April's POV

Aiden slung an arm around my shoulder and whispered. "It's show time." I looked up at him nervously. What was he planning? I really can't act.

"What do you mean?"

"Act like we're in love. Which means not giving me evils every two minutes, okay?" He sounded amused, shooting me a small smile.

"I don't mean to. It's natural. I can't help that I have chronic bitch face." I grumbled, shrugging off his arm. I didn't like meeting new people; it was a very uncomfortable experience and one that I would rather avoid.

"Whatever."

Aiden started walking and I had to jog to keep up. We entered the area where a film sequence was blazing across the screen in a spectacular sequence of scenic shots and super-saturated palettes. Everyone's backs were turned to us.

"Guys." Aiden greeted.

Diego shifted slightly in his seat, eyes widening and flashing in concordance with the lights on screen. Beau had turned in his seat too, cerise eyes aglow, a kernel of popcorn missing his mouth.

"Do we look - 'loved up?'" His tone was of plain boredom. I mentally rolled my eyes. Quite honestly, we were two magnets repelling one another and it showed. He was met with wary silence, with Diego simply tilting his head sideways to assess us from a different angle.

Shrugging his arm off my shoulder, I shot him a sharp glare.

Aiden frowned down at me."What was that for?"

"I don't want you putting your arm around me. In fact, I would rather you didn't touch me at all."

He stayed very quiet for a minute, almost thoughtful. "Well. I've never heard someone say that before." His expression was blank. Then, he transformed into his ego logistic self again. "But whose to say that I need to listen to you?"

I found myself getting angry and I shrugged his arm off again and pushed him away from me slightly - he stumbled, but only from the shock, not from the impact.

This time, he wasn't as calm.

"Don't shove me." He hissed. Seeing my expression, he groaned and ran a hand through his hair, frustrated because I wasn't playing along with this act as well as he'd hoped. This is so stupid. I crossed my arms and held my ground. I didn't want them to think I was just going to listen to them – I wasn't going to push it too far, but they needed to know there were certain boundaries I was not willing to overstep.

Touching, being one of them.

Aiden took several steps back and turned around. He addressed the group, excluding me. "I can't do this. She's too..." he was lost for words, his expression helpless. "I don't know what to do."

"Aiden," Diego warned.

He sighed angrily, turning to me again and speaking in a hushed whisper. "Are you going to cooperate?"

I kept silent.

He shot me a death glare. "If we have to do this by force then so be it, and if we have to hurt people you love then that's also fine. In this day and age, I'm sure tracking down the family of April Evans shouldn't be too difficult. We know they're British. We know they're daughter is in America. A weird arrangement and one that the internet can tell us all about. Especially since we have your phone - Melissa, Robert and Olivia Evans? Yeah, we have your phone." He said at my expression. "You've just made my job dead easy."

I quickly interrupted. My family were not becoming involved in this. They could slit my throat right now before I played Russian Roulette with their lives.

"I will cooperate - but under some conditions." I swallowed and didn't wait to see their reaction before continuing. "You can't dictate to me what to do all the time - I'll choose what I don't want to do. You will not talk about hurting my family and friends if I'm doing as I was told." I paused thinking off more conditions. "You will release me after this is over and I will never see you again. This is a one-time thing. Oh, and you'll treat me with respect."

Aiden merely looked amused. "Fine. I accept to all of them apart from the last one and first one. I need to tell you what to do – and I'll only treat you with respect if you treat me with respect." His pink lips curved upwards into the smirk I was expecting.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Fine. Deal."

"And - " Oh crap, he was carrying on. "Since you have conditions, I get something." "If I ask you to do one thing – you have to do it. No questions asked." He said seriously.

But I don't know what I'm agreeing to. What is he going to ask me to do? My immediate instinct was to shout the word NO in his face, but I restrained myself.

"If you don't agree to my condition, your conditions are off." He added.

"You're not leaving me a choice," I said carefully.

"Exactly."

I felt a stab of irritation fester in the wound he had created in my pride. "Well then I guess I'll have to say yes."

He grinned. "Good call. And just in case you don't cooperate. I have a couple of people I would like to bring here." He said biting his lip. "I will invite your two best friends here - Nina and Kayla isn't it? I'm sure that they'll keep you in line. You know, remind you of the rules and the consequences of breaking them and all that."

"No! You can't do that." I managed to splutter, leaning forward so my nails dug into the couch - he should be lucky that my nails are clawing the sofa and not his pretty little face, I thought to myself bitterly.

"I can. And I will. They'll think that you came to stay with friends - maybe long lost friends or someone you once knew in England and that this is their weekend away. I'll make up a believable story to get them here, don't worry. I'm quite the charmer." In that moment, I agreed with him. He was quite the charmer - he had the looks, the charisma, the smile. Too bad his personality was a piece of mouldy fruit.

"How does this story sound: Emma is your old friend – she invited you to her place for a week to catch up on old times – it's going to be one big party. She said you could invite some friends over to keep you company – cue me. I'll convince Nina and Kayla to come. l feed them the story, show them subtle evidence that their best friend really is here and they'll believe it like stupid little humans and then I'll have leverage over you. Simple."

I stayed silent, my chest heaving. Then, I turned around and practically ran out of that stupid room along that stupid corridor and up those stupid stairs, seething. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it breathing heavily. I can't feel sorry for myself. I can't. If I had any chance of surviving this situation, then I had to keep a level head.

If he has a problem with me, then punish me, not my friends. I can't let him hurt them – I just can't. That night, I didn't dream of awesome things - I couldn't get to sleep at all.

I woke up drenched in cold sweat.