Nicca James Alfarone

"So how did it go?" Jose asked me with his arms folded. "It went great." I murmured, leaving it there. I knew I was missing important details because I didn't remember anything past the point of that morning that I woke up next to him. "Are you sure? You're acting awfully quiet." Jose raised a brow. "Aren't I always quiet?" I questioned and he nodded. "You are but not like this." He pointed out and I sighed.

"I'm fine, Jose. Everything went fine. I had fun." I smiled, trying to get my point across. I did have fun with Steve but it was the little things that he kept doing that made me question everything. 

"Steve," I gathered his attention and he stared at me like I was the most important thing in the world. I blushed a bit at that. "Do you remember that morning I woke up next to you?" I asked and he nodded slowly. "Did we have sex?" I blurted out and he raised a brow nonchalantly, staring at me before answering. "No." He said slowly and I nodded. "Okay. But if I didn't have sex with you, then who?" I questioned and he shrugged. "I don't know. I had found you in the back of an alley naked so I decided to take you home with me." He smiled and I nodded. "Okay cool."

Just to be sure that I didn't have any diseases, I sent a tube of the semen that was found inside of my perineum as well as a vial of blood to ensure that I didn't have any diseases to the testing center. They informed me that it would be a while before I got my results due to the massive amount of people that require and need testing around the city, which was kind of upsetting because I wanted to know now.

Ah, whatever. I was still a little sore from that incident that happened a week and a half ago. Jose declared it a date rape through the use of a drug because I hadn't remembered anything that after that night. I only remember waking up beside Steve and that was it. I could only go off of his word that nothing happened between us but I was a little wary because it was suspicious but nonetheless, I couldn't do anything about it until the DNA of the semen was confirmed.

I would have done it myself but I wasn't an expert in that department and that wasn't my line of work so I was stuck sending it to one of the test centers in the hospital. Now all that's left is for me to wait. "He didn't seem creepy or anything?" Jose and I shook my head after a moment of hesitation. "What's with that slow reply? Are you lying to me?" Jose peered into my face, looking into my eyes as if he was trying to read me like a book. "No. It was just a little odd, the way he was acting." I muttered, not understanding why he was acting so interested in me. I liked someone to ask questions about me because it made me feel loved but there was a limit to that, though.

"I know on a first day, you take the time to get to know each other, ya know, inquire about your lives and such," I explained quietly, my nature being that of a reserved and quiet person. "But he wouldn't let me ask anything about him." I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "It was nice that someone was asking me questions about myself. It made me feel as if I was important but I found it odd that he would not answer my questions about him directly. He would just disregard them as if they didn't matter." I sighed, not comprehending why or how I was still attracted to Steve Bardlow, even if he acted like a creep.

"Is your father's name Nikolai or something like that?" Steve asked, clasping his hands together and sweat began to rack my body. I fought like hell to keep my emotions at bay so he couldn't tell if he was right or not. "Why do you figure that?" I questioned with a brow raised as I took a sip of my drink, hoping to play it off. His nostrils flared with anger but it was such a quick movement that if I had not been paying attention, I surely wouldn't have caught that action. He put his head down, muttering something to himself before looking back up, a smile on his face.

"Nah, I just figured that since your name is Nicca, it wouldn't have to similar to your father or your mother's name." He stated and I nodded. "Why though?" He sighed. "Your name is too unique to have come just out of the blue. It must have come from somewhere, like your parents..." He trailed off, biting his lip in thought. "Well, that's one way to look at it but my name came from my grandma." It wasn't entirely a lie because my grandmother came up with the combination of my father and mother's name.

"What's your grandmother's name?" He asked, suddenly interested in what I had to say and it was very pleasing to have attention on me. I figured that it wouldn't hurt if he knew because she had taken back her maiden name of Jaegan. "Nicola." I answered curtly. It wasn't wrong because it was her middle name. Amor Nicola Jaegan. She was the mother of my father but when her husband was murdered, she took back her maiden name.

"Trust no one. Not even the people you think you can trust."

I recall my father's words. He had warned me not to tell anyone anything about our family or our heritage but it was hard to come up with lies on the spot when you had someone constantly beating answers out of you, one after another. I knew the only person I could trust was Jose, my best friend, but he didn't know about my family or about me and my uprising as King.

I didn't want to tell him either, in fear it would put his life in jeopardy.

"What about you? Do you have any siblings?" I asked a simple question, hoping to get the spotlight off of me. "Yeah, but that is not important." Steve disregarded the question. "This date is not about me. It's about you. I want to know more about you." He grinned sardonically and I narrowed my eyebrows. "Don't you think you know enough for one date?" I posed a question, hoping for a good, explainable answer.

"NO. You can never know too much." He smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief and something below the surface as he reached across the table, clasping my hands together. "I want to know more about you, Nicca, anything and everything." Steve nodded and I had no choice but to nod in reply, not knowing why he wanted to know everything about me.

"Well, that seems a little bit off." Jose confirmed, snapping his fingers together as he stood up to his full height, peering over me. "I mean, I don't know if it is enough to put you off because what if he plans on telling you more sometime? I admit, I didn't like him as soon as he stepped through that door. I got a bad feeling from him but who am I to tell you what to do?" Jose flicked his wrist, clicking his teeth. "I am your best friend but I'm not sure if I have any jurisdiction over your life." He placed his hand on his hip in a flamboyant style. "You have always been naive ever since high school, you bloody wanker and it's clear that you still are." I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Hey!"

"You know it's true so shut the hell up." He rolled his eyes and I pouted. "With that being said, who knows just what could happen with you? You're a very good doctor, Nicca but I'm afraid that your book smart does not match your street smart." Jose stated and I watched as the glimmer from his eyes dulled. "I kind of feel like it's my fault, Dannazione!" He cursed in Italian and I was left wondering what he meant. "What do you mean, Jose? What's your fault?" I asked and he sighed.

"I kind of feel like it's my fault that you're in this predicament. If I didn't stray my eyes away from you for one second at the club that night, you probably wouldn't be this deep with that damn man, Steve!" He groaned a bit before taking a seat on the bed. "Do you remember anything from that night, about the guy that I was dancing with?" I inquired and he shook his head after a moment of hesitation. " No. I don't remember anything except dancing with Kaiden." He spat his name coldly. 

"There was a guy you were dancing with but I don't remember what he looked like. I couldn't really get a good look at him." He admitted sheepishly and I smiled at how boyishly he was acting. "Do you remember anything else?" He asked and he nodded after staring into thought. "Yeah. Since he was wearing a shirt that had the sleeves cut off, I remember seeing a tattoo of some sort." He mumbled. "Holy shit, it was some weird as hell shit! It was like a blue and black upside down triangle with red vines wrapped around it with two long knives, maybe swords, were crossed together at the top of it. There was also a number written in it." Jose struggled to remember, his eyes flicking back and forth. "16 something." He finished. "That's all I remember." He shrugged and I nodded.

"Do you think it sounds like some mysterious symbol?" He asked and I didn't know. "Not sure but it's something I've actually never heard of." I put my hand on my chin in a thinking position. "Maybe, I'll run it by my dad and see what he thinks." I nodded in affirmation, knowing that my dad would have more knowledge on it that we could possibly know. "Your dad?" Jose exclaimed, many looks on confusion on his face. "What would your dad know about this? What could he do about this?" He questioned and I sighed.

"My father has many connections. I'm sure he will be able to come to a conclusion on what that symbol means. He probably knows what it means himself." I said and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would he know?" He questioned. "Isn't he just someone ordinary?" He tilted his head. "Why would he know of something potentially dangerous?" I shrugged. "My father has his secrets." I nodded and it was true. My father did have secrets that he kept from me and I wanted to know what they were. All he ever told me was that I was a destined king of something and I had to be wary of who I trusted and that I had to find someone worthy and trustful enough to marry so that the burden wouldn't put all on me.

Yeah, because it was so easy to go out and find someone and say, "Hey, I'm a future king. Why don't you marry me and we can be royalty together?" It didn't work like that and in today's world, people were so cruel to get what they wanted. But my father was old fashioned and he didn't understand the dangers of that. 

"Are you planning on seeing him again? I mean, I advise against it, but I have no bloody control over what ya do." Jose ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, we have another date planned." I stated and I watched as his eyes widened before going back to their original size. "Sei così stupido." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head silently.

"What?"