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"Uh, why the fuck is Dante Romano walking towards us with such a purposeful expression?" Steph whispers to us.

I can feel my heart thudding in my chest. I watch as Dante aims right for us, his eyes remaining on me.

"Dante!" Some drunk guy steps in his path, making him stop.

"What the fuck?" Millie hisses excitedly. "He was actually coming over here, wasn't he?"

Raquel nods. "Definitely! He was looking right at you, Allie!"

I can't for the life of me imagine what Dante Romano wants to say to me.

Is he going to have a go at me for staring at him and that girl?

I chicken out. Whilst he's talking to the guy, he keeps looking over at me. I can't distinguish what he's thinking or feeling from his expression. Guessing that it was nothing good, I grab Raquel's suddenly-empty cup and bolt inside.

Safe in the kitchen, I finish my drink and make myself a third. I fill up Raquel's cup, too. I text Mum to let her know I'm okay and decide to give it another few minutes before going back outside.

I don't know whether it's because I know that he is a gang member, or because he always has such a stern expression whenever I see him, but Dante Romano scares me a bit.

"Hey."

I look up from my phone. A tall guy with an attractive smirk, brown eyes and cleft chin stands in front of me. He sweeps his mouse-brown hair back from his forehead and leans against the counter next to me.

"Hi," I reply suspiciously.

He grins at my narrowed eyes. "I'm Declan."

"Allie."

"Did you come here with some friends or on your own?" He asks easily.

I look him up and down. "Are you trying to gauge how easy I will be to kidnap?"

"What the fuck? No!" He bursts out laughing. "Just starting conversation, that's all. Besides, I don't recognise you and I know most of Rick's friends."

I glance around the packed kitchen and surrounding rooms. "You're telling me that you know most of the people in this house?"

His grin widens. "Yep." He holds out his hand for me to shake it. "Captain of the football team."

Oh.

"Right," I reply and shake his hand briefly. "Does that mean you're also arrogant as hell and not drinking tonight?"

"Guilty on one count." He laughs and holds up his cup. "Jokes! This is actually lemonade. I don't drink during season, you're right. Anyways, you didn't answer my question, Allie."

I feel kinda bad for giving him a hard time. Declan is actually really easygoing.

"I came with Stephanie, Raquel and Millie. Let me guess, you know them?"

"Of course." He winks and chuckles. "You must be new if you go to Eastside Academy because I know everyone in my year."

"I am new, yeah."

He taps his cup against mine. "Welcome to the shithole, Allie."

I laugh at that. "Thanks."

I stick out with Declan a little longer. I tell him that I'm going to go outside and he invites himself, wanting to see the girls. They all great him warmly when we walk over, so Declan can't be that bad.

Dante is back over in the corner with his friends, but the girl is sat on a chair this time and not his lap. He stares back at me, obviously noting that I have reappeared.

Declan calls his friends over and we talk to them for a while. When it gets to half ten, Millie has to go home because she has some family thing tomorrow morning. Steph and Raquel go inside to get more drinks, leaving me outside with Mikey.

He has his arm around my shoulders and is leaning heavily against me. He's drunk as a skunk.

"I didn't know that you and Romano were close," he comments out of nowhere.

I shrug his arm off and he almost falls over. I make sure he sits down on one of the chairs and then I give him a weird look.

"What do you mean? We're not."

An adorable, confused look comes over his face. "You're not? Oh, that's weird then."

"Why is it?" I'm curious, now.

"He was defending you earlier. One of the guys was talking about how hot the new girl was and Dante told him to shut the fuck up, said he didn't like him talking about you like that."

Well, this is news to me.

What the actual fuck?

We have had one interaction where he was super rude and a few eye contacts, that's it! Maybe Mikey heard him incorrectly or something.

"That's weird, are you sure you heard right?"

Mikey nods emphatically. "Definitely did because it blew my mind. Dante never gives a shit about anyone, but he was really pissed off at that guy for talking about you."

I have no idea what this means. I need to tell the girls, they might help shed some light on the situation.

"I'm going to find the girls, okay?" I check with Mikey.

"All good," he replies, looking at me with glazed eyes.

Luckily, one of his friends is walking past. I grab his attention and get him to look after his friend. Confident that Mikey is in safe hands, I go into the house to look for Raquel and Steph.

Someone comes crashing into me and I fall to the ground. It's a carpeted floor, but landing on my ass is hardly painless. I wince as pain shoots through my butt and up my spine.

"Sorry, new girl!" A drunk voice slurs and I watch some burly guy barrel off into the crowd.

I scowl and wipe my hands on my legs. I move to get up and a large hand appears in my face. I follow the arm up until I meet Dante Romano's grey eyes. He has a pissed off expression on his face, but he's offering out his hand to me.

Hesitantly, I put my hand in his. He grips it tightly and pulls me to my feet with complete ease. I steady myself in my heels and straighten my dress.

"Thanks," I tell him awkwardly.

He nods, his jaw set like he's gritting his teeth. "Want a drink?"

I stare at him for a few moments and he looks blankly back. I can't believe he's actually hanging around and talking to me. I know it's only three words, but still. The last and only three words before this were a lot more aggressive.

"Um, I think my friends are getting me one," I answer him shyly.

He looks me up and down, his expression giving nothing away. He has really mastered the art of the poker face.

"Let's go check, shall we?" He says, his bored tone completely counteracting his words.

"Okay?" My response comes out sounding like a question.

Dante starts to walk towards the kitchen. He stops and looks over his shoulder to check that I'm following him. When he sees that I'm stood still, staring dumbly after him, he scowls and motions for me to follow with his hand.

What the fuck is going on?

My feet take over and bring me towards him. I have no idea what I'm doing or what he wants, but I follow him nonetheless.

Steph and Raquel aren't in the kitchen, but Raquel's vodka is hidden at the back of one of the cupboards so I make myself a vodka-orange juice whilst Dante watches me. My hands almost shake under his watchful eye.

Once I've made me drink, he taps his beer bottle against my cup and takes a swig. I follow his lead and take a sip.

"So, you're new to Eastside. Where are you from?"

I rub my lips together and try not to freak out that Dante Romano is actually making conversation with me. "London."

He nods and shows his first real expression; appreciation. "Nice, got a lot of family that live in Greenwich."

"It's a nice area compared to where my family is from," I reply easily. "Do you visit them often?"

He shrugs, looking disinterested again. "Not really."

Silence falls on us and I remain silent. Mainly, I'm nervous, but I also want to see if he'll try and continue the conversation or use the excuse to find his friends and leave. He looks me up and down again, I shift from one foot to the other under his gaze.

"Do you want to come sit outside with me? I want to ask you more questions," he asks bluntly.

I am starting to wonder if this deadpan expression is just a permanent look for him. I feel like it might be.

I hesitate before agreeing. "Sure."

Once again, I find myself in the weird position of following Dante outside. He offers his hand to help me down the step in my heels. His warm hand around mine does things to my stomach.

With his hand placed on the small of my back, he leads me over to where his friends were sitting. Luckily, the girl from before has gone and there are only a couple of guys sat down. They give me nods of acknowledgement but don't seem particularly interested by my presence.

They, like me, become more interested when Dante pulls me down next to him on the bench. He puts his arm around the back and his fingers graze the ends of my hair.

"Tell me more about you, Allie," he says casually.

My cheeks flush and I subtly scratch my face in an attempt to feel if they're as warm as I think they are.

Yep, blushing like a lobster.

Great.

"I'm not sure what you want to know."

Is that my voice? That shy, flirty, breathy voice that I don't even recognise?

Dante smirks for the first time. He gives me a level look. "Everything, Allie. I want to know everything there is to know about you."

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