His smirk didn’t falter. ‘Your own independence and self-sufficiency notwithstanding, I thought that maybe you might be open to having a chaperone tonight …’
‘Do you mean romantically or for security?’ I asked.
‘Which would you prefer?’
‘Which are you offering?’
The smile sloped to one side. ‘Whichever one makes you happier.’
‘Am I hallucinating?’
‘I’m the one at a high school dance,’ he pointed out. ‘Maybe I’m hallucinating.’
A memory trickled into my awareness. ‘It was you earlier in the driveway, wasn’t it? You saw me and you let me go.’
He nodded.
‘I thought you’d stop me.’
‘So did I,’ he admitted. ‘But then I saw you sneaking out, in that dress.’ His eyes travelled the length of me, slow and incredibly unsubtle. ‘And I couldn’t do it.’
‘Thank you,’ I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. I didn’t have to say the rest: I needed this. I needed this for my sanity. He already knew.
‘You look beautiful,’ he said.
‘I—what?’
His smile grew. It was unfairly ravishing, considering I was the one in the gown. ‘Did I stutter?’
‘It is a beautiful dress,’ I said decidedly. ‘I kind of had a moment with myself earlier when I was looking in the mirror.’
Luca stopped smiling. ‘It’s not the dress.’ He dropped his voice, and came a couple of inches closer. ‘I think you’re beautiful when you wear oversized hoodies and fleece pyjamas with teddy bears on them. Or when you wear thick socks and use them to slide around on the marble floors when you think no one’s looking at you.’
‘I – Oh. You know about that.’
‘And I think you are especially beautiful when you are giving out to me.’
‘In that case, you must find me constantly compelling.’
His laugh was breathy. ‘Come on, Cinderella.’ He took my hand in his and led me on to the dance floor, and before I could process the strangeness of everything, he was twirling me into him and we were dancing together. And he was good. Damn. He was really good. He knew all the words, too, and he was singing along, his voice lilting and strong, and then I was singing too, way out of tune and much too excitedly. We pealed into a fit of laughter, his amusement ringing in my ears, my smile so big it could have broken my face, because we were both cheating just for one night – we were both wearing masks belonging to other people, and it was exhilarating.
The song changed to a slow number, and instead of shying away, he pulled me closer and put his arms around my waist. I wound mine around his neck and laid my head on his chest until I could feel his heartbeat against my cheek.
He dipped his head, his mouth next to my ear. ‘Let’s just escape. For tonight.’
I nodded against him. My eyes were closed. I was inhaling his scent and feeling it wrap around my heart. God, I had it bad for this guy. But I wasn’t going to think about tomorrow, or what would happen when the game of make-believe ended. ‘Just for tonight,’ I murmured, resting my head against his chest, relaxing into the feeling of his hands around me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TWIST
‘Well, if this isn’t the most welcome plot twist …’
Luca and I turned around to find Millie and Cris beaming at us with matching smiles. Luca left his hand on my back, his fingers lightly trailing my waist.
‘Hello, Millie,’ said Luca, courteously. He didn’t care one iota that she had caught us dancing together, or even that she had caught him at a high school dance.
‘Hiii,’ I greeted her. ‘Sorry, I meant to come back to find you, but I got waylaid …’
Millie nodded, her eyebrows still halfway towards her hairline. ‘Yeah. I can see that. Luca, to what do we owe the grand gesture?’
He laughed, and I was struck by how different we both were in this environment, how light I felt inside. ‘I suppose I—’
‘I’m just kidding,’ said Millie, her own laughter soaring to match his. ‘I know it’s because you’re secretly in love with my best friend but you’re too proud to admit it so you prefer to nag her instead because it’s the only way you can show her you care without freaking her out or encroaching on your brother who would flip out if he knew and probably try and stab you because for some ludicrous reason he still thinks they might get back together, and don’t worry I won’t make you admit that I’m right either so we’ll just breeze on past this … anyhoo, this is Cris …’ She shoved Cris in front of her. ‘Cris, this is Luca. Be really nice to him.’
I tried not to feel the fresh heat of mortification eating me alive as I endeavoured to communicate my sudden, murderous thoughts to her. I’m going to kill you the next time we’re alone.
Luca didn’t even bat an eyelid. He took Cris’s hand and shook it, reintroducing himself, as pleasant as I had ever seen him. Cris returned it, wincing just a little, and I noticed with a grim flair of amusement that Luca had crushed his fingers together, just a little, in that handshake. As polite a warning as any, I supposed, but I knew he could tell Cris was harmless.
‘So, this is nice,’ Millie said, taking the reins again. ‘Weird …’ she said, eyeing me, ‘… but nice.’
Luca’s grip on my waist got a little tighter. He shifted, pulling me with him.
‘What?’ I said, turning to look up at him.
‘Don’t move,’ he said, low and through the side of his mouth.
‘Why are you backing away from us all of a sudden?’ Millie asked. ‘What’s going on?’ She sniffed the air around Cris, her face scrunching with confusion. ‘I don’t get it.’
Luca, who had gone completely rigid beside me, was on high alert. I tried to follow the direction of his eyeline but I couldn’t see around Cris’s broad shoulders.
‘Nothing,’ I said, answering Millie way too late.
‘What are you doing?’ I hissed at Luca.
‘They’re here,’ he said, drawing himself to his full height. His other hand flew to his waistband, checking for his gun.
Millie was still talking to us, but I was tuning her out, my whole body trained on where Luca was looking. At a throng of people who all looked the same, who all wore the same stupid masks and the same stupid Converse shoes.
Stupid masks.
‘Soph?’ Millie was clicking her fingers in front of my face. ‘What the hell are you staring at? You’re starting to freak me out.’
‘I think it’s Zola,’ Luca said under his breath. ‘And if it is, she won’t be on her own.’
Zola. Zola.
Oh, crap.
Zola was the sister of Sara and Libero Marino, recently released from prison, and if Zola Marino was somewhere inside this gym, someone was about to die.
And that someone was probably me.
‘There’s no way,’ I said, not bothering to keep my voice low, and fully aware that Millie was reading every single word out of my mouth to try and figure out why Luca and I had gone so cold all of a sudden. ‘Zola’s not here. She couldn’t be here. Not in a high school.’
Luca untangled himself from me and I grabbed him by the back of his jacket before he could disappear into the crowd. ‘Are you crazy?’ I snapped. ‘Where the hell are you going?’