Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

" W hat crawled up your ass and died?" Dante asks, throwing himself down into the seat opposite me. I don't even know why I came to the cafeteria in the first place. It's not like I'm eating anything.

She's not here. Aleeka didn't turn up to school today, and she's not returning my messages either. It pisses me off that I even care. Why the fuck should I care where she is? I plan on going to her place tomorrow and hitting that reset button. Then I can move on, forget Aleeka Bateman ever existed.

"Nothing," I tell Dante while slamming my notebook shut.

"Sure. That's why you're sitting here being a broody fucker, writing down love song lyrics for a girl you supposedly couldn't give two fucks about." He snatches the notebook out of my hand and opens it.

I'd try to get it back off him, but what's the point? I'll end up recording these songs for the world to hear anyway.

"Reset?" Dante raises an eyebrow at me. "It's a stupid idea, but the lyrics are actually good," he says before tossing the notebook in my direction again.

"Well, I'm so glad my song writing abilities have your stamp of approval," I deadpan.

"You know this whole reset shit is going to blow up in your face. Why don't you just admit to yourself you're in love with the girl and deal with it?" Dante asks.

"Just because you've wifed yourself up at seventeen does not mean the rest of us need to do the same thing," I tell him.

"Well, I can't wait to say I told you so." He laughs. "Besides, being wifed up is the best." The smile on his face as he looks past me means I don't need to turn around to know Josie is approaching the table.

"Hey." She bends down and pecks Dante's lips before shooting me a glare. "Have you been kissing Aleeka?"

"Why?" I ask instead of answering. Have I been kissing her? Only in my fucking dreams.

"She's sick. I want to know if I should be putting a whole table or two between us, because I don't want to get whatever germs you two are sharing," Josie says.

"She's sick?" I ask. I have this sudden urge to drive over to her place and check on her. "How do you know?"

"She told me. I called her to see why she wasn't here. She sounded okay. Just a bit fluey." Josie's mouth dips into a frown. "Leave her to rest. I'm sure she'll be fine by Monday."

So she can answer Josie's calls but not mine? Fucking hell, this reset is going to be harder than I thought if the girl insists on avoiding me. I pull my phone out of my pocket to check if Aleeka's responded to any of my messages. She hasn't. Just as I'm about to put it away, it rings and my father's name flashes across the screen.

"Pops? What's up?" I answer.

"What are you doing right now?" he asks me.

"I'm at school. You know, that place you and Ma insist I need to attend?"

"Right. Grab Dante and Josie and come straight to Zio Theo's house. Don't make any stops, Orlando."

"Why? What's going on?" As soon as I ask the question, I know I'm not going to get an answer. Not over the phone anyway.

"See you soon, son," Pops says before disconnecting the call.

"Something's going on. Pops wants us to go straight to Zio Theo's now," I say as I push up from the table. I pick up my bag and look around the cafeteria. It's a habit. Looking for the hidden threat.

Dante and I flank Josie's side as we walk out of school. I really want to swing by Aleeka's place to check on her but that'll have to wait. If my father is calling us out of school, there's a damn good reason for it.

"Whatever it is, it's not good," Dante says as we pull into Zio Theo's estate. Everyone is here, and I mean everyone .

"What's happening?" Josie asks, leaning forward from the back seat to peer out the windshield.

"No idea. Come on." Dante opens his door and climbs out of the car.

I follow behind him. "Thinking lockdown?" There must be at least a hundred soldiers walking around the grounds.

"Fucking hope not," Dante grunts. He then looks to Josie with a smirk on his face. "Although I'm sure we could find ways to pass the time together, babe."

"Yeah, if you want to end up with a bullet in your head." I laugh.

"Zio Theo isn't going to shoot me," Dante says with a confidence he probably shouldn't have. I mean, I don't think our uncle would shoot to kill, but I wouldn't put it past him to do some damage if he caught Dante and Josie fucking.

"Sure he won't." I shrug. "Let's find out what's going on and hopefully figure out a way to get back out of this compound."

Alessandro is the first family member we find when we walk in. "Josie, Cassidy was asking if we had some books in the library. Can you help her look for them?"

"Sure, but if you just want me to go, so I don't hear whatever you're going to tell these two, you could just ask me to leave the room," Josie says before pivoting on her heel towards the library.

As soon as she's out of earshot, I turn back to Alessandro. "What's going on?"

"You didn't hear? Someone put a bomb in the mayor's office. We're on lockdown," he says.

"The mayor's office? You mean my father's fucking office? Where is he?" Dante's voice rises with each word that comes out of his mouth.

"He's fine. He's down the hall with Pops, Zio Luca, and Zio Matteo," Alessandro says. "Your Mom is in the kitchen and Tilly is somewhere around here with Antonio."

"You could have led with the fact he wasn't in the damn building with the bomb," Dante groans as he pushes his way past Alessandro.

"How long is this lockdown going to last exactly?" I ask.

"You got someplace better to be?" Alessandro fires back.

"Yes," I tell him while tugging my phone out of my pocket. I walk upstairs and close myself into one of the guest rooms. I need to call Aleeka, or at least get her to return a fucking text message.