After dropping Elena off back at her apartment, an alert on Damon's phone appeared.
Shit, completely forgot about Stefan.
He put on his helmet, stepped on his motorcycle and drove off, Elena's apartment building disappearing in the distance.
Damon couldn't help but think of Elena the entire way to Stefan's apartment. Nobody he had ever met before had such a hold on him, he didn't even know her that well but was so intrigued by her entire being. The essence of coconut always present in her long brown hair engulfed him in a wave of delight. Her precious smile was enough to make you feel weak in the knees. Sometimes he'd wonder how he was still standing up when he was with her. Somehow he was completely consumed by her, and he wasn't sure if he liked that or not.
Is this what Stefan used to be like with Kat? He found himself questioning before erasing that disgusting thought from his mind.
Once Damon arrived at his destination, he parked his motorcycle, took off his helmet, and walked towards the steps giving entrance to Stefan's apartment building. Just as he reached out to open the door, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reached inside to grab it and saw Alaric's name on his lockscreen. This can't be good.
He didn't hesitate and answered the call. "Yeah?"
"Damon, bad news. Two guys came looking for Elena just now. Both wore leather jackets, one had a beard, the other was bald. I got rid of them, for now, but I figured I'd give you a heads up."
Fucking Catalanos. "Where'd they go?"
"I don't know, look, I have to go."
Ric hung up on Damon before he even had the chance to answer. In a fit of rage he kicked the entrance door of the apartment building. "Fuck!"
He went inside and ran to Stefan's apartment as fast as he could, looking for the keys in his pocket as he arrived at his door. "Shit, no keys", he mumbled to himself. As he was banging loudly on Stefan's door he heard Stefan's faint voice coming from the other side. "Hey, hey, calm the fuck down!"
"What the hell is wrong with-" Stefan said as he opened the door, "Damon."
The look on Damon's face concerned him. The last time Stefan saw him this angry was when he almost beat a guy to death the night they met Elena and Caroline.
"We got a problem, brother." Damon said as he pushed Stefan aside to get into his apartment.
Upon entering he noticed Kat sitting on the couch, who had turned her head towards him, probably wondering what the hell was going on.
"You, get to Elena, right now."
Kat's brow furrowed. "Why? What's-" "Now!", Damon shouted before she could even finish her sentence.
She quickly took note of what was going on, got up, grabbed her bag from the table and left the apartment, not even paying attention to Stefan when she walked out.
As Damon walked over to the liquor stand to grab a bottle of Bourbon, Stefan tried talking to him in order to try to figure out what the hell was going on. Something to do with Elena, that much he understood.
"Someone's mad I beat up their baby cousin," Damon said before taking a big chug from the bottle of Bourbon resting in his hands. "They're looking for Elena."
"Wait, who?" Stefan asked, "The guy from the bar two weeks ago?"
Damon nodded, swallowing another chug of Bourbon. "Yeah, that one."
"You never told me why that happened."
Of course Stefan was going to ask why, he always needs to know the reasons behind everything. Damon sighed and stayed quiet for a moment before deciding that he should probably tell the whole story or Stefan would never stop asking about it.
About a month before Elena and Caroline arrived in Italy, Damon had set a meeting with Givano Catalano, one of the infamous Catalano sons. Like the Salvatores, they were in the same crime business. Guiseppe Salvatore proposed the Salvatores and Catalanos work together in order to supply more cocaine. Damon had agreed to this proposition, and provided Catalano with half a key of coke for him to sell. At the current asking price, that would've easily been worth 2000 euros. Catalano knew Guiseppe wasn't in Rome at that point, and without the big boss sitting on his throne, Givano saw this as an opportunity, resulting in him betraying the Salvatores. Stupid move, seeing as the Salvatores were the most powerful family Rome had to offer and they were definitely not quite the forgiving types. He underestimated them, even more importantly, he underestimated Damon, which ultimately resulted in almost being beaten to death by him. Almost, thanks to Stefan, who had always been the good guy who never wants anyone to get hurt. He had gotten soft ever since he quit the family business. Sure, Damon wanted him out, but that didn't mean he'd want his baby brother to fuck him over like that. A deal was a deal, Stefan knew the drill.
"Now, he still owes me money and his shitheads of two cousins got pissed off because I beat him up because of it," Damon took another chug from the bottle "fucking idiots have no idea how a business deal works."
"Yeah, and if you had beaten him to death, you'd be left with the same situation. You still wouldn't have your money and you'd have even more pissed off Catalanos on your back," Stefan said, "but by all means, don't thank me."
Damon rolled his eyes. Of course he had to make it all about him.
"Yeah, yeah, sure Stefan, thanks for your help back there," Damon said sarcastically, "but in all seriousness, I need one of your safehouses. You do still have those, right?"
The ringing of the doorbell startled Elena a bit. Caroline still hadn't returned home, so being alone made her extremely cautious about everything. Her afternoon with Damon certainly calmed her down a little, but it had also left her even more confused about everything. Is this really what she wanted? Spending time with Damon proved to be dangerous, but not spending time with him was probably even more dangerous. She had even contemplated going back home, but she wasn't someone who would just give up. She didn't come here only to go back home just because she was afraid, no, she was going to stay here and deal with it.
Before Elena opened her front door, she looked through the peephole to see who decided to give her a visit. Katerina?
"Elena, open up, it's Kat!" she heard Kat say.
She carefully unlocked the door and opened it, letting Kat in.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, "And how do you know where I live?"
"If I know where you live, they know too," Kat answered, "come on, grab your stuff. We have to go."
Elena observed Kat as she was scanning her apartment.
"Where's Barbie?"
"Uhm, if you mean Caroline, she's out."
"Give me your phone." Kat said, reaching out her hand waiting for Elena to hand over her phone. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and handed it to her, observing Kat as she was searching for Caroline in her contacts. Dialing the number and turning on speaker mode, Kat tapped her foot on the floor impatiently as she waited for Caroline to pick up.
"Elena, hey!"
"Barbie, where are you? We're coming to pick you up."
"Who is this?"
"It's Kat, look, there's no time for questions. Your location, now please."
"I uhm, I'm at a place called Belezza, but I'm on a date right-"
Not letting Caroline finish her sentence, Kat hung up on her and looked at Elena. "We need to go, now."
As Elena walked over to grab her bag off of the salon table, she heard someone knocking loudly on her front door. She felt a rush of panic going through her entire body. Kat turned to Elena and held her index finger in front of her mouth, softly shushing. "Stay there", she whispered.
Moving as quietly as possible, trying not to let her heels make any sound on the hardwood floor of the apartment, Kat slowly walked towards the front door, and looked through the peephole to see two guys standing there, a bald guy, and a bearded guy. She recognized them instantly. Catalano bastarde.
She noticed the door was unlocked. Elena just stood there, completely frozen, awaiting Kat's next move. She watched Kat take off her shoes as quietly as possible before she walked back towards her. Elena tried to communicate with her by facial expressions, and mouthing something like "Now what?" at her hoping she'd understand.
"Is there another way out?" Kat whispered, Elena shook her head.
An annoyed Katerina started whispering words that did not sound familiar to Elena's ears, but she would've guessed correctly when she thought they were most definitely curse words. Kat carefully opened one of the living room windows and looked outside to look for any kind of escape. Jumping out wasn't an option, seeing as Elena lived on the fourth floor. The banging on the door got louder, causing Elena's heart to beat faster. "What are you doing?!" she whispered at Kat.
It looked like she had found a way to escape, as she was waving her hand gesturing Elena to come to her. Elena tiptoed her way towards the window to see a set of fire escape stairs to her left. In order to get to them, they would have to walk across the building's ledge. It was wide enough to shimmy your way across, but one wrong move and you would definitely fall down. Well isn't this fucking conveniently placed, who the hell built this stupid building? Elena thought to herself.
Before Elena knew it, Kat was already pushing herself through the window and finding her balance as she placed her feet on the ledge. The sound of banging on the door had now turned into the sound of the guys trying to kick down the door. Elena looked back and swallowed hard. There's no other way. I'm gonna have to go.
Kat reached out her hand to help her, Elena grabbed it and placed her feet on the ledge as she went through the window. She inhaled deeply, reminding herself not to look down.
A rush of adrenaline flowed through Elena's body as she heard her door being kicked down, forcing her to move faster. Her heart was beating like crazy and her hands and legs were shaking, but somewhow she managed to make it to the stairs safely. Kat did not hesitate to grab Elena's arm and run down the stairs.
As they ran towards Kat's car, Elena looked up to see the two guys look through the window. One of them turned their head and saw the girls. He pointed right at them while he was yelling something at the other guy.
"Shit!", Elena shouted, "open the door, they're onto us!"
Kat ran to the driver's side of the car to unlock the doors and they both got in as fast as they could, Kat inserted the keys into the ignition and drove off once the engine started.
"There's no time to pick up Caroline," Kat said in an unnerving tone.
Shock overtook Elena's face, "What? No, we have to get her!"
"We can't, they saw the car honey. I'm going to drop you off at my place, park the car somewhere else and I'll go get her. You're gonna have to trust me."
Kat's reckless driving heightened Elena's anxiety levels, but she seemed to have it under control. Italy's drivers in general gave Elena anxiety, especially because the roads here were much smaller compared to those in the United States, and ever since her accident she'd been cautious about anyone driving a car.
"Call Damon, tell him to come and get you at the gate, that's where I'll be dropping you off. For now it's not even safe for you to walk to my front door by yourself."
Kat drove off immediately once Elena stepped out of the car, and as promised, Damon awaited her at the gate. She walked up to him, her arms crossed.
Damon gently took her face in his hands, "Are you okay?", he asked.
"Fine, just get me inside."
He closed the gate behind him, put an arm around Elena, and looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following them.
Once inside, Damon asked if she needed anything. Refusing the offer, she walked over to the couch and sat down. She overheard Stefan and Damon talking about some kind of safehouse. Was she going to have to move from her apartment?
As Stefan left the room, Damon walked back over to the liquor stand to get himself another drink.
"Want one?" he asked.
Why the fuck not. "Sure." Elena responded.
Damon smirked. He poured two glasses of bourbon and walked over to the couch to sit next to Elena. She thanked him as he handed her her drink.
"Cheers." he said as he winked at her, causing a sweet smile to form on Elena's face.
Dangerous or not, she couldn't deny she felt safe around Damon. She actually thought she was going crazy for a second for thinking that. How could you ever feel safe around someone who isn't safe at all? Maybe it was the danger that attracted her. The only guy she had dated before was Matt, and he was as boring as watching clouds pass in a clear sky, especially compared to Damon. The mystery surrounding him was kind of a turn on as well. Looking into his eyes left her intrigued and she couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside of that pretty head of his. What does he like to do outside of being a criminal? Does he have any hobbies? He definitely looks like the kind of guy who likes to cook. I wonder if he'd cook for me sometime.
It was so easy for Elena to get lost in her own world and thoughts, completely forgetting about her surroundings, but not with Damon. With Damon she was lost in the moment, and it would only be the two of them right then and there.
AN: And another one up already! I had already finished this one along with chapter 6, but wanted to wait a bit before posting it. Seeing as I've got plenty of time on my hands for the next week, I will try my absolute best to pump out as many chapters as I can until I have to snap back into the reality that is college. Coming back has reminded me of how much I love writing this story, and I absolutely want to finish it. (Don't worry, we're definitely nowhere near the end yet ;)) Thanks again for favoriting, following, and reviewing :) It's much appreciated!