Fallen Angels

Chapter Five

A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second,  demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth—and endures all the rest.
—Helen Rowland—

Slap him or punch him? Which one would you do? I drew my hand back getting ready to bitch slap some sense into him, but when my hand got inches near his face, he caught it and pressed a kiss to it.
"You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how." He said in a tone that gave out he'd rehearsed it many times before.
     "And I suppose you know how?!" I spatted angrily, bunching my free hand into a fist.
"You can say that." He flashed me a cheeky smile and leaned forward to plant another kiss on my lips, but before he could, I pulled back and decked him hard in his jaw.
I took a step back from the impact and felt my heart jump when I slipped over the step. Despite how I'd just punched him, he must've noticed that I was gonna fall because before I hit the ground, he caught me by my waist.
"Are you okay?" He whispered, his tone and eyes showered with concern.
Hadn't I just punched him?! It was like I hadn't even hit him! Or worse, like it hadn't hurt him.
"Yes, now let go of me!" I glared at him. Reasons like this was why I hated him. He was a player and only cared about himself. Would Lottie believe me if I told her that her boyfriend had kissed me? If she didn't, our years of friendship would all go down the drain because of a rat like him! But then again, it would show the extent of our friendship.
"Not unless you promise me that you won't tell Lottie." He muttered, causing my blood to boil hotter. "Because I will."
"My mom is downstairs and you're doing this?!" I stated furiously, glaring at him.
"So? She's practically throwing you into my arms behind your back." He pulled away when someone behind him cleared their throat.
"I came by to finish our assignment, but you seem preoccupied, so I'll come back later." Dante said, standing there with a look of annoyance.
"No!" I quickly panicked. "Seth was just leaving."
"How'd you get in here?!" Seth questioned, ignoring my eager tone to get rid of him. "How do you even know where she lives?!"
I let the questions linger in my head, now waiting for him to answer.
"I broke in," Dante responded sarcastically.
"Seriously?" Seth asked, sounding amused with him.
"Your mother let me in." He said to me, ignoring Seth. "Well since you were leaving, you best be on your way." He pointed his last sentence towards Seth who was glowering at him.
"I don't plan on going anywhere!" Seth stated, glaring at Dante with bloodlust eyes.
At this rate I would never get rid of Seth. "Seth, Dante and I are dating." I blurted out before Dante could give his remark. "We met Saturday night. It's why I disappeared."
Seth's gaze darkened and his jaw clenched. I could almost see the wheels in his head spinning before he finally registered what I had said. "You're lying," he muttered as he pushed past Dante and headed down the stairs. "You always were a terrible liar."
At this point my head ached terribly. When I turned to face Dante, an amused half smile lit up his face.
"What?!"
He shook his head and started up the stairs, "Nothing," he murmured and I followed him up, surprised when he led me into my room, the last one on the left. How had he known this room was mine? There was five rooms up here, all which were closed or half open.
I stared at him, stunned. When he felt my attention on him, he quickly added, "Good guess, huh? Or is this not your room?"
It was clear that I wasn't the only one with terrible lying skills. I shook my head, "This is my room." I assured him. "I'm just surprised that you knew where it was at—good guess by the way." I walked over to my bed and plopped down onto it in defeat. "Where's your paper?"
"Threw it away."
"Right," I murmured, remembering how he had thrown his sheet of paper in the trash can earlier in Chem.. "Anyway, I don't think it was necessary for you to have come here since I'm gonna talk to Mr. Decker about reassigning me to another partner."
Dante furrowed his eyebrows, "Don't bother," He said shrugging it off. "I asked him after school but he declined saying 'we get what we get and we don't throw a fit'."
The idea of him asking Mr. Decker first was like a punch in the face, but when he told me his response, I held back laughter trying to imagine Dante's reaction.
"And how did you take that?" I asked.
"It's not like I can do anything about it."
"Maybe not," I said. "But you could have begged him."
"I'm not that desperate, Ash." He responded and walked over to me. "Now ask away."
I nodded already having the question I wanted to ask him in mind, "What made you become a hard ass?"
He sighed but nodded as if he'd already expected me to ask that question. There was nothing but silence for a few moments and it was obvious he was fumbling for what to say until he sat down beside me. "Life, I guess."
"How so?"
Dante remained silent again before he finally spoke. "I was abandoned by what I assumed was my family years ago after making a mistake." His tone changed to a mixture of fury and hurt. "They didn't take me back, instead, they left me out in the streets. I struggled to survive and did what I had to do to do so." He stopped and laid down on my bed before continuing. "After two years of being out in the street, I met someone who was just like me, struggling and living out on the streets. I befriended him knowing what it was like to be in his position."
"Should I be writing all this down?" I asked, making him chuckle at such a question. I felt special that I had made him laugh though, because he striked me as the type of guy who wouldn't laugh easily.
He sighed and propped himself up on his elbows, "Want me to continue?"
I nodded, "Of course."
"Well then," He smirked. "You're gonna have to wait until after you tell me a little bit about yourself."
"But didn't you throw your paper away?" I asked, frowning.
"Yes, I did," Dante agreed. "But that's only because I don't need a simple sheet of paper to remember everything you're about to tell me."
I bit the edge of my lower lip as I observed him closely. His gray eyes were searching mine for any sign of emotion, and his thin kissable lips were in a straight line. I found myself drawn even more to them when he licked them. I looked back up into his eyes and saw them doing a patttern between looking up at my own eyes then back down at my lips.
I cleared my throat awkwardly, "Well, uh, my parents abandoned me when I was young." I said. "I was sent to foster care, and when I turrned ten Alyssa, my mom, adopted me."
He watched me so skeptically it had made a blush creep up my cheeks. "Guess we both have that in common. Being abandoned."
Staying quiet, I observed him closely not spotting any imperfections on him. It was as if God had decided to make a perfect human being after all. "Thank you," I finally said.
His eyes widened in surprise and he stared at me intently, "For what?" He raised a brow. "It was nothing coming over here and telling you about myself. Although I think Mr. Deckener meant much simpler things."
"Decker," I corrected. "And I meant for checking up on me afterwards. I had just taken my anger out on you because I had been going through a lot at that moment—still am—and you were near by, so I took it out on you."
He waved me off. "I kinda deserved it. I was being an ass to you from the moment I approached you and Charlotte, is it?"
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips and I couldn't help but giggle, "You did deserve it." I agreed, nodding at his question. "Just don't let her catch you calling her Charlotte. She'll kill you."
For the first time I thought I had spotted a full real smile tug at the edges of his lips, but the next second his expression changed into his usual, unreadable self. "Ice cream," He said, and I raised my eyebrows. When I hadn't caught on, he added, "Let's go get some ice cream."
I glanced at my alarm clock and shook my head. "It's too late. Mom won't lemme go." It was almost ten and I was surprised that time had flown by so quickly.
What shocked me even more was that she hadn't even came and checked up on us or even demanded for us to do our homework downstairs in the kitchen. Much less ask him to leave.
"Too of a good girl to break the rules just this once?" He snickered as he walked over to my window and pushed it open. "Come on, she won't know you left if we take this way."
I stared at him hesitantly, "I'm not sure this is a good idea."
"Is anything I ever do a good idea?" He questioned.
"I wouldn't know," I told him, watching as he hoisted himself up and out onto the roof. "I don't know you well enough."
He crouched down so he was at level with the window and stuck his hand back inside, offering it to me, "Let's fullfill the reckless teen prophecy." He flashed me that award winning half smile only he could pull off, "Well, don't leave me hanging."
"If we get caught I'm gonna say that you forced me to." I warned him as I took his hand.
Dante shook his head although I knew he was amused. He helped me out and swiftly lead me over to the edge of the roof with ease despite how dark it was. "Let's jump down on three."
"What?!" I panicked, my heart racing hard against my chest at the news. "Hell no! Are you suicidal or something?!"
"What happened to reckless?" He frowned.
"I never agreed."
"You came out of your room, didn't you?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but the light to the window next to mine turned on and I cursed under my breath.
"We don't have another choice now, do we?" He whispered, motioning to the light coming from Mom's room.
"We can head back insi—" In one swift movement he pulled me into his arms and rolled off of the roof. A scream escaped my lips, but it never came out.
I had shut my eyes and held tightly onto Dante as a waft of air ran passed me, whipping my face as I waited for the impact of the ground to come, but it never did.
"Open your eyes." Dante whispered soothingly into my ear.
When I did, I was surprised when I realized he was standing perfectly on the ground while he carried me in his arms bridal style. How had he come out unscaved? How was it possible for him to have landed perfectly when he had rolled off of the roof?
Get away from him while you can! A voice different from earliers yelled at me. I looked around for whoever that voice belonged to, but it was far too dark for me to see beyond two feet away.
"What's wrong?" Dante asked me as he looked around. He squinted into the distance and a snarl begun to tug at the corners of his lips. "Come on, lets get outta here." His grasp on me tightened to the point that I was flinching. I was about to warn him he was hurting me, but he set me down on the ground and lead me towards a black car.
"I'm not sure if I wanna go anymore." I murmured, but I knew all to well that he was far too distracted to hear me.
But there had been one thing that was bothering me the most; what had caused him to snarl to the point of anger?