply firmly.

"What the fuck, man? Who got you so pussy whipped?"

Your sister.

"No one, look I got work to do, I'll see you tomorrow at the warehouse." I'm about the hang up when he stops me.

"Wait!"

"What?" I answer impatiently.

"I love you." He says sweetly, before his loud snickering fills my ear. Rolling my eyes at Tristan, I hang up and grab the pen from beside me. It's going to be a long night.

.......

One day.

There's one day left until we leave for Italy and I'm beyond excited. I'll admit, I feel a little nervous too, considering it's my first time flying overseas without my older brothers but I know that Aiden won't let anything happen to me.

I neatly place the last pair of pants inside my suitcase and stand up, making my way into my walk-in closet, to grab some underwear.

Aiden's black dress shirt hanging between one dress and a shirt catches my attention immediately. I haven't seen or heard from him since our shopping trip on Monday and the only contact we've had with each other has been through text messages for a goodnight and a good morning. But I can't have him spend all of his time with me, he has a work to attend to and paperwork to get done as he told me.

Feeling nostalgic and needy, I pull my pink top over my head and put the dress shirt in instead, leaving the top button undone.

I grab six pairs of panties, two of them being sets to matching bras and make my way out in the room again. I know we're staying in Sicily for the weekend but something might happen. I could spill water on myself, so better be safe than sorry.

My door swings open, making me jump in surprise. Zach stands behind me in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, that hang low on his hips. They'll never learn.

"Have you heard of a thing called shirt?" I raise my eyebrows, my eyes following his movements as he jumps on my bed where he makes himself comfortable on his back.

"Yeah, I have but I don't want to wear one." He shrugs, looking up at the ceiling.

I zip up my suitcase and take it inside my closet before joining him on the bed. "What's with the suitcase anyway?" Zach turns to his side, leaning on his elbow.

"Oh, you know..." I trail off, "I'm staying at Ethan's over the weekend and we wanted a total sleepover so I'm packing extra clothes for catwalks in his living room and stuff." Damn I should be a professional liar. If that's even a thing, that is. Is a seductress a professional liar? Are these things even related to one another? I need to stop thinking when I'm nervous.

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yeah." I nod, giving him a tight smile.

"Can I ask you something?" My heart beats unnaturally fast at his words.

"Dude, you've gone pale, are you alright?"

"Yeah, go on." I encourage and hold my breath.

There is no way he heard about the fight and there is no way that he figures out that Aiden is Aiden as in our older brothers best friend if he did. I chant to myself over and over again.

"There's this party on Saturday, you wanna go with me? Your friends can come too, they told us to invite people." He smiles down at me.

Sighing in relief, I join him on my side, so we're facing each other. "Look, we actually wanted a whole friends weekend so we're not going out actually, mayb-"

"Also, are you and Aiden together?" He cuts me off.

My breath hitches in my throat as I look into my little brother's eyes. The amusement behind them is huge and the smug smirk across his face doesn't go unnoticed either.

"What?" I sit up on my bed.

"Are you and Aiden together?" Zach repeats, the smirk getting wider.

"Zach! What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Aves! Just admit it." He falls back on his back exasperatedly.

"Admit what? We're not together, never been." I assure him, looking anywhere but his eyes.

"Avery, seriously. I've seen the looks across the dinner table and I heard that he fought Jason last week and don't get me started on the shirt you're wearing. It reeks of him and I saw him wearing it on Monday. " He props up on his elbow again, rolling his eyes once he finishes.

"Zach, there's n-no looks, we don't even acknowledge each other and he fought Jason because h-he happened to be around and saw him, uh talking to me, so he had my back and this shirt is Hunter's I-I've had it for a whi-"

"Baby, have you seen my black dress shirt? I think I left it in here and I spilled coffee on this one. Oh, you're wearing it..." Aiden trails off as he looks up from his white coffee stained shirt with an emotionless expression.

He stands by the doorway, his eyes shifting between Zach and myself. He didn't tell me he was coming over today. I mentally face palm myself.

"Speak of the devil." Zach grins widely standing up from the bed. Aiden takes hesitant steps toward me and sits down next to me on the bed, while my brother looks at us like a predator it's pray.

"Hey, Zach." Aiden looks at me from the corner of his eye.

"Hello, Aiden."

"It's actually very good you're here, I think you could be more honest, than Aves is." His amused look turns serious. "Are you two