Chapter Sixteen
"Get out."

Arabella smiled softly at the sound of Nick's smooth voice on the other end of the phone, chewing down on the end of her pen.

"So, I'll see you tonight?" He asked her hopefully. With Arabella's busy work schedule, they hadn't spent a lot of time together recently, but she'd had quite an easy day at the office, and was hoping to get off early so she could spend some time with him.

"If you're lucky," she told him, a grin toying on her lips as she spoke. On the other side of the room, Michael rolled his eyes, the whole conversation almost making him want to throw up. He coughed loudly, capturing Arabella's attention, and as she looked over at him Michael mimed sticking his fingers down his throat, to which Arabella gave him a hard glare. "Okay, I have to finish up some work, and then I'm all yours, darling," she said to Nick. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"Love you too."

Arabella put down the phone, her stare narrowing at Michael, but she didn't comment, instead burying her head in her work again, hoping to finish up early liked she'd promised Nick. Michael watched her for a few moments, expecting a snarky comment of some sorts, and was almost disappointed that he didn't receive one.

Arabella could feel his stare on her, but didn't look up, focusing her attention solely on the paperwork in front of her. Michael huffed at the lack of attention she was giving him, but quickly shook his head, dismissing himself of those thoughts, wondering why that even bothered him.

The office was quiet for about an hour, almost a record for the two of them. Arabella did not stop writing for the entire time, and Michael could not stop watching Arabella, nor could he stop thinking about her and Nick and what happened earlier when that special boyfriend of hers had payed him a visit.

"You know, Nick came to the office this morning," Michael spoke up. Finally, Arabella looked up at him, raising her eyebrows as she waited for him to elaborate. Michael struggled not to smile to himself, especially because of the puzzled expression on her face, which, combined with how she looked with her round reading glasses, was quite adorable.

"Why?" Arabella asked, her frown deepening. "Was he looking for me?"

Michael shook his head. "No, he wanted to speak to me."

"About what?" Arabella pressed, wishing Michael would stop being so bloody cryptic.

"About you."

Arabella gave him an unimpressed look, her patience wearing thing. "Would you just spit it out already?"

Michael released a heavy breath, leaning back in his chair. "He thinks we're spending too much time together."

"We work together," Arabella pointed out.

"Well, that's what I told him," Michael responded with a shrug. "He wanted to know if there was something between us. If that's why you were spending so much time at work." Arabella sat up straighter, her jaw tensing as she began to feel frustration surging through her veins. She'd had the same conversation with Nick so many times now, constantly assuring him that she was doing nothing but her job. "And when I set him straight, he threatened me to stay away from you."

Arabella almost scoffed. Nick had promised that he trusted her, and now he was coming round to her place of work and threatening her coworker. "Right." She stood up, her impulses taking over the rational side of her mind as she snatched her coat from the back of her chair.

"Where are you going?" Michael asked, sitting upright as he watched her gather some items from her desk.

"To talk to him," Arabella responded simply. Michael watched as she headed towards the door, part of him wanting to find an excuse for her to stay and not go off on one to her boyfriend, the other part of him desperately wanting to see her giving Nick a piece of her mind. "Also, why have you only just told me this?"

"Uh...couldn't find the right time," he told her, smiling weakly as she gave him a pointed look.

Before he could even say any more, Arabella had slammed the door shut, and was storming towards the house she currently shared with her boyfriend. "Nick!" Arabella called out as she flung open the front door, banging it shut behind her. "Nick!" She rushed into the living room, expecting to find him working in there, but it was empty. "Nick?"

Arabella paused upon hearing a thud from upstairs, slowly scanning over the room for any signs of break in. There was no reason for anybody to be coming after her, as far as she was aware, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Quietly, she headed into the kitchen, taking out one of the large knives. She slowly and cautiously made her way towards the stairs, the entire house now seeming to have been engulfed in silence. The stairs creaked underneath her weight, the sound echoing throughout the house.

As she approached the top of the stairs, she slowed to a stop, listening out for a noise. After hearing nothing, Arabella slowly crept towards her bedroom, gently pushing the door open. Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip on the handle, preparing herself to step inside, until she heard hushed voices.

"Nick?" She whispered, cautiously stepping inside the room. When Arabella switched on the light, she decided she'd probably rather have faced someone who was trying to kill her, rather than the scene in front of her. "What the actual fuck?!"

"Bells, it's not what it looks like," Nick quickly defended, climbing out of bed in his underwear.

"Oh, really? Because it looks like you're having a grand old time cheating on your girlfriend!" Arabella shouted, still gripping the knife tightly in her hands. Nick eyed the weapon as she stepped towards him, and he shrank back slightly. The two girls who'd been in bed with him gasped, their eyes growing wide as they spotted the knife in her hand. Arabella rolled her eyes at their dramatics, pointing the weapon towards them. "Get the fuck out of my house!0

The girls scrambled out of the bed in an instant, gathering their clothes up on their way out of the room, leaving Arabella and Nick alone. "Bells–"

"Don't," she snapped, her shoulders sinking slightly in defeat. She was hurt, really hurt, but God, she could not show him that. Arabella straightened up, glancing around the rest of the room again, spotting the cocaine powder spilled out across the dressing table. "Oh, and using my drugs too?"

"Listen–" Nick started, but Arabella shook her head, interrupting him.

"No, you listen to me," she bit back, jabbing a finger in his direction. "I spend every single day working my ass off to give myself a better future, to give us a future, and this is how you repay me?" She snapped, too much emotion cutting through her voice for her liking. She swallowed thickly, tightening her jaw as she levelled her gaze on him again. "To have the nerve– the fucking nerve!– to come by my office, when I'm not even there by the way, and threaten my coworker, accuse me of cheating on you with him, when you've been doing this behind my back–" she cut off, shaking her head in disbelief. "Get out."

"Bells–"

"Get the fuck out of my house!" She shouted. She stormed over to the wardrobe and yanked open the doors, collecting up all the items of clothing Nick owned and tossing them towards him. "Take your stuff and go!"

"Bells, please–"

"It's Arabella to you now," she spat, launching the bag he'd brought with him from America towards him. Nick managed to catch it, stumbling backwards slightly from the force. "Now get the fuck out of my house!"

"Arabella, please," he pleaded, dropping his clothes into the bag. "Let's talk about this."

"I swear to fucking God, if you don't get out of this house in the next thirty seconds–"

Nick stepped backwards, almost tripping over his own feet in his hurry to put some distance between them, knowing exactly what Arabella was capable of – especially holding a knife. "Okay, okay," he stuttered out, reaching for his bag before stumbling out the room. Arabella followed after him as he thudded down the stairs, stopping at the bottom to look up at her. "Look, maybe we can talk later–"

"Get out," Arabella replied simply, reaching past him to open the door, not even giving Nick the chance to slip his shoes on before she was shoving him outside. "Don't ever talk to me again," she snapped, throwing his shoes out to him, one of them hitting him hard in the stomach. Nick doubled over in pain, clutching his abdomen. "You best pray that John and Arthur don't fucking find you, otherwise you'll have more than that to worry about!"

And with that, Arabella slammed the door shut.

A/N

Arabella is a boss ass bitch. And Nick is now finally out of the way...enter Michael...

Also, I have precisely zero words about the ending of season 5, only screams